how to have multiple network connections

[DreamThrall]

I have a wireless network as well as a wired network with my computers at my house. I use the wireless network for internet access, and the wired network for communication between my local computers (I keep all my music on one machine, for example). When it works, it works wonderfully, so the comparatively limited wireless bandwidth isn't wasted on streaming music files from a local computer, for example. However, it's been a bitch to configure every time I have to log off or reboot (or the power goes out, as its done 3 times in the past 2 days, but that's another issue). I have to mess around with my already finicky wireless and do a ROUTE DELETE on the default route that is added by the local (wired) network connection so my computer doesn't try and use that for the internet connection. I've also added an entry in my HOSTS file for each of the other computers to use the IP address on the local network.

Is there a way to automatically force a specific adapter to be used as the default gateway for the computer? Because no matter what I do, unless I manually do the ROUTE DELETE, the wired adapter always ends up being listed as the default gateway according to ROUTE PRINT. Any tips?