Home Networking w/Wireless Router

General Questions
#1

I just bought my wife a laptop and wireless router. Both computers are now able to be online simultaneously, but the instructions don’t say how to do file sharing. She wants to be able to surf, open & create files, access everything in our PC, etc. Neither the tech support staff at e-Machines nor the one at Netgear would give me the info on how to share the files. They had to stop at establishing the Internet connection through the router and verifying no firewalls are in existence preventing what I want to do. Does anyone know an easy way to get this data? (PC has Me, laptop has XP. )

Also, how do I get icons from desktop to taskbar in XP? Clicking and dragging them down there isn’t working.

#2

If you’re talking about the Quick-Launch bit at the bottom left, right click on the taskbar and choose Toolbars->QuickLaunch (to show it). You should then be able to drag stuff onto it. (Works for me, anyhow).

As for the file sharing, make sure both “Client for Microsoft Networking” (or something like it) is bound to the adapter you’re connecting with on both machines, and “File and Printer Sharing” is turned on. (They’re both in Network, look for “Install Client” or something). Check the “Share folders” box in Me if that’s an option. Reboot, then right-click on a directory, and you should be able to share it.
Here’s a link for XP - Me’ll be different but similar.

Note that my network is totally wired, and I haven’t researched the security ramifications of file sharing on WiFi)

#3

I’m putting this in a bigger font, because it’s very, very important.

Basically, unprotected shares are dangerous. They should never exist in an environment where you can’t secure accessibility to the network. And all wireless standards are crackable with a bit of effort, so it’s really hard to secure accessibility to a wireless network.

So, basically, I’d recommend putting a password on the share, even for a little home network, just because.

here is a step-by-step bit of instructions for adding passwords to the shares for XP.

-lv