Hello,

I can not see each other coputer on my home network.  I have two computers one is a desktop and one is a laptop.  Both computers are running Windows XP SP3.  Both are connected to a router, the laptop via a wirless connection and the desktop is hard wired to the router.  The router is connected to a DSL modem for internet access.  Both computers can access the internet, however my laptop frequently disconnects from the internet.  I have a printer connected to the desktop.

I have had this network working fine in the past.  I OCCASIONALLY use FILE transfers and use the network to send print jobs from laptop to printer connected to the desktop.

A few months ago a hard a nasty virus on the desktop.  It took some time but finally got rid of it thanks to the help on this site.  During that time I had to reset the network settings a couple of times (mainly the workgroup name kept getting changed, not sure if due to the virus or the efforts to remove it?).  After I got rid of the virus I THINK I had the network working OK, but then shortly after that my router died.  I am using a router that someone I know gave me that had an extra one.  After getting this new router setup, I again believe I had the network working OK, but because I do not do a lot of file/print sharing between the two I don't REMEMBER for sure if I ever had the networking working after installing the new router.

I tried ping the laptop from the desktop yesterday and I got a timed out message.  Today I tried to Ping today the desktop from the laptop and 3 packets were recieved and 1 lost.  I then went back to the destop and was successful in pingging the laptop from the destop.  I still don't see the other computer when I open the View Workgroup Computers window from either computer.

Now I tried to Map a Network Drive.  On the desktop, the laptop computer shows up but none of the shared folders show up under it and OK is greyed out when I click on the laptop icon.  On the laptop, the desktop does not show up when trying to Map a Network drive.  I tried to print a test page from the laptop and that worked.  However I had tried printing from the laptop a couple of times in the past week or so and had not been able to.

So I appear to have some spotty connectivity issues and not file sharing abilities.  Can anyone offer help? Have you got any firewalls ENABLED anywhere?Both computers did have the Windows XP firewall turned on.  I turned both off them off yesterday.  The routers firewall is turned on.  I did have a 3rd party firewall installed on the desktop computer for a while, but I took it off a while ago because I was having some issues with it.I turned off the router firewall and now both computers can see each other and share files.  So that seems to have been the problem.  Next question is how do I protect my computers if I have all the firewalls turned off? Quote from: thammondwis on March 06, 2011, 03:20:40 PM

I turned off the router firewall and now both computers can see each other and share files.  So that seems to have been the problem.  Next question is how do I protect my computers if I have all the firewalls turned off?