my friends laptop has windows XP home installed on it and my comp has windows XP professional. i followed a few tutorials on networking and none of them seem to work.

i have created a workgroup called "HOME" and my friend had joined the workgroup. the problem is, i cannot see his computer. it does not appear  in my workgroup. also, he can see my computer but is denied ACCESS. it says something along the lines of "you do not have access rights or priveledges to view these files. contact the administrator."

i have used the "setup home or small office network" wizard and so has my friend, with no success. i could really use some help here.If it is file sharing you are trying to do please see this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304040

hope this helps .NINE times out of ten this is caused by an incorrectly configured firewall.  The firewalls need to allow access to ports 137 to 139 and 1512 on the LOCAL network.router firewall or software firewall? i have zone alarm firewall as well as a BUILT in firewall in my router.Software firewall.  Don't on any account open those ports on the router!what if i just turn the firewall off for the time being? i cannot seem to find setup for zonealarm.No!

Firewall-->Add.  You can add your LAN to the safe/trusted area. Quote

Software firewall.  [highlight]Don't on any account open those ports on the router[/highlight]!

i jsut shut down Windows Firewall. Did the job for me.