Accessing desktop files from my laptop

Through Control Panel, I have enabled network discovery and file sharing on
both machines. Both are visible on my wireless network but when I
double-click on OURDESKTOP within the Netwrok Folder on my laptop, I get a
message to the effect that whilst OURDESKTOP is on-line, a connection cannot
be established. This
seems to be due to some firewall issue that is blocking file sharing. The
Widows firewall is operating correctly on the laptop but a remote firewall
may be blocking access. Does this mean that I should turn off my Macaffee
Firewall and all will be well?

Or do I also have to use the same login ID on the latop as I do on the
desktop in order to see the desktop files

Thanks in advance for any help

--
lstrbrr

lstrbrr wrote:
> Through Control Panel, I have enabled network discovery and file sharing on
> both machines. Both are visible on my wireless network but when I
> double-click on OURDESKTOP within the Netwrok Folder on my laptop, I get a
> message to the effect that whilst OURDESKTOP is on-line, a connection cannot
> be established. This
> seems to be due to some firewall issue that is blocking file sharing. The
> Widows firewall is operating correctly on the laptop but a remote firewall
> may be blocking access. Does this mean that I should turn off my Macaffee
> Firewall and all will be well?
>
> Or do I also have to use the same login ID on the latop as I do on the
> desktop in order to see the desktop files
>
> Thanks in advance for any help
>

Yes to both questions.

1. Uninstall McAfee. Replace it with a good antivirus such as NOD32,
Kaspersky, or Avast (if you want free).
2. Create identical user accounts and passwords on each machine. If you
want to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular user's
account) for convenience, you can do this. The instructions at this link
work for both XP and Vista:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User