Setting up home network.... Heeelp please!

[(RIP) willstatt]

Right.... I need help! I've got my old Win98 dell, my later WinXP PC, and now a newish Mesh running Vista.

All are connected by cable to my Belkin router, and all connect to the old Internet without problem.

How can I link them up for file transferring/sharing?

I'm running AVG/Zonealarm/ad-aware

Had a couple of tries but don't really know what i'm doing!

Any easy to understand help, much appreciated.

Incidentally, I've gone over to cable connection, as my previously functioning Belkin network adapter stopped working. Same thing has happened on my two xp PCs at work, but they're too far apart for a cable. Any clues?

Many thanks in anticipation.

Will

 

[Fanum]

Have you tried using the network wizard?

As long as you select the correct type of network, it should work well......

The other thing to check is that you've set each drive or folder that you want to share to do so.....right click on a drive or folder, select properties and then the sharing tab.....the end result will be that in the 'My Computer view, things that are set to be shared (visible on your LAN) will then show with a cupped hand underneath them.

PS I've not used Vista beyond a brief play before it came out so I don't know if the wizard is the same with that.

You may also need to disable the firewall initially , get the two machines talking then re-enable the FW.....just pull the internet connection before you do, just in case

 

[carsqhere]

There's about a dozen ways to do this so... Suppose you want to share a folder on the XP PC so it's accessible from the others.

1) Make sure all your PC's have the same workgroup name, usually "workgroup" or "mshome" by default.
2) Right click the folder youu want to share in XP, click Sharing & Security, and share the folder.
3) Add your local network in ZoneAlarm so it knows not to block the share.
4) From the 98 & vista machines, use the local network browser to drill down to whatever your workgroup name is, then you should see the XP shared folder under that.

FWIW, a Win 98 PC is not something I would be hooking up to anything. It might be worth your looking at one of these free & easy Server-on-a-CD linux distros. Either SME Server from www.contribs.org, or Clark Connect Community Edition (www.clarkconnect.com). Either will turn your Win98 box into a LAN server for free if you can boot it off the CD. Of the 2, Clark Cconnect is the easiest for non technical users. If you just want a simple shared drive, Free NAS (www.freenas.org) will do, but it's the same effort to install the other two and you get a lot more. SME server can give you firewall, sharing, web hosting, email etc. all in the one box if you have 2 network cards. With one card it'll work as a local server for storing/sharing files. If you have two disks, SME will automatically mirror your data over both so if one fails you still have your stuff.

Incidentally, I've gone over to cable connection, as my previously functioning Belkin network adapter stopped working. Same thing has happened on my two xp PCs at work, but they're too far apart for a cable. Any clues?

You can go up to about 100 meters with a CAT5e cable. Cisco do an LRE switch which can go much further (up to 1500 meters) over a single pair but that's getting technical beyond the average home user.

 

[Jaq]

Sorry Will, I'm cack with computers.....so I'll just go and make the tea for you all instead!!....