Laptop refuses to network

[Jim Kisco]

Yes please uninstall that version of Norton.
Go with the Systemworks version instead.

Also, Please enable sharing of your hard drives in "My Computer" or "File Explorer" tools. Then enable sharing at the folder level as well on the PCs you want to access.

Right click on the hard drive letter or folder name...............

Again make sure the same login accounts and passwords are on the other PCs........

Jim

[Bernard Levy]

>>Go with the Systemworks version instead.<<
I'd rather just stick with Avast! for A-V, ZoneAlarm for firewall (at least on ME, so far using XP SP2's firewall on XPs), and various free anti-spyware.

>>Again make sure the same login accounts and passwords are on the other PCs...<<

That is necessary? I never heard that before. I was told that Guest account needed to be activated so I did that on the 2 XP systems. I have some personal user accounts set up on the XP systems but not necessarily the same and not requiring passwords.

I have no Windows login requirement on the ME system. Someone recommended installing Netbeui on all 3 systems due to one of them being Win9x (ME) and that's simpler and more secure than TCP/IP. What are your thoughts on that?

[Jim Kisco]

Although Zone Alarm is a standard, most people I consult with are using hardware firewalls instead of software based firewalls - the environment is more stable.

Avast might be fine, but does it remove errors in the Windows registry or cleanup cached files? Norton does that........
Scheduling works fine with Norton.

Probably since you are stuck and your friends are not networking techs or admins, their information might not be well thought out. Again the key to accessing other PCS is authenicating with passwords. The ME PCs also need passwords. The "Netbeui" protocol is legacy technology that is not needed when you have TCP/IP protocol working. Be sure to enable sharing of your hard drives.
Netbeui is not exacting anymore secure that TCP/IP, or Microsoft would be wanting to use it instead of TCP/IP.

Finally, please do not enable your Guest accounts for normal login on the XP PCs, as that would be a security breach, which means anybody can log into your PCs.

Jim