File sharing

Check your firewall settings of the desktop, if you're using one. If so, place the wireless connection in the trusted zone. If you're not using a firewall of any kind, unplug the cable/DSL modem, the wireless router and shut off both the laptop and the desktop PC.. Afterwards, turn the items back on in the order you turned them off, i.e., cable/DSL modem, wireless router, etc. That usually solves your dilemma.

Note that Windows Home Edition and Pro Edition installed and configured in "standalone-mode" has the firewall on by default and file sharing off by default. Pro Edition configured as a member of a domain does not have quite as much of a default lockdown.

The router also may be refusing to pass packets from the "wild" wireless network to your desktop, which it likely considers a more protected network. At least by default.

those are guess; I hope they help. K

I was finally able to access files on both computers by turning off the Windows Firewall on both computers. My question now is is it safe to do so. I understand that the router acts as a firewall itself, everything is in full stealth mode at Gibson's security site, so maybe I'm OK?

One other question - before wireless, my CPU usage at idle usually ran

2-5% - now it runs about 25%. A program named csrss.exe uses about 10-11%, several others use 1-3%. Laptop is a Dell 1100 with 384K RAM. Normal behavior?

Jim

On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 01:16:59 GMT, "Jim Craig" wrote in :

No. The Windows Firewall can and should be configured properly.

NAT alone isn't as effective as a real firewall.

Gibson's security site is inaccurate and hysterical.

Could be a trojan -- see