File sharing

Jul 13, 2006 4 Replies

I'm new to wireless. I have Netgear WGR614 router on my desktop and WG511 adaptor in my laptop. The connection to the internet works fine on both machines. Using windows explorer, on the desktop I can access the files on the laptop, but on the laptop I cannot access the files on the desktop. The error message says the network path was not found. The drive is shown as a disconnected network drive. Drive has been mapped, and is accessible when I use the Ethernet cable connection instead. What am I doing wrong, or is the way it is supposed to work?


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

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