Any chance today's Win Vista update has messed up my network access?

[TomYoung]

Hi all:

I have a simple 3 computer network:

Mine (Vista/wired connection)
Wife (XP/wired connection)
Child (XP/wireless connection)

connected together via a fairly new Belkin router.

Today I went to print on the shared printer connected to the Wife's
computer (a setup we've had working for several years) and nothing
happened. Determined that the printer still was shared (yes) and
worked from Wife's machine (yes). Shut everything down, rebooted
everything, no joy.

Start>Control Panel>Network and Sharing Center>View Computers and
Devices shows only my computer and the router.

Entering the management tool for the router shows all 3 computers
connected, and all 3 computers have Internet access.

Since I didn't attempt to print to the shared printer yesterday and
since I didn't try to look at network computers and devices yesterday
I don't really know if my problem just popped up today, but so far I
haven't been able to figure out what's happening here and the only
other "Big" event today was the Win Vista update.

Coincidence?

Anybody else encounter this problem?

Or, any thoughts about how to fix this problem assuming the Win Vista
update *isn't* the issue?

TIA.

Tom Young

 

[TomYoung]

Hi all:

I have a simple 3 computer network:

Mine (Vista/wired connection)
Wife (XP/wired connection)
Child (XP/wireless connection)

connected together via a fairly new Belkin router.

Today I went to print on the shared printer connected to the Wife's
computer (a setup we've had working for several years) and nothing
happened.  Determined that the printer still was shared (yes) and
worked from Wife's machine (yes).  Shut everything down, rebooted
everything, no joy.

Start>Control Panel>Network and Sharing Center>View Computers and
Devices shows only my computer and the router.

Entering the management tool for the router shows all 3 computers
connected, and all 3 computers have Internet access.

Since I didn't attempt to print to the shared printer yesterday and
since I didn't try to look at network computers and devices yesterday
I don't really know if my problem just popped up today, but so far I
haven't been able to figure out what's happening here and the only
other "Big" event today was the Win Vista update.

Coincidence?

Anybody else encounter this problem?

Or, any thoughts about how to fix this problem assuming the Win Vista
update *isn't* the issue?

TIA.

Tom Young

Well, the problem is clearly firewall related. Disabling the firewall
completely on the Wife's computer allowed me access to her computer
and shared printer.

Something that the Win Vista update did? Maybe some McAfee update I
didn't notice? Who knows!

Tom Young