TR said:
I have a desktop with Win XP Home, and a laptop with Win
XP Pro.
How can I connect the two machines with a LAN cable so
that I can copy files back and forth between them?
I also have a WiFi router, but that only allows the
laptop to access the web. Can I get the laptop to see
the desktop's hard-drive via wireless without opening a
security hole in my home systems? I also have the latest
(free) ZoneAlarm on both systems and my WiFi encryption
is 128-bit.
Thank you all!
Does you router support hard wired network connections or just wireless? If
it does you can connect your desktop PC if it has a network card (NIC) and
network cable (presumably cat5 cable if using RJ45 connectors). Be aware
that you will need to configure ZAlarm's trusted zone to allow the two
systems to "see" each other rather than block each other. If your router
doesn't have hardwired connections, then a Wireless NIC is required - these
are easy to fit in USB guise, or you could get a PCI version, to slot into a
pci slot on the motherboard.
Once each pc can acces the router, with any software firewall configured
correctly, they should be able to see each other and access whichever drives
you setup as "shares" i.e. allow the folders to be shared with other pcs on
your LAN.
Re. security holes etc, it's best to accept that 802.11 wireless is
inherently insecure - so if security if a priority, use cables. Otherwise,
use Wireless and accept its security is limited. You have WEP enabled which
is good (WEp is far from bullet-proof but it's better than nothing). If your
router offers access controls such as MAC address controls use them also.
Hopefully your router is a NAT router which provides some elementary
protection from the internet, and ideally it may even incorporate a SPI
firewall to stop unwanted traffic entering your LAN.
HTH
