Vista and XP computers wireless workgroup/network/internet issues

[Nancy]

We just got a brand new HP with Vista Premium, and we cant' get it to see
the other computers in our home network.

We have a linksys wireless usb on the new machine, and the others (except
for one machine) are all running XP.

It connects to the internet fine via the wireless, but it wont' see the
other machines on the network. Should we disable the network adapter that
came with the system? Although that doesn't help, since I tried it. We've
read everything, installed the patch on one XP machine (and got the thing
about it's not necessary since we're running XP with SP3), but it's not
helping. I've checked firewall settings on all the XP machines, and
nothing's out of whack.

Can someone PLEASE help? I have to use the new computer for my classes
starting on Tuesday, and I really need it to see the other computers in the
network so I can move my files from the old one over to it.

Thank you

Nancy Eddy

 

[Nancy]

Update: We put a LAN wire into the Vista machine, and it made no difference.
It could access the net, but still refused to see the other computers on the
workgroup. When we go to My Network Places, all we see is that computer and
the router. Nothing else.

We've set the workgroup name, but nothing else comes up. I've checked the
settings on the XP computers, and it's still not working. I'm about ready to
toss the darn thing out!

HELP!

Nancy

 

[Nancy]

We found the problem --- it was Norton. A program that I don't use, so I
uninstalled and am replacing it with another program.

We still can't access anything through the network on the Vista computer
except for the PUBLIC folder, but I think that's by design, right?

Nancy

 

[RalfG]

You have to enable sharing on each of the folders you want others to see on
the Vista computer. That's the same as in XP. Security settings are tighter
in Vista than XP (which usually has Simple File Sharing enabled) so you
might have to change more settings than you are used to in order to get the
same easy access to shared folders. In the Network and Sharing Center I
presume you have enabled Network Discovery, File Sharing and disabled
Password Protected Sharing (unless you really want it). Also make sure your
wireless network is classified as Private and not Public. There's a tendency
for the firewall to class it as public when it detects the internet
connection.

We found the problem --- it was Norton. A program that I don't use, so I
uninstalled and am replacing it with another program.

We still can't access anything through the network on the Vista computer
except for the PUBLIC folder, but I think that's by design, right?

Nancy