Anybody know if it's possible (or wise) to network a Vista PC with an XP unit? I'm having the crazy notion of getting a new Vista PC and linking it to my current XP machine. Can it (or more importantly, should it) be done without too much grief, if at all?

My neighbor has had no luck with it.

Sometimes the XP machines show up on the Vista ones and vice versa, sometimes they don't. One minute they're there, then they're gone.

Can't say I'm very surprised. Thanks for the advice. Anybody had any better luck?

Stewie,

It depends on what you are tring to do the the PCs. If you just want to file share, you can shared one and access it using a command prompt command. If you have a computer names Bob and wanted to connect to it from another computer with out goign through all of the windows sharing BS you would need to pick a folder on Bob and turn on filesharing for it, and allows other to write to it. Then make sure Bob;s windows firewall or anth other fire wall is set to allow filesharing. On the computer you want to access Bob from go to start-> run, type cmd and press enter. At the command prompt type:

net use z: \\Bob\shared_folder

That will make the file fodler on Bob the z drive on the other computer. This shoudl work for Vista and XP.

if you can't get Vista to recognize/find the XP machines, have a look at the MS Knowledge Base KB922120. There is a download that makes XP compatible with the Vista Network protocol for finding/connecting to other network computers.