last help request

[ash]

i hope,at home ive got a netgear wireless modem router and my desktop running xp is connected to it by a ethernet cable and my vista laptop i normally connect to aerial on the router wirelessly(i think the the aerial is called the accesss point isnt it) anyway why cant wont the 2 machines talk to each other?or do they both have to be joined to router by cable or do u reckon its coz 1 is vista
n 1 is xp or do u think its a firewall issue
if i press ctrl+windows logo key+f which makes lappy search for computers on a network you get the message saying the active directory domain services is currently unavailable
whatever that means its never been available
anyone any idea cheers

[sparky]

On each PC you need to set up sharing of the hard drives or just folders e.g. My Documents you want to access from the other computer.

In XP
My computer - Right Click on icon of drive letter.
Select properites then sharing tab.

Don't know if Vista is similar - so far I've managed to avoid it!!!!!!!