home networking advice

Yeah - get a real router! If you're sharing files using ICS (or whatever M$ calls it these days) you will always end up with problems. You'll need both powered up at the same time, for instance, if you need to browse the net from the machine that isn't 'directly' connected to the net.

The main problem you'll have with Vista is that M$ has (finally, after about ten years) changed the native authentication method in Vista (from NTLM to Kerberos). That may go right over the top of your head, but all you really need to know is that you may have to enable simple file & printer sharing, or that you might have to piss about with the windows firewall to get it to play nicely with XP. Also, the default workgroup name in XP is 'MSHOME', but in Vista it's 'WORKGROUP'. Make sure you have accounts set up on both machines and that you enable access to resources (such as a drive or file share) on an account-by-account basis

This link might help you out

LOL - me too. best thing since sliced bread for a home network. I've got a WRT54G with some third party firmware on it that, basically, turns a 30 quid router into one with features you'd usually pay 600 notes for

So long as you;re not using ICS, that link should explain pretty much all you need to know. You might have to delve into the registry on the Vista box to set the authentication level lower than the default - if you're still getting grief after doing anything that tutorial points out, lemme know.