Hi, After receiving my new laptop I tried networking my desktop and my laptop to share data and a printer. They are connected together with a cat6 cable and i can share files. However they seem to be sharing things very slowly and Im not sure why. I had a limited or no connectivity message on both computers but removed it by telling them both not to display the message. My ip address for both is 169.254.x.x and the subnet mask is 255.255.0.0. I read somewhere that 192.168.x.x should be used but I have read mixed things. Also both computers have firewalls. The desktop ahs it listed under the trusted zone and the laptop doesn't say that it is blocking any networks. Can someone help me please? I have read tons of threads and found no answer. I do not care about sharing an internet connection through this lan just data. Thank you in advance for your help.

Lan only with no internet then turn off the firewalls. What subnet range you use doesn't matter as long as both are in the same range. Doesn't effect speed Is the cable you are using a factory made crossover cable? If not or a patch cable this will directly relate to your "limited or no connectivity" [never a good idea to turn off warnings] Imagine the power if you knew how to internet search

HI, Thank you for your quick reply. I appreciate it. I have my firewalls on because I am connected to the internet via a wireless connection from a third computer. Granted the router attached to that computer has a firewall, but does that protect both of my computers that are sharing a wired lan? One of them keeps track of traffic and it says that I have had some attempts to access my computer. Thank you for telling me about the subnet range, one less worry.