hey, i recently changed my OS from Win98 to WinXP Prof SP2, in the process of doing so it required me to format my HDD, so i aborted installation, transferred my files to my dads computer via the wireless network we had set up. i re-ran the installation, formatted my drive, and XP installed. We had to set up the network again, I installed the - Wireless-B USB Dongle - and set up the network. the notification in the notification tray says that i am connected to the network with a very good signal, but i cant get my files back and i cant get on the internet. Help? And also, what is the difference between FAT 32 and NTFS? apart from the 32bit to the 64bit part, what is better? will my hard drive change with the current RAM and processor I have? Thanks for any help given Guy

What OS is your Dad's computer? If it's XP you have to move the files you saved to the Shared Folder or you'd have to set permission on the folder you did save them in. NTFS is more efficient at storing files in smaller spaces and provides for extra security that FAT32 doesn't have. there are of course other differneces, but there are several sites and books that will fill in all the details for you. Larry

A little off topic but why do people think storing files in smaller pieces is a good thing? Don't folks realize that the more pieces a file is in means the more time it takes to pick it up? So why would you configure your file system to be slow on retrieval and writes? In other words, NTFS's ability to do 4k clusters is NOT a benefit. To answer your question Guy, as to your drive changing in relation to RAM and CPU, there is no impact. With NTFS you have cluster size control [except on the OS installed partition], file level security, and can address larger than 32gig[limit of fat32 under w2k/xp]partitions.

its the same as mine, WinXP Prof SP2. they are in the shared folder, its all i could get access to when the origional network was setup. is there anything i need to chage the settings of on mine or my dads comp? i have made sure the IP address, Subnet mask, default gateway and the preferred and alternate DNS servers are the same, its connected to the network but the internet still isnt working? any ideas? but i thought NTFS was superior to FAT32, like FAT32 is to FAT16? Guy

"but i thought NTFS was superior to FAT32, like FAT32 is to FAT16?" Nope. NTFS has some advanced security, which is desirable for office environments. But for the home user, the compatibility of FAT32 is an advantage. Generally FAT32 is a lirtle faster than NTFS.

so i shouldnt change my drive from FAT32 to NTFS then? anyway can anyone help me with the networking problem? guy

make sure you have the same user name and password on each machine, and log them both in with that user and pass, also make sure both machines are on the same workgroup...as posted above, make sure the user that you use has permission to that folder Complete Computer Service Inc. NW Indiana