I have a slave drive in my bedroom computer that I would like to share with the other computers in the house. How would I go about doing this in windows xp professional? My computers are currently networked through an unsecure wireless network....so if I do this, will neighbors also be able to access this drive if they can get within range of the network?

Right click on the drive, go to properties, click the sharing tab, check share this drive, and then check whether or not you want to allow anyone to modify the contents of the drive. Then you need to wait.

Absolutely.

Cool thanks. So if I secure my wireless network, will this ensure that my drive can only be accessed by the computers in my house?

OK I secured my wireless network with 128-bit WEP Encryption. Will this suffice? I heard WPA is more secure.

If your hardware is capable of of WPA, use WPA. Otherwise, WEP, though easily broken, is better than nothing.

OK I'm trying to set up WPA, my computers all support it. The rekey interval is 10 minutes by default. Does this mean that when I confirm the settings, I have to enter the password on all my devices WITHIN 10 minutes before it scrambles the password?

EDIT: Another question -

My desktop computer is connected to the wireless network as well, using the Linksys Wireless-G PCI adapter. Unfortunately, the device only connects to the network using the software that was installed from the CD. Is there any way to uninstall the software WITHOUT removing the drivers for the device? I just want to manage my connection settings in Windows.

It automatically rekeys over the air (OTAR).

You should be able to. Somewhere in your wireless network connection properties, you'll find an option that says "Let Windows manage wireless connection". Check that box, and take any linksys services off of start up.

Cool thanks. That linksys wireless network monitor program is so annoying. It cluttered my system tray even though I disabled it, not to mention the extra RAM its sucking out of my PC. All of your help is greatly appreciated.

I got my downstairs HP printer shared seamlessly. I just had to put the CD in all the computers that would be sharing the printer. But I'm having problems sharing my Lexmark P3150. The printer shows up on the network but when I installed the drivers for it on all my other computers, they will not send documents to the printer. The printer never responded no matter what I did, I could not even print a test page. So then I actually used the CD and the program said I had to plug the printer into the USB port, and would not resume installation until the printer is plugged into the USB and turned on. I know that this isn't possible since the printer is plugged into another computer, what can be done? I must have the right drivers, i made sure they were for the P3150.

When you have the driver disk in a computer, trying to access the shared printer, browse the contents of the disk, hit F3, and search for *.inf. make note of the .inf files found, and isolate the one that's in a path that has your OS name on it (win2k/XP, etc.). Uninstall the current lexmark install (if any), and add it again. When it prompts for drivers, point it to that directory of the inf file on the CD. It should install, and it should be usable then.

Fuck. okay, I decided it would be a smart idea to share my portable drives with all the computers on my home network. Theres a problem though... they do no show up on the other computers. Any steps I am missing other than "Right Click Drive, Share, Allow users to modify"