[Ben B]

Go in Network Connections on the XP and click 'Set up a home or small office network' and note down the workgroup you have chosen. Complete the wizard and restart the machine. On Vista, set the workgroup to the same as you did on the XP, by right clicking Computer and clicking Properties and selecting Change Settings under Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings and restart the machine. Open 'Network' from either the desktop or start menu and open the Network and Sharing Center. Ensure Network Discovery and File Sharing and Public folder sharing are enabled and Password Protected sharing is disabled (see attachment). Then open computer and click on Public on the left (see attachment) and drag the files you want to share into there. Back on the XP computer, open My Network Places and you should be able to find the public folder on the Vista computer, where you can drag the files onto your machine.