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Hi again,
I used the command promt to get the ip adds for each pc. I can ping each of the children's pcs. I tried pinging from their pcs and they can ping each other but neither of them can ping my pc(don't know if thats a problem or not).
Went into control panel, systems on each pc and the workgroups are all the same and each pc has a unique name. In my network places - view workgroup computers the children have all three computers but on my pc when I try to view workgroups i'm still getting the "Home(which is our workgroup name) is not accessible. You may not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions". Being that my pc is the host wouldn't it be the administrator?
When we were sharing files before it was through network places, I don't know how to map network drives. I just tried once again to share my printer with the childrens pc( through the add a printer in control panel and on both of them I'm choosing to browse for a network printer the searching for a printer results are as follows:
Microsoft Windows Network
Home(our workgroup)
Sherryscomputer(my pc)

This all looks okay to me except it's not showing my printer. Which is setup for sharing in printer folders and through the Windows Firewall. Could my Norton Antivirus cause a problem?
Also when I went into the secrurity center to check my firewall it said the Secrurity Center service was not started or had been stopped, what does that mean?
Thanks, angusman3

It sounds like your firewall to me. If it's Norton Security Suite, then this will be blocking your traffic. You can disable it from your system tray to make sure?

That **** "Norton", that was the problem. I disabled it and now everything i've been trying to do for two days, I just did in a few minutes. My daughter is now able to use my printer, and all three computers are now showing up in my network places on my pc. Why didn't i think of that( banging head on computer desk). Okay just a few more things to clear up. Should I be concerned about my Secrurity Service Center issue? What about the Internet Gateway connection should it be on my pc only yes or no?

A member of security are more qualified to answer you questions regarding anti-virus protection, but the Security Centre would be disabled by norton, because it pritty much replaces the need for it. If you uninstalled Norton, you should find Security Centre return to normal. I'm particularly not very fond of Norton, and you will probably find yourself with with a yearly subscription. I would personally rather use some free alternatives such as AVG Free (Download AVG Anti-Malware FREE) for anti-virus protection. Spybot Search & Destroy for Anti-Spyware (The home of Spybot-S&D!), and Windows Firewall keeps me happy enough.

If you would like to continue using Norton, it does have the facility (not sure where from the top of my head) to make exceptions, and open up the ports you need to file and printer sharing. These ports are TCP port 139, TCP port 445, UDP port 137 and UDP port 138, if you can find where the exception rules are.

Thanks for all your answers and your help!!!
Have a great day,angusman3

Your welcome, any time!

Marked as: [Resolved]

Hey Guys,

@MadMonkey, Nice work M8, more bananas for you.

@Angusman, I didn't want to make you start a whole new thead. I stopped using Norton several years ago, when they started getting more invasive and less helpful. There are many great free programs that do a better job, and are less invasive in your system.

What is important is that you are thoroughly covered, I prefer to have these items seperated out, because I think you get better coverage from seperate companies. No one company can do it all, there's just too much out there. You will need to have one Anti-Virus program, one Anti-Spyware program, and one Firwall running. You can have a couple of different anti-spyware scanners running, but it is extremely important that you only have one AV and one Firewall, they will confilct.

I run with Avast AV, SpySweeper, (paid for yes, but an excellent program, and you can get a three pak for $30), Spybot S&D Tea Timer, and Spyware Blaster as Anti-Spyware, and Zone Alarm for a Firewall. If you want to read more about other free programs you can read the article, PCHF Protect Your PC in my signature, it will give you a bit more information.

Glad to hear that you got your LAN up and running.

Look forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW