Setting up home network can't be this hard.?

I have 2 laptops and a desktop that all connect to the internet through a netgear router. The desktop is connected via ethernet directly to the router and the laptops are connected wirelessly. Both laptops have the free version of zone alarm firewall protection. I hooked up the laptops temporarily to the router via ethernet and wireless while I ran the network setup wizard on all 3 computers. I made sure the workgroup name was exactly the same and file/printer sharing was on. When I go to network places on the desktop Residential Gateway and shared docs on (DESKTOP) appears under local network. On laptop 1 it has Residential Gateway and shared docs on (LAPTOP1) appears under local network. On laptop 2 it has Residential Gateway appears under local network and shared docs on (LAPTOP2) appears under the internet. None of the computers recognize each other and this is getting frustrating. How to set up zone alarm to make it work or what am i doing wrong.





PLEASE HELP!!!!

Setting up home network can't be this hard.?
Disable ZoneAlarm on all computers. Does it work ?





BTW you don't need a firewall when you have a router, just remember to enable it back before you leave home.
Reply:Do it by LAN IP addresses and make sure the LAN connection is in the Zone Alarm's"Trusted Zone"





on each computer do


Hold Windows key and press "r"


cmd


ipconfig /all





Write down the IP address of the network adapter connection to the Netgear router.





Open Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer) and in the address bar type


\\{IP Address of another computer}





So say the IP address of the computers were


Desktop: 192.168.1.100


Laptop1: 192.168.1.101


Laptop2: 192.168.1.102





On Desktop Type in


\\192.168.1.101





You should see Laptop1's SMB shares.





Enable static DHCP on your Netgear router and assign a specific IP address to the MAC address of each Computers Network adapter, this way the IP addresses won't change. Or manually specify the IP addresses on each computer (but don't forget the DNS server - it is the LAN IP Address of the router).





Then Map a network drive from Windows Explorer


Tools--%26gt;Map Network Drive


Assign a drive letter


Under address type \\{IP address of other computer}\SharedDocs


{Or whatever the Shared folder is, you must include the shared fodler name or it will fail}


Reconnect at logon


CLick OK, It will then show up in your My Computer





Repeat for Other computer.