How can I connect my laptop to my desktop using an ethernet cable

Question

Is there an easy answer that even my grandmother can understand?

Answer 1

If you want to connect them together, you need a special cable called a "crossover cable". It's ethernet, but a couple of the wires are reversed. If you don't want to buy a crossover cable, you can use TWO ethernet cables and a hub or router. The hub does the job of the crossover cable and effectively reverses the two wires for you.

Once you have the connection setup, you have to deal with the software end of things, such as sharing folders so the other machine can see them. I would handle the hardware portion first and then come back here for more details.

Answer 2

just go and buy a cheep router and run the wire its quick and simple.(if it is high speed put in the same proxy/dsn and off you go)

Answer 3

this will help. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_cr...

It will be easier to have a cheap hub. Just plug the 2 computers into the hub.