Hi Richard,
Firstly in order to avoid confusion later on the host is my PC the newbie is the notebook. My internet connection is via the PC on a dialup.
Have already tried the basic TCP/IP thingy but using IP addresses 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.2 - so there are slight differences to yr suggestion so have just re-tried with your settings just in case and still no Joy. When I open explorer in each computer all I can see are the internal drives on the respective computer and within My NetworkPlaces\Entire network\Microsoft windows network\MSHome I can only see the computer's own entry.......
Oh and BTW when I shut down either one of the units the other sees that a network cable has been unplugged so there's obviously "some" form of recognition there......
Furthermore - neither one will accept a ping: The laptop times out and the Host PC "Transmit failed error code 65"