Thanks for your replies,
The machine is about five years old but is running a Pentium4 1.6Ghz processor on an MSI motherboard. The WinXP installation is fully up to date.
A brief look at the links provided makes me think that I will run into problems with both machines being across a wireless router, and both running firewalls but when I have more time I will look at the programs you listed and see what I can do.
Thanks again
BB