A serial or parallel cable with Windoze inbuilt tools will do the job. No need for all the other stuff if all you want to do is transfer a few files.
You need to have Direct Cable Connection installed on both machines & (from memory) NetBUI enabled in 'Control Panel ==> Network Settings'.
I sometimes use an old Win3.1 program (because I can use it on just about anything). This particular program can install itself via a serial cable in case the software isn't already installed on the other PC.
I used to have a great little DOS piece of software that would also utilise a serial or parallel connection. Very fast, probably because it lacked the pretty gizmos & widgets of Windoze.