How do I directly connect two computers?

I have one desktop and one laptop and I need to transfer large amount of files from one to another. How do I connect them directly to do that - I have ethernet cable and both computers have ethernet adaptors. One has Windows XP, the other has Windows 2000? Thanks!

How do I directly connect two computers?free antivirus

A normal ethernet cable won't do. You have to get a cross connector crimped from a computer shop. Just tell them the length of the cable you need, and ask then to crimp it as a cross connector. That is the one use for pc to pc connection.

Once the cable is in place rest is just detecting each other.

How do I directly connect two computers?internet

You need a cross-over cable or a hub between them. A cross over cable you can plug one straight to the other. You plug both into a Hub (or switch) with the regular ethernet cables.

Give them IP addresses manually. I won't explaine but make the one 192.168.1.10 and the other 192.168.1.20. Subnet 255.255.255.0 and just call the 192.168.1.10 the gateway.

That gives you a small network and they can talk to each other now. Start%26gt;Run \\IPaddress (of the other machine) will open up any shared resources.
You first must have an ethernet network interface card (NIC) in both computers to use this method. If you are using ethernet cards with RJ45 jacks (similar to a phone jack but wider), you simply need an RJ45 to RJ45 Category 5 Crossover Cable. However, you do not need a "crossover" cable if you are connecting the two computers through an ethernet hub. In this case you just need two standard Category 5 patch cables to connect to the hub. Most computer shops sell both the ethernet NICs and the crossover/standard ethernet network cables to do this. Regarding the "software" side of connecting the computers, you will probably need to assign TCP/IP, NetBUI, or IPX networking protocols to your ethernet network adapter card (found in Start --%26gt; Settings --%26gt; Control Panel --%26gt; Network). If using the TCP/IP protocol on your network adapter, you will probably need to assign different IP addresses and the same subnet masks to the TCP/IP properties of each computer: Computer 1 could be IP 192.168.0.1 %26 subnet 255.255.255.0, and Computer 2 could be IP 192.168.0.2 %26 subnet 255.255.255.0. You might also need to type in the same Workgroup Name in the Identification tab.
Should be 'How do I transfer big files from one computer to another'