[pinguino1]

Every time I reboot the win 7 comp. I get different networking result
1- Xp sees win 7 but can't access win7 but Win 7 sees Xp computers and access files.
2- Xp sees Win 7 and access share files but Win 7 don't even displays XP computers.
And many variations of above

XP computers talk to each other with no problem. I have not changed any network seetings on XP computers. But I have tried everything on the Win 7

I turned off norton and windows 7 firewall.
I turned off windows 7 password requirement
I set win 7 shared folders to EVERYONE
I set I reduced the win 7 encription from 128 bit to 64

I have seen many other post with similar problem and no clear answer yet.

[pinguino1]

SOLVED!.

Blame Norton firewall.

The reason why sometimes Win 7 connected with all the computers and share files and sometimes it didn't was because Norton turned the firewall back ON after a period of time.

When I turned the firewall off permanently. All the XP PC's including a Mac were visible to WIn7. and VISIBLE TO NORTON also. So then in Norton I changed the level of protection for each individual in the firewall mapping and turned the firewall ON again.

So I didn't have to patch the XP PC's nor modify the register.

Thanks to all who helped with ideas

I spent days tinkering with the network setting in vane. But in the process I learn a few things.