Networking Between Windows 7 and XP

Hi guys, I am not sure where to put this but I thought general networking would be ok.

Basically, I am good with computers but this one is beyond me. Trying to network between a Windows 7 computer and a Windows XP computer is possibly the hardest thing I have ever done!   I have googled for hours and hours and none of the solutions seem to be working.

I will try to explain what I have already done. Although I have done loads and I am sure I am missing some things.

I have a Windows 7 laptop and for this exercise I shall call it WIN7. I have a Windows XP computer and for this exercise I shall call it WINXP.

Both computers are in the same network which I have called SAMNETWORK. I have enabled permission to Everyone in folder sharing settings on WIN7. I have turned on Sharing and I have made myself discoverable with no password set on Network and Sharing Advanced Settings. Both user accounts on the XP and 7 machines are the same and both passwords are the same. I have turned all firewalls off. The WINXP computer has sharing enabled.

I have done a lot more things including installing LLTP (sp.?) and changing registry entries like Lsa/anonymous something like that (can't remember the actual directory) but I have changed registry entries as I have read elsewhere on the web and I have changed the network from home to work but that did nothing etc. etc. But everything that everyone suggests is just not working and I have been looking for about 4 hours now so you can imagine I have tried everything I have found!

Anyway, my 7 laptop can see WINXP but when I click on it, it states that Windows cannot access \\WINXP. The WINXP computer can see shared folders from WIN7 but it also states that it is not accessible. However, I did once get the WINXP computer to access the WIN7 shared folders. However, that doesn't even work now and that was really of no help as I need the WIN7 to access the WINXP files.

When I ping my XP computer (192.168.0.8) it returns the following:

C:\Users\Sam>ping 192.168.0.8

Pinging 192.168.0.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.0.8: bytes=32 time=119ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.8: bytes=32 time=38ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.8: bytes=32 time=268ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.8: bytes=32 time=183ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.8:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 38ms, Maximum = 268ms, Average = 152ms

C:\Users\Sam>

Any ideas would be brilliant! Cheers