The vista machine connected via wire to the FIOS actiontec router can see and access the vista laptop but not vice versa. However, when I bring up the network map from the laptop network/sharing center full network, i do see the desktop but when I click on the network from the start menu, I do not see it? Why different and how can I make it work?

Thanks Patti

Also, using McAfee but both machines can be seen in the mcafee network map.

A good place to start would be to reference this MS article to ensure all of your clients are configured correctly...

File and Printer Sharing in Windows Vista

I would be interested to hear back if any of the topics listed addresses your specific problem.