Network file sharing between xp and 7

Have you tried enabling 40/56 bit encryption on the Win 7 machine as per this article:
Simple change in settings pumps up Win7 networks
scroll down to the section Easy steps to a significantly faster network

Vincenzo, thanx for the latest tip ........I have now tried that, but with no luck.

I'm still getting the same intermittent result, which I can usually fix by re-booting my Win 7 PC .......and given the way I'm using my XP PC (sort of a smart "back up"), I can live with this problem.

However, going back to my original post, I also brought up another question that may or may not be relevant to my problem. At this point, this is just a curiosity, but its certainly baffling to me .....the problem is .....

I have never been able to turn on network discovery, per advanced settings ....... (home network by the way .....not work or public). I set it, but then it gets turned off after I save/exit and return to advanced settings. Why won't network discovery remained "on" ? ......