Kari, Baarod, you are more experienced than the rest of us and we do appreciate the help. But for many of us Windows 7 is not working in a network environment. I have followed advice here, at MajorGeeks, looked up on tech net and still cannot get Windows 7 to work like XP did for file sharing. I assume when you first tried out Windows 7 you set it up to share with your other OS's and after a month or so made the decision it works. Same as I would do.
Ask what you need to know and I will post it.
Sites I have tried:
How to Network Windows 7 Share Files and Printers between Windows 7 and XP - How-To Geek Windows XP and Windows 7 networking issues - Networking & Security
and a few others.
Logically I should be able to get a full map from the networking and Sharing window and set things up. Instead I have this computer, the switch and the gateway connected to the internet and a list of computers below under "the following device(s) can not be placed on the map". This is true on both Windows 7 computers. The XP computers show all devices correctly. So the Windows 7 computers can see the devices but not place them nor give any information but the XP computers can. All help appreciated.
I should add I am file sharing effectively by typing in the IP or the name directly to the "search and command line" box in the start menu.