"block all connections" does seem to prevent mapping of netwrk drives (both when I set that on vista and Windows 7), once undone the map dr re-appears. Did not seem to prevent printing (printer share is on the vista machine).
the reason this whole issue came up is i did a netstat -a report on my vista machine and I noticed many open ports that I have no idea what they're for, so for security I set "block all" on firewall. I have many programs on my vista machine
my config is a network behind a router with vista/vista desktops and a Windows 7 lptp
thanks again