Is there any how-to guides out there that actually exist with a solution? lol My win 7 machine can't find my XP machine at all, I've got the basics done but still doesn't see the XP machine.

I'm going to move my XP machine to a spare room and just always remote connect to it, I'll put a monitor and stuff on it but I just added my old 19" monitor to my main computer and want the extra desk without the computer.

You want to simply share files between the two or do you actually want to remotely connected to the desktop?

on the win7 machine, go to the network settings, and turn on "Network Discovery"
or - if you mean remote desktop - the winXP machine needs a newer client, available at microsoft.com, or thru windows updates as an optional update