You'll have to excuse the appalling lack of knowledge demonstrated in this message, but I'm completely new to this. 
I have a laptop running XP (x86) and a new desktop running 7 (x64). I want to have a copy of the data that is on the laptop on the desktop.
My first choice would be to use a cable because hopefully it is fairly quick (?). Is it a simple case of plugging in a network cable, telling the computers to talk to each other and hey presto it works?! I think I need a crossover cable rather than a patch cable (assuming this works, not sure if I need a router/hub/switch/something else in the mix somewhere!
).
The other option is wireless. I have a Netgear DG834PN (I think it is this version); can I use this to transfer the files? The problem is I'm guessing it would be slow, and maybe not that reliable?
Other options?
Any advise would be very much appreciated!

I have a laptop running XP (x86) and a new desktop running 7 (x64). I want to have a copy of the data that is on the laptop on the desktop.
My first choice would be to use a cable because hopefully it is fairly quick (?). Is it a simple case of plugging in a network cable, telling the computers to talk to each other and hey presto it works?! I think I need a crossover cable rather than a patch cable (assuming this works, not sure if I need a router/hub/switch/something else in the mix somewhere!

The other option is wireless. I have a Netgear DG834PN (I think it is this version); can I use this to transfer the files? The problem is I'm guessing it would be slow, and maybe not that reliable?
Other options?
Any advise would be very much appreciated!
