Networking directly between two computers in Win XP?

Have a look at this http://www.wown.com/

" MS" wrote in message
...
Although fairly computer literate, I am pretty ignorant as far as networks
go. So, sorry if the following question seems like a "dummy" question.

Two laptops, both running Windows XP Home Edition. Both have built-in
network adapter cards and jacks for a network cable.

Can they be networked, for transferring files between them, by connecting
them to each other directly with a network cable, without any additional
network hardware?

If so, how do you set it up? I tried to do it, connected them, used the
"Add
New Connection" wizard, but couldn't get it to work. Always got an error
message like "network cable is unplugged", although it was plugged in to
both laptops.

If it's possible, please tell me how to do it.

Does it matter what kind of male-male network cable--Cat 5e, Fast Cat 5e,
Cat 6?

Thank you for your input,
Mike