Hi guys,
i recently purchased this device and everything seems fine. I can use youtube etc but i cant seem to view my networked files. In order to view my files i have to turn off my windows xp firewall and then i can see the shared files. Is this normal? Surely this doesnt seem like the right way to go since my computer will be left vunerable to outside attacks. I called the customer service and they said its normal to turn off the firewall. If anyone can give me some alternate solutions that would be great since i can still return this item. Thanks alot!
It is not normal to turn off your firewall. You need to set the firewall to allow access to file sharing on your private network.
see here: http://www.stanford.edu/services/ess/pc/xpsp2/firewall.html
Scroll down to “Configuring Windows Firewall for File and Printer Sharing”.
You should call back customer service and ask to speak to a supervisor to let them know they are spreading around false information.
thanks for your response… i finally figured it out a few days ago… all i had to do was uncheck the ‘dont allow exceptions’ box with the firewall on and it was good to go… 
