I am wanting to connect my laptop which is running win8 to my desktop which is running 7. Can this be accomplished using the same file sharing method that you described with the two laptops running the same win version? Also can I send a file to the desktop and have it printed, in other words can I run control over the desktop computer from my laptop? Thank you for you time and help with this problem

Rik

How remotely do you want to do this? If your on at home and want to do it then you already have the software to create a local network with file sharing. If your looking to use it over the internet there are programs you can use to do it with. So which option are you thinking of using?

By router are we talking a home router used for sharing the Internet from a broadband connection? If so, it usually has a 4 port switch and maybe WiFi. If that's what you have, then if both computers are connected they are in a LAN. They can share files and other resources.