Easiest way to transfer files without at network

Hey all,
So the good news is a friend gave me her better laptop. The bad news is my old computer is a laptop as well and I only get the internet via ethernet cable connected directly into it...so no router.

I also don't have removable storage other than a CD. The one thing I can do is have both computers go onto someone's unsecure network via wireless. Can I create a Network via this so I can just tranfer all of my files over?

I would love creative, cheap solutions. Don't want to buy anything, but if you think the only option I have is to burn everything to a CD, I'll take inexpensive suggestions, too.

Also, any advice on how to make my friend's laptop totally mine would be great. I already changed the Admin. name, but if there's other things I can do, I'm open.

Thanks so much!
Stephanie

 

Is this a special cable called a Crossover Cable or do I just plug in the ethernet cable to connect both laptops and i can transfer? And once I connect them, do I have to set up a Network via the Wizard or is there a different way? I'll do some searches here and see if there's more on it.

Thanks!

 

Thanks for that. I also found this on a search. Does this sound right?
conn. them using a crossover cable.

assign one 192.168.1.1 subnet 255.255.255.0
assign one 192.168.1.2 subnet 255.255.255.0

create the shares you want on each of them

open command prompt on one of them and type

net use * \\192.168.1.1\share_name
net use * \\192.168.1.2\share_name

this will give you a network link on each computer to the other one

 

Is wireless on each laptop? If so, you may be able to use the laptop wireless software to connect to each other via ad hoc (I think it is called) mode. This way you do not need an access point.