Extreme noob at neworking-sharing files=super slow?

[sindows]

I managed to set up a situation in which I can share folders between my laptop and desktop but the file transfer is extremely slow. Is this normal? If I were to open a simple 5 page word document, it would take ~5 seconds not counting the time it takes to boot up Word...Videos are basically unplayable...

 

[JackMDS]

Measuring Network transfer in term of Word paged and "slow" is Not a big help.

Try to transfer a big file (like 100MB) and measure the actual time that it takes so you can talk about MB/sec.

http://www.ezlan.net/net_speed.html

 

[merid14]

Are you moving files back and forth or trying to open files on the other pc? anytime you open files from another pc you are going to run into problems with speed/sluggishness. do what JackMDS says and let us know.

 

[sindows]

I actually tried copying a decently sized 300Mb folder and after about 5 mins, I gave up as the progress bar had barely moved and it estimated it would take me 110 minutes to finish. I'm pretty sure thats not anywhere near 1 MB/sec.

 

[spidey07]

Using homemade cable? Not leaving speed duplex of the network cards to auto? Sure both network cards are 100 Base-T?

Open up task manager and take a quick look at network utilization on both ends when moving a file. Merid is incorrect about opening the file on another machine vs. copying it - it is exactly the same process.

 

[jhu]

wired or wireless? what's your topology?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Definately should not be that slow. You either have a faulty network card or cable or switching device. It could possibly be a speed/duplex issue but it would need to be hitting 10/half to be that slow