Can I connect two computers directly via an ethernet cable?

I am trying to connect two laptops together, one with windows vista premium 32 bit, and one with windows xp home edition 32 bit. the purpose is moving files. i know alternative methods, and i am only interested in knowing how to connect these two computers via ethernet cable. PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME THAT I SHOULD BE DOING THIS ANOTHER WAY!!!

Can I connect two computers directly via an ethernet cable?systemworks

Yes you can connect them together, you need to make or buy a crossover cable.

Can I connect two computers directly via an ethernet cable?windows

You can! You just need a crossed-over Ethernet cable - ask your local retailer about this. Set-up a fixed IP network (e.g. the Vista computer at 192.168.0.1 and the XP machine at 192.168.0.2, or vice-versa) and open, in Windows Explorer, \\Machine_IP\SharedDocs - where "Machine_IP" is the IP address of a machine. This is the Shared Docs folder, shared by default with the network.

Also, if one of the machines has a modem (or a secondary network card attached to a cable modem), you can share the Internet connection between the computers!

Note: see the Windows Help to find out how do you set up the fixed IP thing; I'm not good at teaching this :)
I think that is called an Adhoc connection

pg
As Luis says. The key is the crossover cable and the static IP addressing. The computers have to see each other as being on the same subnet. Luis' configuration will do that for you.
yes (from my experiences windows allows it but dont know about vista for sure but i believe it would work but u need a special cable