Connecting 2 windows machines

You can't use normal "straight through" cables to connect via the Serial or parallel ports. You need a laplink cable. Then there is the whole fun of setting it up - I've found for win95 sharing seemed to work best when the folder was passworded.

Also have a look at interlnk / intersrv - for DOS file transfers

If both PC's have USB the marx computers do a link for €27

http://www.msi.com.tw/ <-- do you mean this one ?

http://www.wown1.com/j_helmig/usbmain.htm <-- good site

you need a special cable with proper plugs and with some electronics to
switch the signals between the 2 systems :

(too complex to self-made, you need to purchase it).

I used for my USB network the "Net-Linq USB Connection Cable" from
Parallel Technologies.
Network speed up to 500+ Kbytes /sec
(Effective data transfer rates are depending upon PC type, CPU speed and protocol overhead )