BleepingComputer.com: Vista Network screen "kills" (crashes?) network

Hey all,

This is a very strange problem, and I have been unsuccessful in Googling it/searching it here. Go figure, the words "network" and "disconnect" bring up a lot of irrelevant hits, and no amount of search engine math could solve it.

On my Vista laptop (Home Premium), I wirelessly connect through a router. I also have an XP Pro machine that is hardwired in. I am trying to set up file sharing between the two.

On my Vista machine, every time I go to the "Network" page (Start > Network) to view shared folders, I get disconnected from my network. The icon in the tray takes several seconds to update, but I immediately cannot access web pages, etc. The stranger thing is that my desktop loses its network connection too, although there is no tray icon that says so. The various lights on the router all indicate that things are normal.

Restarting the router does not fix the problem - even if I exit the Network page, then restart the router, there is only a connection for a few seconds before it is lost again. I have to restart my laptop, and then restart my router.

I KNOW that it is something to do with this Network page... I will have a perfect connection for days, and then when I click Network, it stops working.

I am computer literate (though admittedly less so when it comes to advanced networking), but I do not have even a clue as to what could be going on. Any thoughts?

Thank you!