[Shane Burke]

I had the same problem described in this forum and a Google search led me here. As I read through the posts, I noticed one regarding Cisco VPN Client. The user said that, after uninstalling the client, s/he could ping the XP PC fine. I do have Cisco client installed and can't really uninstall it because I need it. So, I started digging around in the Options and I found an option labeled "Stateful firewall (Always On)". It was checked and so I unchecked it and now everything is great! Well, so to speak. As I've been troubleshooting this problem I've uninstalled just about every security application that I have installed, so now I have to go rebuild all that. It's really infuriating that Cisco would choose to automatically enable something that would inhibit performance of my PC even when their software isn't launched, especially when it's an obscure setting. They should make that an option duing Setup. Anyway, if you have Cisco VPN Client installed, I HIGHLY recommend that you disable the "Stateful firewall."