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if simple file sharing is enabled, and file sharing is turned on on both computers, then there is no need to add user names to either machine since they will both use the guest account automatically. with simple file sharing enabled (default setting) the guest account is allowed to access resources across the local network, however by default the guest account is denied local logon access.
it sounds like you may be having problems with the ip addresses on the network. if you have 2 network cards in the one machine, and one network card is connected to the internet, then that network card has its own ip address already. when you enable internet conneciton sharing on that computer, the second network card becomes your network's default gateway, and also serves DHCP requests to the machines plugged into the network segment that card shares. this is why it works, because all the machines are configured automatically with an address that works.
you may try turning off internet connection sharing, and also, if you are using the windows xp firewall, make sure service pack 2 is installed and configure the firewall on both machines to allow file sharing on the network. (an easier alternative is to disable the xp firewall on all computers, and use a third party firewall to protect your computer from the internet, setting it to only filter traffic on the network card connecting to the internet)
after this is done, set the ip addresses manually on the network cards you are using to connect the computers to eachother. you can more or less choose anything you want, save a few reserved addresses ranges for specific maintenance/protocall communication tasks, just as long as the subnet address is 255.255.255.0, and make the ip addresses something like 192.168.0.x or 10.0.0.x where x is a unique number to identify each computer.
so, for example, make the ip address for the network card on the non-internet computer 10.0.0.10 with the subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.
then on the other machine with 2 network cards, dial in the address on the second network card that is not connected to the internet as 10.0.0.20, with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.
you don't have to put an address for DNS or the default gateway on either of those network cards.
after all of this, amke sure you share a folder out on each computer by right clicking it and choosing the share option in the drop menu. it would probably be a good idea to create a new folder to share just to get it working. if you haven't already done this, it will ask you to use the wizard, which you can but is not necessary, as it assumes alot about your network setup and makes "reccomendations" that you may not want to deal with. the quickest thing is to choose the option that says "just enable file sharig".
after this, see if you can browse your workgroup and see the shared folders from each computer.
good luck!
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