OS 10.6: Problem connecting two macs on the same network

I have a MacMini and MacBook which are both on the same network but don't appear on each others Network folder in Finder and subsequently don't appear under Shared Devices. Both are running 10.6... and I know its probably something ridiculously simple... I just can't work it out.

When I create a new network I connect them like that but then I can't connect to the internet.

Before anyone says, I have Apple File Sharing on, but this wasn't needed before. Please help...

When you create a computer-to-computer network, there is no internet connection since its only computer to computer. As far as sharing your computer, check out my blog post.

How to Enable File Sharing on a Mac | The Techy Guy

When you choose which type of file sharing to do, make sure "AFP" is checked. Let me know what happens.

Hi, thanks for your post but it doesn't seemed to make any difference.

Any other ideas?

I think I may have just cracked it... I rebooted my router, and now they can see each other... fantastic... I knew it wouldn't be my wonderful Macs... just my bloody Belkin router...