newbie. laptop to pc prob

hi there. i'm trying to connect my laptop to pc but cant seem to do it. i was advised in pcworld to use an ethernet cable so i bought one. just got home and tried to connect but no joy. on the laptop i set up a new connection and made it the 'guest' and typed in the name of my pc etc. on my pc i followed the connection wizard. on my pc in network connecions there is a pc icon with 'incoming connections/no clients connected'. on my laptop under direct it syas my pc's name/disconnected/commuinications cable between two computers.

any help is much appreciated