Thank you each and every one for your help. I went over today and (hopefully) got the printer working. When I connected the printer to the system, as damccoy suggested, it updated itself and seems to be working fine. I think I was just anticipating problems because the system requirements for the printer indicated it wasn't compatible with win 7, and I was trying to be prepared. Thanks again. You guys are great!

File and printer sharing: frequently asked questions there are links there to printer sharing in windows 7 and also a video. Use the Homegroup Feature in Windows 7 to Share Printers and Files more info since both have windows 7 it should be fairly straight forward, when sharing between xp and 7 it gets a little more complicated. Be absolutely sure you use the exact name for your group names on each pc.

Assuming your printer is functioning you should be able to print to it from your laptop. Follow the instructions and use the installation CD that came with the printer. Or you can download the latest, greatest drivers from the printer manufacturer's website and use those instead of the CD. Typically you install the software and at some point during the installation you connect the printer to the laptop [usually] via a USB cable. The installation will continue and you should be good to go. As for sending faxes, I'm not real clear on what kind of phone service you have. It sounds like VOIP so you'd need to plug the fax machine's phone cable into your modem. You can temporarily unplug the regular phone or get a splitter.

Not sure what your printing and from where, next time you print try printing from the File menu in the browser, click file when the window opens choose print. Does the printer even sound like it attempts to print and you get just a blank page? Or nothing happens at all?