The first step is to get rid of Windows ME.
That's not sound advice. ME will network just fine. And when it is configured properly it is superior to XP in some ways.
I've networked ME with every other MS OS and find that XP is the hairy beeyatch when it comes to manipulating it.
Ever try to get rid of a trojan from XP? The NTFS partition won't allow access to the disk without Windows running. That can cause a lot of headaches.