But I'm a noob too ....
Work related question. We have a Desktop that is connected to our intranet here at work. I have a laptop that controls my microscope. I need to transfer data from the laptop to the desktop many times a day. Use of a flash drive is getting old. -The desktop is hard wired to our intranet.
-I have only one network port(cat5) on the desktop. In use now for intranet connection.
-Desktop has a static IP address so we can remote often.
-Laptop cannot be hooked directly to work network unless I add all the security stuff which I don't want to do.
So my question is how can I network them locally not giving access. I need to maintain the static IP of the desktop so users can remote to it. I am a complete newb at networking.
Thanks in advance.

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