Can I connect a netbook and laptop with an Ethernet cable?

Hello to all:

I recently bought an Acer laptop. It was a killer deal…BUT the darn wireless card refuses to keep a signal more than five feet from my wireless router.

I posted here about this earlier, but everything that has been recommended here has not worked.

Now I’m wondering this: Could I get a netbook and link the two machines together with an Ethernet cable? I’d like to use the Netbook as a second screen using a program called MaxiVista, but that requires both machines to have network access….

Bottom line: can I get my laptop to gain wireless access by hard-wiring it to a Netbook?