Error with establishing a connection to the server

i cannot access my database as i am keep getting the following error:

"When connecting to SQL server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL server does not allow remote connections. (provider:shared memory provider, error: 40 - could not open a connection to SQL server)"

when i click on the properties window i cannot see my table nor can i make a new connection as the same error is shown, could you please advice me how i can fix this?

Make sure the SQL Server 2005 service is running.

Are you able to connect to the server through Query Analyzer ?

Visitwww.connectionstrings.com to know how to build a connection string for your scenario.