Network - How Fast???

Hi All,

I am in the process of setting up my first home network and have a few questions to ask.
Equipment is as follows;
Windows ME running Office Small Business (PIII @ 1gig)
Windows 2000 Pro running Office Pro 2000 (AMD Anthlon XP 1900)
Linksys 10/100 fast Ethernet cards
D-Link Dl-604 Router
Cat 5 cables (not Crossovers)
On the ME machine I have my dial up modem (not real sure how to hook this up for sharing).
No Modem on the 2000 machine
First, How fast should the two computers connect?? After clicking on Network Neighborhood, it takes either computer about 45 seconds to a minute to show anything shared (this doesn't seem right to me).
Second, Should I have sharing set up so that I read the entire computer or what??? I seem to get a lot of conflicting opinions on how I shoould set this up (if it takes this long to open up "My Documents", how long would I have to wait for "My Computer" to open up on the network)???
Any Help would be Greatly appreciated.

On question 1... Not sure what you mean by "show anything shared" exactily. If you mean that it is 45 to 60 seconds before either of the computers (names) or their shared folders/drives shows up in network neighborhood after simply opening network neighborhood, then that is not really a problem. In order to display computers sharing resources and the resources they are sharing windows networking relies on something called a browse master and a browse list. One (only) computer in the network becomes the browse master and maintains the browse list. The process of becoming the browse master is a matter of negotiation between the PCs in the network (there is a hierarchy in terms of flavors of windows and who becomes the browse master). The rules state that the elapsed time it can take to negotiate (or re-negotiate) which PC will be the browse master can be up to about 18 minutes (if memory serves). Generally the time is far less than this (like a couple minutes or less). So if this is what you're talking about then 45 seconds to a minute is not out of line.

However, if you mean it takes 45 seconds to a minute for a list of files or shared drives/folders to appear when you click a computer name or its shared folders/drives in network neighborhood then this may be because one of the PCs is win2k. When an initial display of resources is being done and there is a win2k machine in the mix the win2k machine looks for remote tasks to execute (via the task manager). This is known to create delays. If this later case is what's happening to you then post back, as there is a registry change that can prevent the delay (by stopping win2k from looking for remote tasks to run).

On question 2... Share what ever you need want to. You are not introducing any delays as a product of what or how much you share.

Hi DrMDJ,

It's the second of the two scenarios. After my network neighborhood opens, and I select the other computer,it is quite a healthy wait for my files or folders to appear.

Try this. On the win2k machine:
- run Regedit
- locate the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace
- delete the subkey under it that reads
{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

Hi DrMDJ,

Worked like a charm, thanks loads!!!
Now if I could only get this internet sharing figured out.

Hi Again DrMDJ,

Finally got tired of messing around with trying to get Internet sharing straightened out and went on and ordered DSL yesterday... Amen to that!!!! They said that it should be about 5 to 10 days before I am up and running with the DSL...
I'll post back to let all know how it works out for me...
Thanks again for the help on the Registry Key...

DRMDJ, thanks for that

Im glad I looked in this thread. I always hated that wait, even though its just a couple of seconds.