Until recently I have been using Windows 98 SE on my 3 computers with an old Netgear wired hub. I have recently istalled Windows XP SP2 on two of the computers and the network has slowed down significantly. I haven't tried the third computer yet, which still has Windows 98SE. I set up the network with the windows wizard and chose the option to not include Internet access. I am intending to upgrade to Broadband and buy a wireless ADSL router/modem but I want to get this problem sorted before spending out on new equipment. I think my old hub is only capable of 10Mbs. When I try to access the files on the other computer I get the hour glass for about 20 seconds and then I might be able to open the next folder immediately and then the next might mean the long wait again. This problem doesn't seem to be folder specific because, one minute a folder is quick to open and then the next time it's slow. Is there something obvious that I am missing here? Am I to expect slower speeds on XP with old hardware? I am a complete newbie to Windows XP and am not very technically savvy about the ins and outs of networking.

i read somewhere that the first thing windows does is check for scheduled tasks on the remote machine, done ask why when you installed service pack 2, maybe it re-enabled this feature which was otherwise disabled... also, try without anti virus or firewall, these 2 can take up time scanning the remote machine Jaydiocity.co.uk

here

Thank you for your replies. In the meantime I have beeen advised to set up the shared folders so that they become mapped drives and this seems to have sped things up a fair bit. If I still experience problems then I will have a go at deleting the registry key. Cheers. Annie

Funny thing: You upgrade your OS and everything slows down! You ever tried Linux? It's network-code is far superiour to windows. Many Windows 9x software runs under Linux too (using Wine-emulator).