networking quirks: improving performance, reliability in Win9x/ME OSes

[ZippyDan]

upgrading to WinXP was a dream as far as networking was concerned... you just plugged everything in and it worked! (although one quirk ive been experiencing in WinXP Pro now is that it will lose its network definitions - manually configured IP address, default gateway, etc - for what seems like no reason at all)

i had so many problems with Win98/ME on a network that i could never solve. problems that now many of my friends experience and i cant figure out

problems like:

computers take far too long to show up in network neighborhood

computers NEVER show up in network neighborhood

4 computers on a network, 1 computer can see all 4 computers, 1 computer can only see 2 computers, 1 computer can see no computers (even though other computers can see it)

a win98 computer acting as a print server SOMETIMES lets people print to it, and other
times, for no reason, says you dont have authorization to use the printer

etc.

i could probably add to this list, but i bet many of you could too. it would be great if you guys could post any general tips for improving reliability, performance, and removing quirks in Win9x here, so i can help out all my poor friends with Win9x. i know ive read some tips before (like disabling certain services or something), but i cant find those posts now

thanks

~Zippy!

 

[r6ashih]

Step 1: go to computer with windows 98 or ME installed
Step 2: format computer
Step 3: install windows 2000 prof.
99% of headaches gone!

 

[ZippyDan]

yes. im asking because these people dont want to or cant upgrade

~Zippy!

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Improving network browsing in any Windows environment is frequently as easy as adding the NETBEUI protocol to all machines. Unless it's a really huge network, the small overhead of the NETBEUI broadcasts is a non-issue, and the problem of missing computers is history.