XP slow to access large network directory

[Guest]

I have a few XP Pro SP2 machines that are extremely slow in listing the files
on a network directory that the Windows 98 machines bring up instantly. There
is also a DOS program we use that is extremely slow when using the files in
this directory on the XP, but not on the 98. I also have one XP machine that
with XP that also works fine that I think was setup differently than the ones
that don't work, but I can't seem to find the differences in the setup. The
machines that are slow were all created off the same Ghost image and I don't
have an XP CD here at the moment. The directory contains about 10,000 files
and is on a server running NT4. I've tried pretty much every fix I could find
on the web, but nothing has helped at all yet. Any suggestions?

 

[Guest]

You could try experimenting with turning the XP Indexing Service on and off,
see what difference that makes. I mostly find it's better left off as it
causes slowdown, but it might help in your case.

Another point which might be of help, even if not the direct reason, is that
NT servers by default don't use DMA when accessing disks, and this can make a
huge difference to the speed of locating files. There is a utility to turm
DMA on:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=191774

As always, please read the notes carefully!