Strangely enough, I was forwarded an XP Tip/Trick about this very subject from TechRepublic. It might not necessarily apply to your situation, but it sure sounds like it does! Here's the tip:

Speed up My Network Places

When using Windows XP's My Network Places to access shared resources on computers running older versions of the Windows operating system, you may have noticed that the process can be excruciatingly slow. What's the reason for this slowdown? By default, Windows XP scans all remote computers for scheduled tasks--a neat, but seldom used, feature.

However, you can override this configuration with a simple registry edit. Follow these steps:


- Open the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/ Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace.
- Under the NameSpace branch, locate the subkey named {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}.
- To make a backup copy of this key, right-click the key, and select Export.
- In the Export Registry File dialog box, select a folder, and give the file a descriptive name.
- Right-click the key, and select Delete.
- Close the Registry Editor, and restart Windows XP for the change to take effect.

I hope that helps!

- trs