small network xp issues

Running a program called Wintotal (real estate appraisal program) from a computer that is a client/server running win xp pro. One aspect of the program called "contents" which pulls up all forms and is most resource intensive has been getting sluggish over the .past 3 months. on the server/client it opens in 5 seconds, on the clients it takes about 90 seconds......the mapping of drives etc, appears correct, called wintotal techs, they think everything is okay.

So i tried booting into safe mode with networking (on a client) it opens contents in 5 seconds which leads me to believe its an xp process or protocol which is causing the delay.....everything else works as it should in Wintotal and other programs, on network and off.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, when a client calls for information usually the info they need is in contents, and when running a report there are other ways to access the same forms which are faster but its a nusiance that i think can be corrected though its beyond what i know, i have gone through some proccesses and tried disabling firewalls and anti-virus programs too no avail..

thanks for any help you can give or suggestions :)

XP Pro is limited to 10 concurrent connections

How many clients do you have?

Maybe they are not letting go of the connections?

What protocols are you using?

Preferred is one ...disable all other protocols?

Does the machine acting as a server have a static ip?

Sometimes this will make it easier for the client to Find the workstation\server.

Are you sure the client isnt infected with something??

Are the clients XP too?

MLF

there are 2 clients and the client /server all running xp they are in the same room and wired directly its on a home network the drive is mapped correctly, i am not there right now and i am unsure of what the protocol is...everything else including internet works fine, i am as sure as i can be that all machines are free of infection, all proccesses are legitimate and i run a scan twice a week , avg pro is used on the client/server and i run pestpatrol/spybot/spysweeper and adaware

Wired directly as in using a device Hub\switch

Or crossover cabling?

How do you connect to the internet....could be a dns issue...as the client may be going to the internet looking for the server?

MLF
edit> are all machines at the same patch level?

May need netbios over tcpip

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;318030

using a linksys router, the connection works great EXCEPT for one aspect of the program and the indiviual pages that that component loads are instantly accessible, just not as a whole, i guess maybe i am not clear so will try once more.

the program loads templates to do a realestae apprasial, "contents" will load all the forms of a completed appraisal, but it take awhile on the client, though if they use "jump to form" they can access any individual component in seconds,

so the network stuff appears to work fine and as far as accessing folders and that there are no problems, this component loads fast when i load in safe mode with networking, the other aspects of the program work good all the time

is that clearer?? if not i will do screenshots when i go in thursday and thanks for your prompt suggestions, i realize the info i am giving lacks some clarity and was hoping for something like "disable qos packet scheduler" (which i tried) but will keep on plugging away
thank you again :D

Just a thought...maybe something like Adobe reader or someother form program\service is running when not in safe mode...so the forms are not associating properly with your app.

I have had trouble with this and different versions of Crystal reports...as we have to run an older version of crystal to access a legacy database...but when we installed a Canadian Customs program that uses a newer version of crystal for reporting...it would knock out our reporting in the old database.

I would use task manager in normal boot mode and log what is running and then compare to task manager in safe mode...may give you an idea of what is interfering.

Looks like some service\app that is not native to xp...maybe an Office program

MLF