Beware of people suggesting you NOT try something. Any time help is offered,
my recommendation is you try it all to figure out what works. Only you can
determine that. No one else. None of the advice offered is harmful in
anyway.

Carey

I agree with you, Lou.

Installing an additional protocol for file and printer sharing isn't
necessary, and it can make browsing a Windows network unreliable,
especially when XP is involved.

If a network doesn't work with TCP/IP as the only protocol, adding
IPX/SPX or NetBEUI might appear to make it work.   However, it won't
work optimally, and the underlying problem will still exist.  It's
much better to fix the underlying problem.  Practically all TCP/IP
problems are due one of these easily correctable errors:

1. A firewall program is improperly configured.
2. NetBIOS over TCP/IP isn't enabled.
3. IP addresses aren't in the same subnet.

There's one exception to the TCP/IP-only rule, but it's a
configuration that Microsoft specifically recommends not using: all of
the computers connect to a broadband Internet service through a hub or
switch (not a router) and receive public IP addresses from the ISP.