It took me quite a while to figure out the concept of browse master with windows xp/pro/home and W2k, how do the versions of vista enter into the hierarchy?

You still need a master browser on the network - Vista doesn't complicate this at all. The majority of networking problems with Vista have to do with incompatible hardware and software. Most of this is due to IPv6 and the enabling of the DHCP Broadcast flag by default (although there are other issues)

In a browsemaster election 2003 or 2000 server were at the top of the heap, naturally.

xp pro and w2k came next equally followed by home then 98 and me

I am assuming different versions of vista fit in accordingly?

I'm having IPv6 issues when i try to VPN into my network from home. (alot of the XP machines suddenly 'vanish') I wonder if there is a way to disable IPv6 on vista for now.....???

AFAIK master browser selection is based on negotiations between the OS's and doesn't impact a lot of things on the network (in that it's transparent to the user). Master browser conflicts normally arise when using Standby or Hibernation. Here's an article about it in Vista:
http://searchwindowssecurity.techtarget.co...1254901,00.html

Here's a little GUI tool for it (free, registration required): http://downloads.techrepublic.com.com/down...px?docid=173288 Didn't work well for me in Vista tho'


AFAIK disabling IPv6 will only affect the new program Meeting Space - no other program that I know of needs it. You also may want to disable the DHCP Broadcast Flag (this was off by default in XP) and has been known to cause connectivity problems in networks that aren't fully Vista capable ( http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/928233 )

that's a common fallacy, long delays and corrupt shares plague badly managed networks

My networking experience is limited to small workgroups - so I don't notice much in the way of performance issues from it. As for corrupt shares - I avoid them like the plague (shares that its - corrupt or not corrupt) because of experiences with the larger networks that my IT department managed (but I didn't have a technical role in them).