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Because... Microsoft expect us users to be as smart as their developers?
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And don't start about the sequence of who can become the "Master Browser" from all active "Computer Browser" service... That is just plain IMPOSSIBLE...
zzz2496
Hey... didn't you know there's an easy fix for that?
You only need one copy of Computer Browser running on a given node of any network, so you can actually get rid of the "wake up from sleep, disturb the whole houshold, I want a recount" crap by picking a machine that's always on (in my case the HTPC) and disabling the service everywhere else.
In a household settings, that is conceivable... in a multi location corporate network connected through VPN tunnels... I ignored them completely, and access through IP address or FQDN, done deal, 100% works :)
zzz2496
On my Win7 trials I have taken to static IP's. I fire up all the computers in the network and tell the router to give out the same IP to a given computer every time.
5 local home theaters and all are stable with a mix of XP, Vista, Macs.
One or two visitors work well enough, but for a LAN party the Win 7 user can be a problem. The XP users will game while the Win 7 user is setting up his static IP - or it may just allow him to join the new workgroup. I have no real clue why the static/dynamic IP matters.
Somewhere along the way Win 7 seems to have a DHCP problem with other OS's logging on and off.
I actually run all the perminent (wired) machines on my lan with static IPs right in the TCPIP setup of each computer... No DHCP required. I also have a number of people who log on with laptops when they're over and I've set up DHCP reservations for them in the router (like you did) so they all get the same IP every time.
And I still had problems... Networking would work one day, not the next... I was getting incomplete file downloads and transfers between machines. The networking on the win7 machines would suddenly just quit working for no discernable reason at all.
I have no idea why... and I don't have the time or resources to squander trying to figure it out... It's Microsoft's problem to solve --not mine-- if they want people to be happy with their product.
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