Couldn't have said it better :), in fact most of what Ed said is totally new to me. I thought that it was the right thing to do to start an investigation ...
My experience with combining NetBeui and IPX/SPX protocols is that Windows Explorer's performance drops drammatically and that was on P233 MMXs. Taking out the NetBeui solved that problem.
Marc
If things have the tendency to go your way, do not worry. It won't last. Jules Renard.