WINS server - Windows 7 Explorer Slow - Static DHCP

Having trouble with some terminology.

My old machine (XP Pro) works very well with my ReadyNAS; I can browse shares/folders across the network quickly. For example, my media player can quickly build a library from the shared folder of music files. Not so with my new Windows 7 Pro machine. Accessing (exploring) a share / folder on my ReadyNAS takes an unreasonable amount of time (green progress bar).

Thought it was Microsoft Security Essentials, so I excluded explorer.exe from MSE scanning. No change.

Then I ran across this: "Using the ReadyNAS as a WINS Server"
http://home.bott.ca/webserver/?p=217

I'm willing to give this a try, however my router (Linksys with Thibor firmware) is already set with Static DHCP addresses for all devices on my network. Before I go messing with the IP lookup behavior of my new machine as prescribed in the above article, I was hoping a networking guru here could alert me if this is a possible fix or likely a mistake.

Question: is setting my ReadyNAS to act as a WINS server in conflict with the Static DHCP settings on my router?

As an aside, when I set up the new Win7 machine, the initial setup created a "Homegroup" and when it finished, it could access my ReadyNAS and detect the other windows machine (and vice versa). It didn't ask (as far as I recall) for the password to join the Windows "workgroup" I had previously created my network, yet it now reports belonging to that "workgroup". What bothers me is the apparent overlap or the old "workgroup" I set up previously and the "homegroup" set up by my new Win7 machine. Are they synonymous? If so, why has Microsoft changed the terminology? If they are not synonymous, do I manage both? Is this related to my network/explorer issue above?

 

SOLVED: Windows 7 explorer slow with NAS files & shares across wireless network

Sorry for the elaborate and confusing post above. Problem solved by this method:

Readynas Duo RND2110 Extremely Slow with Windows 7
http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=36820

Wireless Performance Issues with Vista and the ReadyNAS
http://home.bott.ca/webserver/?p=226

I'm still quite shocked that the adjustment to the MTU setting was necessary.