Vista - Computer name and description display in Vista network

I recently replaced one of our home desktop computers with a new one
connected wirelessly through a router to our home network. It runs Vista
Home Premium while the other desktop (wired to the router) and the wireless
laptop run XP Home. The network is setup as private on the new Vista
computer. I have no problems accessing the shared folders and printers
between these 3 computers. My only issue is the way the other computers are
displayed in the Vista "Network" window. In XP "My Network Places", both the
computer name and the computer description show up. In Vista "Network", only
the computer name is displayed. In our case, the computer names are all set
to their Dell service tag number. Is there a way to make Vista also display
the computer description or is the best solution renaming the computers so
it's easier to identify them on the Vista machine?

Martin

For what I can tell, Vista allows max 5 columns in the Network view and none
of them is Description. Perhaps you can extend the computer names by a dash
and 2-3 characters; that way you keep the Dell's tag and you get somewhat
friendlier computer names.

rb


"Martin Walker" <sorrycharlie@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:uYje3NUoHHA.4424@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>I recently replaced one of our home desktop computers with a new one
>connected wirelessly through a router to our home network. It runs Vista
>Home Premium while the other desktop (wired to the router) and the wireless
>laptop run XP Home. The network is setup as private on the new Vista
>computer. I have no problems accessing the shared folders and printers
>between these 3 computers. My only issue is the way the other computers are
>displayed in the Vista "Network" window. In XP "My Network Places", both
>the computer name and the computer description show up. In Vista "Network",
>only the computer name is displayed. In our case, the computer names are
>all set to their Dell service tag number. Is there a way to make Vista also
>display the computer description or is the best solution renaming the
>computers so it's easier to identify them on the Vista machine?
>
> Martin
>
>

"rb" <rajko_at_nospam_sheermomentum.com> wrote in message
news:ObRK5geoHHA.4132@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
> For what I can tell, Vista allows max 5 columns in the Network view and
> none of them is Description. Perhaps you can extend the computer names by
> a dash and 2-3 characters; that way you keep the Dell's tag and you get
> somewhat friendlier computer names.
>
> rb

Thanks for the suggestion. I played around with renaming one of the XP
computers. It's certainly an option but the computer name field is very
limited. Spaces and most punctuation characters are not allowed. Dashes are
indeed allowed so I'll probably rename all our computers something like
SERVICETAG-USERNAME. Too bad they took away some of the flexibility in the
Vista Network display window.

Regards,

Martin