"Master browser" network problem... ?

[leoblob]

I have 5 PCs sharing a high-speed connection thru a D-Link 8-port router. It works fine, but when I look thru the event log on my PC, about once every hour or two I see an error message,

"The master browser has received a server announcement from the computer PC300PL that believes that it is the master browser for the domain on transport NetBT_Tcpip_{28FE0E13-CC52-42D0-8. The master browser is stopping or an election is being forced."

I read up on this a bit (I'm new to networking)... is this something I should even care about? I understand how to disable Computer Browser service, but do I need to leave at least one PC with it enabled? And what if that one (enabled one) happens to be off? Do I even need a PC to be a Master Browser?

The message always seems to reference the PC300PL, but maybe this is because invariably that's the first PC turned on each morning...?

Thanks for any info...

[Terrahawk]

It's not a big issue. The Master Browser is a computer elected of all the computers on the network (a Microsoft network of sorts). It holds what is called the master browse list, which is simply a list of the computers on the network. An election is the process where a Master Browser is chosen. Generally, domain controllers will win an election but in a peer-to-peer network, any computer could win.

In summary: this is not an issue you should worry about. This is generally a background activity and shouldn't affect the performance of your network.

[leoblob]

Thank you. A very good explanation.