What is wrong with my setup ?
Well, I don't know. You haven't described your setup, so I wouldn't
know where to start.
What protocols are you running on all the machines?
What workgroup are they set to?
Do you have shares set up on the computers in question?
Have you changed any settings in the router from the default?
What do you see when you type "net view" in a command window?
Can you reach other computers at the command prompt via the UNC name
(i.e. net view \\othercomputer" or "dir \\othercomputer\sharename")?
It would be ridiculous for Microsoft to expect anyone to wait four
hours to be able to browse other computers on the network - their
customers would have hounded them out of business if that were typical.
And it's not, unless something is drastically wrong. I can see new
computers on my home network within seconds when they come on line. The
fact that this is not a common complaint should tell you that the
problem lies with your setup. Your reactionary blame of Microsoft is
misplaced.