The Windows Internet Naming Service, or WINS, I have the joy of working on this afternoon. Rendered almost pointless by Active Directory and DDNS, particularly in our setup, it is surprising that I can’t just switch it off. Certainly most documents insist that from Windows 2000 onwards Active Directory and Dynamic DNS replace WINS and WINS can in fact be switched off if there are no pre2K clients lying around.

So why can’t I switch it off - or using the proper speak “Decomission WINS”. Improper configuration I hear you cry? Duh, there isn’t a lot to WINS. Setup the WINS servers with replication, then point the client NICs at the WINS servers and that’s about it.

However, A number of network services and older applications still rely on good old NETBIOS broadcasts for finding anything on the LAN - which is the showstopper here.

Further information can be gained from this link:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/cnet/cncd_win_boua.mspx