Delay in opening OFF2K files from Ntwrk

I have come across a situation which I can't explain nor figure out what to attack to resolve .....

When opening a document (Word, Spreadsheet, or PowerPoint Presentation) which is stored on our Novell Network, it takes an inordinate amount of time to open it for editing purposes. These documents are normally stored in the SHARED folder.

Additional information --
OS-Win2K Pro, WinXP Pro, Win98SE
RAM-at least 128 MB (majority have 256MB)
McAfee Corporate Antivirus
Novell 5.x Network using TCP/IP as default protocol with fallback of IPX/SPX.

I have searched MS Knowledge Base and found two articles (Q262530-Norton AntiVirus and Q200306-FindFast) that speak to the issue but don't appear to be the issue.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.