slow access to network office files

In windows 2000 I try accessing from a network share, office files like word or excel. When selecting a file there will be a delay of anywhere from 30 seconds or several minutes. Does anyone have a solution for this?
Note: I have re imaged. The files are located on a windows nt 4.0 server running service pack 4
office installed with sr1 and sr2. also tried without sr1 or sr2