XP slow to connect to 98

Any suggestions would help! A newly installed XP Pro is very slow to connect to an established Win98 3 user peer to peer network. The XP sees all the files but when trying to open a Word DOC, or search the shared folder on the pseudo Win 98 server, is very slow. The other Win 98 are lighning fast. Static TCP/IP and DNS are supplied by the firewall. Any suggestions to put XP in the same speed ballpark?