Samba not showing public share et al.

Server Box ():
Pentium 3
FreeBSD 5.3
Samba 3.0.7
connection to a windows 2000 LAN

Samba on the freebsd side has the following smb.conf:

----------------------------------------------------------------
[global]
workgroup = MYCO
#
server string = VicBSD
load printers = no
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
log level = 1
max log size = 50
security = user
nt acl support = no
null passwords = yes
encrypt passwords = yes
smb passwd file = /usr/local/private/smbpasswd
wins server = 192.168.201.122 192.168.201.121

[homes]
read only=no
[public]
comment = %h Shared Public Directory
path = /home/public
force directory mode = 0777
force create mode = 0777
force group = nobody
force user = nobody
public = yes
writeable = yes
read only = no
browseable = yes
---------------------------------------------------------

I gave /home/public permissions r,w,x for all the users and issued a 'smbpassword
-a -n nobody'.

With this configuration I can easily and reliably connect to my home share
providing a password.

BUT, I and other users are unable to connect from our Win2k or XP Pro boxes
directly to the public share. As a matter of fact windows:

1) Shows all the shares including an 'invented' nobody share not defined
elsewhere. This happens while I put browseable=yes only in the [public]
section of smb.conf and not in each share.
2) If we ask to connect to \\vicbsd\public I'm prompted for a userid and
password. Only giving the 'nobody' userid is possible to connect to the
share from within windows boxes. I mean not directly without being prompted.

Why is that 1) and 2) and what should I do to connect without being prompted
for userid and password?

Ciao
Vittorio