WINS records that are flagged as tombstoned remain in the WINS database and are replicated to any other WINS servers as part of replication cycle. After the Extinction Interval has passed, the tombstoned records are marked extinct and are cleared from the database by a scavenging operation which occurs every Verification Interval. Queries for tombstoned records are ignored. Tombstoning is the method to insure database consistency in a WINS replicated environment.