[Daemori]

Hello All, I have some guests in the home for Christmas and have been asked to let them use our Net Gear Home network. I have a laptop of my own that I set up to share files with my desktop, however it's screen is broken and I can't use it now. How can I let our guests use our home network and protect all of our information on the desktop?

[cwwozniak]

Hi Daemori, and welcome to TSG.

Turning off all file sharing on the desktop should prevent accidental access or curious snooping by any other computer users on the network. It is another matter if any of your guests are up to a bit of hacking.

[Daemori]

Hello CW, What are the steps to prevent file sharing, and will this affect their ability to use the printer over the network? Is there any way to tellif they've been hacking around?

[cwwozniak]

It would help to know what operating system you are running on the desktop computer and if you have any security or firewall software installed.

[Daemori]

Chuck, Sorry for the time delays in my responses to you! Windows XP Home, Comcast/McAfee and Counter Spy. Otheer programs that I tryto work with to maintain my desktop are CCleaner, System Mechanic, Perfect Disk and JV16 Power Tools.

[cwwozniak]

From the Windows XP built help (As far as I can recall, this should not affect any printer sharing):

To make your folders private
Open My Computer.
Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C, unless you have more than one drive on your computer).
If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.

Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
Double-click your user folder.
Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.
Notes

To open My Computer, double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop.
This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.
When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.
You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS. For information about converting your drive to NTFS, click Related Topics.