A "Simple" Windows Networking Question....

[Pulsar]

For anyone who's played with windows networking:

I use simple file sharing with no password required inside my Lan (no sensitive files unless you include my MP3's....). I DO have a firewall in place. My directories, however, are shared with the "$" that makes them invisible inside Window's Network Neighborhood.

Are they still advertised over a TPC/IP port on the computer, such as the one the new worm uses? Or does hidden truly mean hidden?

In the odd case that my firewall went down, I guess I'm asking if I'm vulnerable or not.

 

[prosaic]

The hidden ($) shares are not visible through browsing, locally or on the Web. If I were going to use TCP/IP for file and print sharing on a local network that was sitting behind simple NAT, and if I were using simple file sharing, I would be inclined to set a strong password on the Guest account on each of the machines. The Professional ones will enable auto-accessing of the shares after the first logon if you check the remember logon box. The Home Edition machines don't have that particular feature, AFAIK, so you'd have to type in the strong password each time in a new operating session when you accessed the share(s) on a given machine.

If you wanted to be really secure in case of a breach of the firewall / NAT you could unbind NetBIOS and File and Print Sharing from TCP/IP and use another protocol to handle local sharing. NetBEUI does the job nicely. It isn't routable (so shares aren't available under any circumstances to someone outside the local net), and it's fast. It doesn't slow the network noticeably and may actually be faster for local file transfers. It's a convenient way to go for small networks where you want to share files and printers locally and don't wish to do any serving to the Web, but where you still wish the users to have unfettered Web access.

- prosaic

 

[JackMDS]

The Content of the Following Link Might Help:

Basic Protection for Broadband Internet Installation.

 

[Pulsar]

Thanks Jack. Simple, to the point, and easy.

I already had Zonealarm running, but since my Lan is offline, I don't have a router. Zonealarm plus the "$" should keep me secure until I get the Lan back up.