Shared Folder "for all". But what are "all"?

Hi,

I've done something stupid. In the folder "shared" so had "all" access.

But what are "all"?

I have passwords on my router. But in "Network" I see other individuals I do not recognize, and can access these folders (in some), but many of the required password (looked at this when I saw my computer there).

Can everyone in my neighborhood come to these files? Without difficulty. In the distributed "resource"?

Or is it only those who are in my "own network" at home? and logged on to my router (with password, very hard!).

But if that is so, why can not I see other people's folders distributed? (I had no password for this folder sharing).

If that is the case, the ones I saw in my network need to be in such close physical connection to my computer (the neighbors)? Or can they be in another city?

Hi and welcome to the forums.

I've done something stupid. In the folder "shared" so had "all" access.

But what are "all"?

I have passwords on my router. But in "Network" I see other individuals I do not recognize, and can access these folders (in some), but many of the required password (looked at this when I saw my computer there).

You will see as many individuals in your wireless connections as there are routers at some distance around you. You can join their wi-fi networks only if you know their passwords (assigned for their networks, not the routers).

Sharing options of a folder sets the accessibility level to a given folder to share over a local area or a wi-fi network. 'All' means any user who is connected to your pc.

I found a picture that shows exactly what I mean, and exactly which setting it was perhaps easier in terms of my description: Windows 7 Network Sharing

Thanks so much for your help!But, with "logged into my computer" how do you mean? (Sorry for that I do not understand).When I see people in "Network" I see these folders by using the "shared resource".

I have no idea what these are.Some require the password to view their files, some do not require this.Therefore, I am a bit worried when I with the attitude that "everyone" can see my files.I had a password when I log on Win 7, this means that the users who want to connect must enter this password?

For what regards the setting folder which I showed above, it would "all" have access to the folder.As I show below, on my computer so my computer was having one of these computers: http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/...5/Explorer.png I did not need to enter a password when I logged into my folder (this is because I logged in with a password when Windows starts?) Or did not do so when they logged on to my shared folder? With the previously specified settings

The reason that I get confused, is that I can log on to certain people's folders (I am alone in my household) and not having to enter passwords.

Is the password associated with logging, associated with the password you have to have to log into Windows? For some I did not enter the password, those folders. While some I needed to enter password. (Other people's computers).

Excuse me, I am extremely aware that this post is so far from succinct, which is to come. But I'm not good at explaining just that. Therefore.

I hope you have patience with this Thanks!

Originally Posted by zenix

The reason that I get confused, is that I can log on to certain people's folders (I am alone in my household) and not having to enter passwords.

As cybercore has explained other computers that are on wireless networks, within the range of your wireless network card may be viewable and even accessable by you if they are not secure.
If the above quote is true then I'm not sure why you have created any shares, with or without passwords, however; you should as a matter of best practices protect your entire I.T. infrastructure with unique usernames as passwords. These should be unique, known only by you and exist at every level. Unfortunately defaults are defaults and not intended for long term use.
Wireless networks have something called SSIDs which they broadcast to advertise their existence and availability. Adjust your SSID by using the web interface on your router make it uniquely your own or perhaps choose not to broadcast it at all, your option. (Read the manual for your specific make and model)
Wireless networks use encryption (not always by default) you've said that you have a difficult password, I can only recommend using the highest level of encryption support by all wireless devices on your network, WEP may look difficult to crack to you and me, but trust me it's not, investigate using WPA or WPA2 if supported. (Read the manual for your specific make and model)
Your computer should be protected by a unique username and password (at logon) passwords are case sensitive so a simple password containing special characters as well as alpha numeric characters like P@$$w0rd are generally accepted as best practice. Make sure that the "Guest Account" is disabled. Shares should be protected as strictly as possible, accessable only by specific users with passwords created according to best practices. The everyone group generally should not be used and I would suggest, if you are concerned about security (as you should be), that you revisit each share, right click and from the share with option, choose either nobody, or a specific user.
Workgroup names should be unique. So make it your own and don't use default settings like workgroup or mshome, just make sure that all of your network nodes have the same workgroup name. You can change your workgroup name as well as your computer name if you wish by right clicking "Computer" choosing properties and on the resultant system page, choose the link that says "Change settings".
Perhaps if you would type the word network into the search box and then choose it ("Network") from the resultant menu and use the "Snipping Tool", you can create an image which you can then attach to your next post, inorder so that we can better understand your specific issues.

Hi,

Thanks for your replies!

I'm fairly good knowledge in terms of managing my wireless router.

However, "share" of Win 7, I had no knowledge of.

My settings in Win seven, which is to my SSID is not visible, but I have a giant text (of random LastPass) to secure 15 character SSID (hidden).

Since the password is random, however, and this has presented 39 letters / numbers of random LastPass.

Thus I thought it was pretty safe (perhaps unwarranted?).

Then I saw that the folder was "shared by all".

I think my mind (unwarranted?) That I had such a huge strong password and SSID (hidden).

To my internal network, the folders were not anything to worry about it (hence I thought nothing much of this).

Huge strong security with WPA2 AES and hidden SSID Broadcast.

However, the folder distributed to "all" (without username and password).

But it is necessary to enable them to my SSID and password enormously long, for it will even be able to get into my folders that are totally unprotected and do not require any login to access these folders.

And thus, it is nothing to worry about if it is so (which explains why I saw my own computer, when I logged in with this information).

Again, thank you for still reading through my huge non concise post from earlier today! (There is hope of humanity).


The bottom line: To my neighbors to be able to take part out of my shared folders, requires that they get past the SSID and password, which is huge in length. Even if the folders are "shared all"?