Disabling the Guest

[Chris]

Do I have to disable the Guest account when simple file
sharing is disabled with XP Pro? I'm having a situation
where I create identical user names but I also have the
Guest enabled.

In the user and groups, when setting permissions, do I
leave Everyone or can I remove it?

 

[Ron Lowe]

Do I have to disable the Guest account when simple file
sharing is disabled with XP Pro? I'm having a situation
where I create identical user names but I also have the
Guest enabled.

In the user and groups, when setting permissions, do I
leave Everyone or can I remove it?

The Guest account is required for Simple File Sharing.

If you are not using Simple File Sharing, and have set up
explicit user accounts, then there would not normally be
any reason to leave the Guest account enabled.

When setting permissions, it's up to you if you leave Everyone or not.
It may or may not be appropriate, depending on who
you want to be able to access the data.

Everyone means just that:
it includes Guest, if Guest is enabled.

Normally, if I'm using user accounts, I'd delete
Everyone and only specify the users or groups I want.

 

[Chuck]

Do I have to disable the Guest account when simple file
sharing is disabled with XP Pro? I'm having a situation
where I create identical user names but I also have the
Guest enabled.

In the user and groups, when setting permissions, do I
leave Everyone or can I remove it?

Chris,

You don't have to disable anything, no. The recommendation is that you do,
because Guest is a trivial account name, and some security exploits start with
the Guest account.

Everyone is a special Group, so it's safe to leave it there.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

Do I have to disable the Guest account when simple file
sharing is disabled with XP Pro? I'm having a situation
where I create identical user names but I also have the
Guest enabled.

In the user and groups, when setting permissions, do I
leave Everyone or can I remove it?

Disabling the Guest account only disables local logon to the local Guest
account. It does not affect simple file sharing, which authenticates all
remote users as local Guest. If simple file sharing is disabled, then
remote users are authenticated as themselves, which succeeds assuming
they have identical account setups on both machines.