Sharing folders: Why would I want to? Why does it reset?

[BigBang]

When I right click a secondary hard drive, then go to Properties, Sharing
I can elect to not "Do not share this folder". But it says it will reset
when the computer is restarted. Huh? Does this make sense to anybody?
Why would anybody not elect to disable sharing if not in a network. Isn't
this basic security?

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

One or more options/settings in an ever-growing number of third-party
applications may be disallowing the changes from "sticking." These include
anti-spyware applications (e.g., Ad-aware's Ad-Watch, Spybot Tea Timer,
SpywareBlaster, SpySweeper, Spyware Doctor, CounterSpy, WinPatrol, etc),
anti-virus applications & security suites (Norton, McAfee, ESET/NOD32,
Kasperky, Trend Micro, etc.), and third-party firewalls (e.g., Zone Alarm,
etc.).

Note that temporarily disabling the application(s) or rebooting into Safe
Mode may not disable the application's system protections.

 

[BigBang]

So is it preferred for a single user to have "Do not share folder" checked
all the time?

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Not necessarily, no.

What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your
subscription current? What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)?
What third-party firewall (if any)?

Has a(another) Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on the
computer (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought
it)?

 

[BigBang]

What I should have asked was, why would anyone opt to share a drive if
you're a single user?

 

[Paul]

What I should have asked was, why would anyone opt to share a drive if
you're a single user?

I can give you an example. Run Linux inside a VPC2007 (Virtual PC) session
on your WinXP PC. In the Linux window, go to the equivalent of the Network
Neighborhood via SAMBA/SMB and you can share files from a share on your
WinXP side of the machine. So it can be used for file sharing *within*
the PC. It allows me to run two OSes inside the same computer (WinXP and Linux),
and transfer files between them. (The reason for this complexity, is VPC2007
does not have the appropriate add-ons package, to make all Linux environments
work with drag and drop. If the guest OS is a Windows OS, then drag and drop
works for those, and using "sharing" is unnecessary.)

Paul

 

[BigBang]

What I should have asked was, why would anyone opt to share a drive if

I can give you an example. Run Linux inside a VPC2007 (Virtual PC)
session
on your WinXP PC. In the Linux window, go to the equivalent of the
Network
Neighborhood via SAMBA/SMB and you can share files from a share on your
WinXP side of the machine. So it can be used for file sharing *within*
the PC. It allows me to run two OSes inside the same computer (WinXP and
Linux),
and transfer files between them. (The reason for this complexity, is
VPC2007
does not have the appropriate add-ons package, to make all Linux
environments
work with drag and drop. If the guest OS is a Windows OS, then drag and
drop
works for those, and using "sharing" is unnecessary.)

Good example. But shouldn't the default be not to share since 99% of the
population only runs 1 OS?

 

[Paul]

Good example. But shouldn't the default be not to share since 99% of
the population only runs 1 OS?

I had to turn it on, to get it to work here. The default
seemed to be OFF when I set this up very recently. I didn't leave it
enabled, either. It is off again.

Paul