Windows XP--Drives Shared By Default--A Security Risk?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brian Bell
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Brian Bell

I recently did a fresh install of Win XP Prof and installed SP2 on top of
it. Just as with Win2k, I noticed that Windows XP has sharing enabled by
default. I right clicked on my hard drives and found that both were
automatically set up as shares.

Isn't this a security risk? Does everyone have access to my drives? I
went to disable it and it said something to the effect of "this share was
set up for administrative purposes only and will be re-enabled when you
restart your computer."

Of course, I don't like the idea of everything I have being shared with
everyone in the world, so I went into Services and disabled Server.

With the new security emphasis of Microsoft, I can't imagine they'd open up
your computer to everyone in the world. So, am I right that my stuff was
accessible to all, or am I wrong? Was disabling the Server service
necessary or not?

Thanks.
 
These are administrative shares only. They are not network shares unless
you make them so.

Bobby
 
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