Cutting Your System off the Network

Just because Windows allows you to share your local resources (files and printers) on a network doesn’t mean you have to share them. If you want to keep your resources to yourself, you can disable sharing all together by following these steps:

1. Choose Start-->Control Panel-->Network and Internet Connections --> Network Connections.

If you’re using the Classic view of the Control Panel, choose Start -->Control Panel-->Network Connections instead. In either case, you see icons representing the different connections defined on your system.

2. Right-click the connection for your network and choose Properties from the context menu.

Windows displays the connection’s Properties dialog box, as shown in Figure.

3. De select the check box next to File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks.

This network component controls whether resources on your system are sharable with others.

4. Click OK.

After you disable file and printer sharing, nobody can utilize resources on your system. Cutting off others won’t stop you from using resources on their systems, if they’re sharing. If you don’t foresee a time when you’ll ever share system resources with others, then you may want to uninstall the sharing component from your network. In the Properties dialog box shown in above Figure , select the File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks component and click Uninstall. The component is removed entirely from the operating system. If you later change your mind, you can reinstall the component by clicking Install and choose File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks from the Services area.