How to Protect Your Data From Attack While Online

By eHow Internet Editor

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If file sharing is enabled on your computer, your hard disk is available to anyone on your network. The "always connected" benefit of cable and xDSL Internet service also results in increased exposure to crooks, pranksters, and voyeurs. These instructions explain how to disable file sharing (which will disable your home network, if any).

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Windows 95/98

Step1
Click Start.
Step2
Click Settings.
Step3
Click Control Panel.
Step4
Double-click Network.
Step5
Click the Configuration tab.
Step6
Click the File and Print Sharing button.
Step7
Make sure the box to the left of "I want to be able to give others access to my files" is blank.
Step8
Click OK twice.

Mac Operating System

Step1
Select Control Panels from under the Apple menu.
Step2
Select the Sharing Setup or File Sharing control panel.
Step3
Look for a Start button and "File sharing is off" in Status window. If you see a Stop button, proceed to next step. (If you see a Start button, file sharing is already off.)
Step4
Click Stop.
Step5
Type "10" in box under "How many minutes until file sharing is disabled?"
Step6
Click OK.
Step7
Close the window when the control panel indicates that file sharing is off.

Tips & Warnings

  • If you want to share files with others on a local network and still be safe, then you can set access privileges to only share files with specified users. See your Mac OS online help (under the Help or ? menu) for instructions.

Comments

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Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 If you have a home network and want to share files or directories, then you should password-protect the shared items. Make it a unique password like #sd43s*?. This will help prevent people from accessing your shared data via the Internet.

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eHow Article: How to Protect Your Data From Attack While Online

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Category: Internet

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