Sharing in network? But I have no network?

I found out the other day that my C drive and and F drive (both hard drives) and some of their folders had sharing enabled. I mean, I have no internal network to be sharing these folders. I only have one computer connected to the internet? Why are these folders and drives being shared on the network? Should I disable the sharing options, and how will that affect my computer? I uploaded a picture of what I mean.

I have a similar setup (C:\ and F:\ both physical drives) and found sharing was on so I disabled it. It has not caused any problems that I have noticed.

:)

OK thanks a lot nihil. Do you think maybe someone on the internet was taking a look at my files and downloading them???

Such sharing only works within your WORKGROUP or DOMAIN if you have that enabled. It's likely you have a WORKGROUP setup, and anyone within the WORKGROUP (behind the same router...) could connect to the files.
This is most likely some odd Windows XP make-it-easy-for-the-user feature and nothing to worry about (beyond the gaping security hole).

Those are administrative hidden shares (c$) that are use by services and programs mostly on networks...created by default.

Disable file and print sharing ...they should go away

MLF

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Originally posted here by morganlefay
Those are administrative hidden shares (c$) that are use by services and programs mostly on networks...created by default.

Disable file and print sharing ...they should go away

MLF

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Weird thing is that I did have File and Print sharing disabled, I checked, and they were still there... :eek:

They are hidden...

So only users with admin access will be able to use these shares.

So make sure you have a good\strong password policy.

Not sure if you can remove hidden shares......

When browsing the internet...dont use an admin account ;)

MLF

Found this

http://support.microsoft.com/default...314984&sd=tech

I know you can manually delete the shares C$, $IPC, and so on. Alot of netbios bots do this after they infect a machine. 'net share $C /delete' is it. It will delete it, but that might cause some ill effects. Yee be warned matie ;)

Quote:

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Originally posted here by Trevoke
Such sharing only works within your WORKGROUP or DOMAIN if you have that enabled. It's likely you have a WORKGROUP setup, and anyone within the WORKGROUP (behind the same router...) could connect to the files.
This is most likely some odd Windows XP make-it-easy-for-the-user feature and nothing to worry about (beyond the gaping security hole).

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I would be worried about it. The OP never indicated whether or not he had a firewall enabled, nor did he/she indicate what OS he/she is using, or if there was a router on the network.

My advice to the OP:

Rather than just remove the shares, go do a little research on NetBIOS, how it works, and how Windows shares work. Apply your research to your particular setup, and then you will truly know whether you are safe or not. Best case scenario is that, like a few have said, it's just a default setting and theres nothing to be worried about...simply turn off the sharing. Worst case scenario is that you have all of your drives shared out, allowing complete uninhibited anonymous access to all your files.