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Here's the scoop—you have several computers in your home that are all
networked together and share the same internet connection and you want to prevent
other users on the network from accessing your data. In Windows 98 you were,
at least, able to assign network passwords, but in Windows XP Home, you can't
even do that. XP Home uses Simple File Sharing, which is basically an
all or nothing situation—share all or share nothing. It offers practically
no security options like the Windows XP Pro version does. However, there is
a simple little trick you can use that will hide your shared folder from other
computers on your network.
Here's how easy it is:
- Right click the folder or disk you want to be secured and choose
Sharing and Security.
- Enter a share name for your folder or drive and place a dollar sign ($)
at the end of the name, i.e., MyPixx$ The name can be up to 12 characters
long (including the dollar sign).
That's it!
That folder is now hidden and won't be visible by any other user on your network,
nor will it appear in My Network Places or Network Neighborhood.
Only by knowing the name of the folder can others access it, so make sure you
choose a difficult name to guess if others trying to access it is an issue with
you.
Now you might be wondering, if no one can see it, how can it be accessed? The
answer to that is by mapping it as a network drive.
Here's how to do that:
- Double click My Computer and go to Tools/Map Network Drive.
- Choose an available drive letter and type the path for your hidden folder
(with the dollar sign included).
- Put a checkmark next to Reconnect at Logon, which will
automatically map your hidden share every time you boot up
- Click Finish
Note! If you choose not to reconnect at logon, you will have
to manually re-map your share after every reboot.
You now have a drive letter which allows you to access your hidden share just
as if it was another disk. You will see it in My Computer and only
on your computer. To make it visible on other user accounts, you would have
to map a network drive to your folder on those computers as well.
And—if you're looking for a way to secure folders in Windows 9x, check
out Lock&Hide.
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