Please help me solve this file sharing problem in vista...?

Question

My objective is to turn off file sharing and network discovery, even if its permanently . I have installed 3 different antivirus suites (f-sure,norton and oncecare) and same problem with all of them and vista. After the antivirus and firewall are installed, it disables windows firewall, --obviously so it can use its own firewall.

But when windows firewall is disabled, vista indicates that file sharing and network discovery are on. When I click on the dropdown to turn it off, all of the controls are greyed out, and it says to refer to firewall to make changes.

The only way to turn off file sharing is to enable windows firewall, but then one has 2 firewalls running. I can make adjustments in the norton firewall to not allow file sharing, but vista always indicates that file sharing is enabled, as long as windows firewall is disabled.

So, why does vista default to file sharing being on?
Also, I dont understand the logic of this at all, --i mean how is this "supposed" to work. It seems completely counterintuitive to me. ??

Please help, thanks

Answer 1

Are you worried about other people getting into your files? Because if you haven't personally left-clicked and selected "share" in the drop down menu, and seen a small hand appear on your icon, nobody will be able to access your files, even if sharing is enabled. Having file sharing turned on just means that if you wish to share a folder, you can.



http://igor.chudov.com/fvwm/Folder-icons/gif/shared-folder.gif

It would have to look somewhat like that icon (the big one) for other people to be able to get onto your network and access that folder.

Answer 2

I my self would not put a norton fie wall up If you are using a Modem from yahoo there is a fire wall in the cable modem and the vista firewall as well that two when you add norton that makes three

Answer 3

go to start and type in "network and sharing center". then click on it and click the drop-down menu to where it says "file sharing" then click "turn off file sharing" and click apply.



hopefully that fixed your problem! :)