If you have allowed shared folders on your computer in order to access them from other computers in your network, these shares will also be freely accessible to a wireless intruder, regardless of whether they even attempt to breach any other form of security on your network.

The easiest way to see all shared folders on your current system is to go to the computer management window by right clicking on 'my computer,' then selecting 'manage.' From this window, expand 'shared folders' then 'shares.'

This window lists all current shared folders on your system. You are not able to change their status here, but you can take note of their locations and then browse to them. Note that the shares 'admin$,' c$,' etc. are the special administrative shares mentioned in the above section on passwords.

To unshare or secure a shared folder in the Windows XP environment, browse to the folder, right click on it and select 'sharing and security.'

In the 'Properties' window you have a couple of options for securing your shared files. You can unshare it completely by unchecking the 'share this folder on the network' box, or you can secure its contents against malicious damage (but not viewing or copying) by unchecking the 'allow network users to alter my files' button. This ensures that users accessing the shared folder over a network cannot add, delete or change files in the folder.

As a side note, you can hide a shared folder by simply adding a '$' to the end of the name you give the folder in the 'sharing and security' window. In this way, you can maintain network access to shared folders, while hiding them from prying eyes.

To browse to a hidden shared folder from another computer, simply click 'start/run' then type \\(name of the computer the share is on)\(sharename$) and press enter. Next up, personal firewalls...

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