Automatically Shared Printer/Files

[myriad46]

Dear Reader,

I recently set up a new computer on a domain network that is running xp pro. When I navigate to it in Microsoft Windows Network, it lists the computer along with a few others and the server. My question is though, in my computer it lists the printers and a shared folder, which have not been manually shared and they don't appear to be shared even when I go to them on my system. Is this an XP Pro default? Can I shut them off? We just got the Love Gate virus fixed up, which made all our shared printers go haywire. Some need to be shared, but not all of them.

Please advise
Ed

 

[linney]

It sounds like the Default setting, can you untick File and Printer Sharing in the Properties of the Local Area Connection?

 

[bcastner]

In WinXP one can prevent this behavior by changing the following user policy:
Run Gpedit.msc using "Start Button" -> "Run..."
In the Console Window go to this folder "User Configuration" -> "Administrative Templates" -> "Start Menu and Taskbar"
Go to the entry "Do not add shares of recently used documents to Network Places" and double click it and set to "Enabled"
It is the same as setting this DWORD registry key :

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Policies \Explorer]
NoRecentDocsNetHood = 1 (Default = 0)

There is a builtin scanner that crawls the network and any share or printer discovered are added to My Network Places or Printers and Faxes.

The scanner is started in the following situations:
At startup
When opening My Network Places
When refreshing My Network Places by pressing F5
The scanner is not started if one of the following conditions are true:
If more than 10 computers are detected sharing folders (To be gentle on corporate networks)
If using DUN or VPN connection
If the scanner is disabled.
The scanner saves its findings here (If more than 7 days old then they are deleted)
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \Netcrawl \Shares]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \Netcrawl \Printers]
To disable the automatic scanning:
Open Control Panel
Double click Folder Options (Inside the grouping Appearance and Themes)
Select the View tab
In the Advanced Settings list untick Automatically search for network folders and printers
It is reflected with this DWORD value in the registry:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \Advanced]
NoNetCrawling = 1

Source: Snakefoot