folder hiding

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M

mdb

I support a small (5 computers) peer to peer (no server software) network
and am trying to find a piece of
software to hide a folder. The bookkeeper wants to hide the Financials
folder from everyone but herself and her boss. I've found software that
works to hide a folder on one machine but does not share that folder with
other users on the network. All machines are XP, all use tcp/ip as protocol.
Is there a way to do this with XP itself or does someone know of a piece of
software that will provide this security function.

thanks.

Michael
 
mdb said:
I support a small (5 computers) peer to peer (no server software) network
and am trying to find a piece of
software to hide a folder. The bookkeeper wants to hide the Financials
folder from everyone but herself and her boss. I've found software that
works to hide a folder on one machine but does not share that folder with
other users on the network. All machines are XP, all use tcp/ip as protocol.
Is there a way to do this with XP itself or does someone know of a piece of
software that will provide this security function.

thanks.

Michael
Click to expand...

"Hiding" does not provide security - it provides an illusion of
security. Would you put secret printed material under a mat and hope
no-one saw it? Or lock it up?

If the data is truly confidential, it should be encrypted.
 
I support a small (5 computers) peer to peer (no server software) network
and am trying to find a piece of
software to hide a folder. The bookkeeper wants to hide the Financials
folder from everyone but herself and her boss. I've found software that
works to hide a folder on one machine but does not share that folder with
other users on the network. All machines are XP, all use tcp/ip as protocol.
Is there a way to do this with XP itself or does someone know of a piece of
software that will provide this security function.

thanks.

Michael
Click to expand...

When you share the folder put a dollar sign ($) on the end of it and
it will be invisible to a browser. You can still access it if you know
the name. (\\srv1\fin24234$) This will simply hide the folder but not
really secure it by itself. Turn off "use simple file sharing" and
grant access to only those user that you'd need having access. There's
a little more to it but you get the idea. Click help and search for
"encrypt folder".

-- Zadok
('¿')
 
I did try setting up an administrative share, as Zadok described. Two XP Pro
machines, one a "server", one a workstation. I shared the Financials folder
on the server as Finance$. When I went to the workstation and went into
Windows Explorer, I could still see the Financials folder. I must be
misunderstanding the role of Simple File Sharing (SFS). Is it true that if I
do not disable SFS on the server, all users on the peer to peer lan will
still be able to see all of the server's shared folders? The reason I
hesitate to disable SFS is because several other shared folders have been
set up and I assume I'd have to go back in and set permissions for each of
them. I'm not usually at that office and fear making someone's files
inaccessible and without a quick fix to the problem.

But I've still not found a piece of third party software that will hide and
lock a folder and work across a network. A workaround I'm using now is Hide
Folders Pro. Using that from the server, I can hide that financials folder.
But when the bookkeeper comes in she has to go to the server, unhide
financials, go back to her computer and download her data to her local
drive, go back to the server and rehide the folder. At the end of her day,
she reverses the process, copying the current data back into the Financials
folder. Cumbersome but it works. Hide Folders does not allow her to map a
network drive letter to the Financials folder. If Financials is in its
hidden state, the mapped drive letter is reported as being invalid.

Thanks.
 
Top posting cuz you're top posting: Yes. You must turn off simple file
sharing. It won't muck up any of your other shares. You certainly
don't want to do anything cumbersome. Read this series of articles:
http://practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_filesharing/index.htm

===========================================

I did try setting up an administrative share, as Zadok described. Two XP Pro
machines, one a "server", one a workstation. I shared the Financials folder
on the server as Finance$. When I went to the workstation and went into
Windows Explorer, I could still see the Financials folder. I must be
misunderstanding the role of Simple File Sharing (SFS). Is it true that if I
do not disable SFS on the server, all users on the peer to peer lan will
still be able to see all of the server's shared folders? The reason I
hesitate to disable SFS is because several other shared folders have been
set up and I assume I'd have to go back in and set permissions for each of
them. I'm not usually at that office and fear making someone's files
inaccessible and without a quick fix to the problem.

But I've still not found a piece of third party software that will hide and
lock a folder and work across a network. A workaround I'm using now is Hide
Folders Pro. Using that from the server, I can hide that financials folder.
But when the bookkeeper comes in she has to go to the server, unhide
financials, go back to her computer and download her data to her local
drive, go back to the server and rehide the folder. At the end of her day,
she reverses the process, copying the current data back into the Financials
folder. Cumbersome but it works. Hide Folders does not allow her to map a
network drive letter to the Financials folder. If Financials is in its
hidden state, the mapped drive letter is reported as being invalid.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

-- Zadok
('¿')
 
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