Different way to file a share in windows vista

There are various ways to share a file on Windows vista. I am getting certain issue with that. I have some doubts regarding the security of my system. I want some help here to properly share my files without having any loss. I have some media files which I want to share over lan. The files will be shared for some time only but on the same I want to keep the folder common for all. I do not found a appropriate way for that. I found every user is getting a simple access to that and even modifying my files. I do not want that happen, I just want some numbers of users to use my files.

Even after the process of creating shared resources on system running on Windows Vista I found most of the procedure similar to Windows XP. Most of the things are common and you do not need to do much on this. There are some additional resources provided on Windows Vista for network and file sharing. The first and best way is to do the same with Shared Folders. In Windows Vista there is no folder called Shared Documents. This was commonly found in Windows XP. Instead of using this you can use a different folder called Public. This can be used to provide access to files and documents for other accounts on the computer or users on the network.

Yes Public folder can be a easy choice. You can simply drag and drop or even copy and paste the files and directories in the folder to make this as a common folder to all others users. Although the Vista public folder are automatically opened to other users, it can be a cause of security threat to your system. This is not a reliable networks solution for most of the networks specifically access points or a wi-fi network. It is a public folder so it is open for all, even for threats. If your system access a server then I will not recommend you to use this.

There is a another way to use a common folder on Vista. For that you have to just move the folder to Public folder. Setting up access to Vista file sharing is slightly more complicated than Windows XP. Just right-click on the folder which you want to share and then click on Sharing. In the Windows apply proper settings. The one thing which is provided here is limiting the file permission levels. List the names and permission levels including the people who have access to this folder. In the user account windows you can see the list of users which have current access to your folder. You can also manually add the same.

Yes I will recommend you to delete all user from that list and then add them manually with limited rights and support. This makes your system more secure in case if you are working on a wider network. Here you have three levels of permission. The first is the only reading permission. In this the user can see files in that folder, but do not have the right to modify or delete and add new ones. Then comes the editing right where you can allow a user to modify or delete only those files that are edited. At the last is the owner right where the user can do almost anything what you can do. Beware about the settings before sharing a folder on your network.

For any folder sharing it is better recommend to enable password protection. In Windows Vista, you can use passwords to protect shared folders. When this feature is enabled the users gets a access to the folder but only by providing the network password. So no one has a direct access to that folder and your data is also secured in that way. For that right-click on the icon status of the network in the system tray and select Network and Sharing. In the window that opens, click the arrow in front of a green / gray indicator in the line Password Protection. Provide the password and done.