Too much sharing - private files visible

Hi

I can't understand what Win 7 is doing when file sharing.

My network is 1 Win 7, 1 Vista, 2 XP all connected via a Draytek router.

I have enabled file and printer sharing on all machines. From the Win 7 machine I can see the shared resources of the XP and Vista machines.

From the Vista and XP machines I can see a combination of the following, depending on how I set up the Win 7 machine.

1. If I have my single standard username and login:

a) No sharing password protection enabled - *both* the Public folders and my private folders are visible.
b) With sharing password protection enabled - username + password requested and entered, then *both* Public and private folders shown.

2. If I create another account so I have two usernames and logins set up on the Win 7:

a) No sharing password protection enabled - only Public folder visible and no private folders for either username.
b) With sharing password protection enabled - username + password requested and entered, then both the Public and private folders of that username are visible, depending on the username entered.

I can understand why the folders might be visible if you have to enter a login name/password, but why are they still visible if no password access is requested or set on the Win 7 machine. Why do I need to have two usernames in order to hide the private files or have to set up password protection?

I've checked the share permissions for my (private) documents, and they are set to 'share with nobody'.

Am I missing some security setting or other?

Rgds

David

No, I don't have the same username on all machines. On one Xp machine I have the same username but different password, on the other there are no usernames and on the Vista there is a completely different username.

private =/= hidden. by default most ACLs include local "user" accounts with read only permissions, thus people can see them.

to make them hidden, under the "sharing" tab, click advanced sharing, click share this folder then put a $ after the share name.

To Brady - I don't understand what an ACL is. The 'My Documents' folder does not have the 'share' check box ticked, but the 'Properties' screen says it is shared. I'm assuming this is because it is a sub-folder of the 'Users' folder which is shared. I can't understand why you simply can't share only the 'Public' folders like you used to do under XP.

To Kegobeer - yes I've managed to access, alter and save the files. I can, though, make them 'read only' by changing the 'advanced share' settings for the 'users' folder and modifying the settings for the 'everyone' user to 'read only'.

Yes, Windows is not managing the 'homegroup' and yes it is set to use the usernames and passwords. I didn't ask windows to save the login id on any of the computers.

I've bodged a workaround to the problem, but I'm still confused as to why Windows appears to be so insecure.

I entered 'Advanced Sharing' on the Users directly and un-shared the entire directory. I then created a separate c:\shared folder. I then shared this with 'everyone'. I then created a new 'Library' under 'Documents' and added the shared folder to that Library. I can now simply drag files to that new folder if and when I want to share them. It's a complete bodge job, but it seems to work.

Rgds