Solved Are my files being spied upon by housemate? -Home network privacy-

[fireblade]

Hello,

I've been part of a home network for a number of years and store some personal information on my computer which I'm concerned may be being accessed by someone I live with.

When I navigate to My Computer>Network, there are a list of computers on the network (my own, plus others). I've just added another computer to the network and I can view it's folders from my PC (and vice versa). My housemate's folder, however, is password-protected, suggesting to me he's gone to the effort of setting himself up with a password, but not told me to do the same (had I found out I could access his files, I'd have let him know... I respect people's privacy).

The image below shows my Network folder and the prompt I receive when I attempt to access my housemate's folder (for test purposes..).

Not to muddy this computer-related request with personal things, but my housemate takes pleasure in opening mail that isn't his, so I don't like the idea of him having access to my computer. I'm concerned he may be accessing my files (given he knows a lot about networks and most likely knows mine isn't password protected). I'd like to find out if he is/has been - as I wouldn't want to live with someone like that.

So, I have two questions:

1. How can I set a password for protection of my files on the network?

2. Can I somehow, within the virtual world, find out if my files have been viewed remotely (i.e. by housemate)? If so, how?

Thanks in advance for any assistance you might offer.

 

[fireblade]

Root of Problem

Well I've since found out that C:/Users (which contains My Documents et al.) is shared by default (bloody annoying). So I've un-shared my Users folder and now neither of my computers are accessible on the network (which is what I want). But I'm annoyed they were open for viewing by default.

Regarding my paranoia about the spying, I can only confront him in person now.