Were these folders unknowingly shared?

[OrangeVista]

So I've been living on my college campus for around 2 weeks now. Yesterday I noticed in the network and sharing center that "media sharing" and "file sharing" were turned ON. Does this mean that the files in my Pictures and Music folders were open for EVERYONE to see??

Note: Whenever you connect to the wifi here, you have to enter your student ID and password.

 

[chev65]

If this network is set up as a Public network then the files won't be shared.

If it's a Work or Home network then you would need to turn off Network Discovery in the Advanced Sharing settings.

 

[OrangeVista]

The network is listed as public. I changed it to private for a few minutes to see what would happen. Then I changed it back to public. My files are safe & only viewable to me, right?

 

[ThrashZone]

Wifi sharing is a bit different than file sharing although both use a password,
File sharing even though it's activated by default doesn't mean anyone can access your files,
Windows produces a password as well and has to be entered before anyone can access your files or vise verses,
Public sharing as in other users on the same machine is also a bit different because of the windows 7 libraries system but again this applies to users on the same machine not the same home group or wireless network,
File sharing essentials
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/File-sharing-essentials
Home Network, Wireless Network and Computer Networking Made Easy
http://www.home-network-help.com/

 

[chev65]

The network is listed as public. I changed it to private for a few minutes to see what would happen. Then I changed it back to public. My files are safe & only viewable to me, right?

Yes still safe but you can also turn off Network Discovery in the Advanced Sharing settings, in which case your files won't be viewable even if you are on a Private network.