Configuring Windows Server 2008 Network Center 1.1 Configuring Network Center Selecting a Network Location When you connect to a network for the first time, you must select a network location. This will automatically set the appropriate firewall settings for the type of network you are connected to. If you are connected to a network in a different location (for example, a home, a local coffee shop, or an office), choosing a network location helps ensure that your computer is always set to the appropriate security level. There are three network locations: home, office and public. Home or Office If you know and trust people and devices on the network, choose any of the above locations for your home or small office network. By default, Network Discovery is enabled, which allows you to view other computers and devices on your network and allow other network users to view your computer. For more information, see What is network discovery? Public places choose this location for networks in public places such as coffee shops or airports. This location is designed to make your computer invisible to the surrounding computers and to help protect your computer from any malware from the Internet. Disable network discovery for this location. Note that if there is only one computer on the network and you don't need to share files or printers, the safest option is "public places". How Windows Firewall Affects Network Locations When you connect to a network in a public place, the “Public Places” location blocks certain programs and services from running, which helps protect your computer from unauthorized access. If you connect to "public places" and Windows Firewall is turned on, some programs or services may ask you to unblock them (allow them to communicate through the firewall) so that they can work. If a program is unblocked, Windows Firewall will unblock it from all networks that have the same location type as the network to which they are currently connected. For example, if you connect to the network at a coffee shop and select “Public Places" as the location type and then remove the blocking of an instant messaging program, then all networks in the "public places" location block the program Will be lifted. If you've removed the blocking of multiple programs while connected to the public network, consider changing your network location to "Family" or “office”. This change may be more secure than affecting every public network you connect to. However, please note that if this change is made, your computer will be visible to others on the network. What are the risks of allowing a program to pass through a firewall? When you create an exception in the firewall or open a port, you have allowed a particular program to send or receive messages from your computer through the firewall. Allowing a program to communicate through a firewall (sometimes called unblocking) is like opening a small door in a firewall. Every time you create an exception for a program or open a port so that it communicates through a firewall, your computer's security is also reduced. The more exceptions or ports that your firewall has, the more chances that hackers or malware use these channels to spread worms, access files, or use computers to spread malware to other computers. Often, creating a program exception is more secure than opening a port. If you open a port, the port will remain open regardless of whether the program is using it or not until you close it. If an exception is created, this "door" will only be opened when special communication is required. To help reduce security risks: ü Create exceptions or open ports only when they are really needed, and remove exceptions that are no longer needed or close ports that are no longer needed. ü Do not create exceptions or open ports for programs you don't recognize. What is network discovery? Network discovery is a network setting that affects whether your computer can view (find) other computers and settings on the network, and whether other computers on the network can view your computer. There are three network discovery states: Enabling this state allows your computer to view other network computers and devices and allow people on other network computers to view your computer. This makes it easier to share files and printers. Disabling this state prevents your computer from viewing other network computers and devices and prevents users on other network computers from viewing your computer. Customization This is a mixed state in which some of the settings related to network discovery are enabled, but not all settings are enabled. For example, you can turn on network discovery, but you or your system administrator might have disabled firewall exceptions that affect network discovery. Sharing files on a public folder through a public folder makes it easy to share files saved on your computer. Files in this folder can be shared with other users who use the same computer and users who use other computers on the same network. Any files or folders placed in a public folder are automatically shared with users who have access to public folders. Who can access public folders? Public folders are accessible to everyone with a computer's user account and password, but you can decide whether to allow anyone on the network to access public folders. Unable to select which individuals can access public folders over the network. You must either grant access to everyone on the network or not to anyone. However, you can set the permission level by selecting whether you can only open files from users who have access to public folders from the network, or if you can change and create files. You can also open a password-protected share. This allows users who only have a user account and password for the computer to have network access to the public folder. What's in the public folder? The public folder does not contain any files until you or someone else using your computer adds files to it. Public folders contain several subfolders that help you manage shared files. Most of these folders are managed by content type, including: ü public documents ü public downloads & uuml; public music & uuml; public pictures & uuml; public videos What should be placed in public folders? It depends on you, but in general, any files or folders you want to share should be placed in a public folder. Copy or move the songs you want to share to the public music folder, copy or move the pictures to a public picture folder, and more. You can even copy your Internet Explorer favorites into your public favorites folder so others can access your web links. Public folders are a great place to place shared files, sharing files with users who have granted access to public folders.