How quickly disable sharing on a Mac

If you have ever connected to a public Wi-Fi networks, you've probably noticed, as the sidebar of the Finder was filled with unfamiliar computers and network resources. This is the "share drives" through the shared folders. In OS X by default create a custom shared folder for each account. It has very limited access rights to ensure a safe, and at the same time easy to share files with other users on your local network. But unfortunately, this useful function could be unwanted (inappropriate) if you often use public networks, with a lot of other people's computers. How to turn it off, I'll tell you in this article.

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Whether to display the shared folders on your Mac'e depends on whether the guest account and its settings, well, actually from the inclusion of the function to share files.

Disabling file sharing

off procedure is quite simple and is the same in all versions of OS X. That's what we need to do:

1. Open the system settings menu  or from the dock.

2. Go to the section General access and choose File Sharing in the side panel.

3. In the section shared folders select shared folders, and press the button – (By the way, in the next section for each folder will show users and their access rights, here the required parameters can be set as desired).

4.Podtverzhdaem removal of the shared folder and click on the dialog box OK.

5. Repeat this process for all folders you want to remove from public access and exit the system settings.

This advice is often recommended to Mac owners, who work mainly in public networks as an added measure of security and privacy. Of course, no one, and so will not be able to access your user files (unless you will store them in a shared folder), but in theory anyone if he wants, he can copy your folder ~ / Public.

It is important to remember that the Default Public Folders is very limited, and even if you leave them enabled, strict limits are imposed on them. Firstly, for access to users you must be in the same network. Second, you'll need to assign permissions (read / write) for a public folder so that other users see them. In addition, many users often do not even realize the existence of shared folders, and they are, as a rule, always empty. You can always check whether anything is stored in your shared folders, open shared in the Finder (most likely there will be empty).

So whether or not to disable the Sharing?

Still in doubt? Well, Apple default leave it switched on, but because Apple is very sensitive about security, so folder access is very limited and the maximum that can be done with your files attackers, is to view it or copy. If you are still a frequent user of public network, you can use the tips and disable sharing. Well, if your Mac is connected only to your home, corporate or school network - you can leave it on.

In the end, you can disable the standard communication protocols and the SMB AFP, removing the corresponding checkboxes in the Sharing panel, this will completely disable shering, not only public folders.

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That's the way things are shared on OS X, dear readers. I hope this article was interesting for you and you have learned from it useful information. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to drop comments, I'm happy to answer them.