How To Hide Your Computer From Windows Network Neighborhood

If you share Windows folders, you probably noticed that when you browse Network Neighborhood ("My Network" in XP or "Network" in Vista), Windows broadcast your PC name to anyone browsing on the same subnet.

While this is no big deal, you may want to hide you Computer from being discovered, but still be able to connect to your shared folders.

To hide your computer from being browsed in Network Neighborhood, open a command prompt by clicking on  Start \ Run… and typing the following:

net config server /HIDDEN:YES

If the command was executed successfully, you should see "The command completed successfully." or you can verify with the following command :

net config server

and check that the  "Server hidden" status is Yes:

Server Name                           \\WTN1
Server Comment                       

Software version                      Windows 2002
Server is active on                  
    NetbiosSmb (000000000000)
    NetBT_Tcpip_{F08BC22F-B129-43DF-886A-850FA5A9EF7F} (000c29f61483)

Server hidden                         Yes
Maximum Logged On Users               10
Maximum open files per session        16384

Idle session time (min)               15
The command completed successfully.
 

Now reboot your Computer and when Windows has restarted, you will no longer be able to see it when browsing the network. When you want to connect to a shared folder, you can map the drive using the following syntax from Windows Explorer (Tools \ Map Network Drive…)

\\computername\sharename

So if I wanted to connect to the shared folder called media on my computer named wtn1, I would map it as:

\\wtn1\media

If you want to unhide your Computer, type the following at a command prompt and reboot:

net config server /HIDDEN:NO

Remember, hiding your Computer from the Network is by no means secure or a substitute for security. You should always secure your shares when necessary with proper permissions.

How to Change Your Computer’s IP Address

Sometimes, while browsing your internet you come across something like “Page Not Found” error. You check your internet connection and all the linking cables but all of them seem to be okay. Then you decide to call the Internet Helpline Service that, for sure, takes much time.

Actually, the problem is with your computer’s Internet protocol address a.k.a IP address. IP address is a way to identify users on internet through their computers. When you face “Page Not Found” error, it means that your computer’s IP address might have been banned. In this case, changing your computer’s IP address may solve the problem. This is very easy and simple, and you can do it using Command prompt. Just follow the steps given below.

For Windows XP users:

1. Got to Start Menu.
2. Click “Run” on menu.
3. Type ‘cmd’ in the box (without quote) and press OK.
4. A Command Prompt Window will pop up, resembling DOS operating system. Type ‘ipconfig’ (without the quotes). This will show your computer’s current IP address.
5. Type ‘ipconfig/release’ and press “Enter”. This will release your computer’s current IP address.
6. Type ‘ipconfig/renew’ and press “Enter”. Now your computer will be assigned a new IP address.
7. Type ‘exit’ and press “Enter”. This will close the window. Now your computer has a new IP address.

For Windows vista or Windows 7 users:

1. Go to “Start”. Type ‘cmd’ in Search bar.
2. Click ‘cmd’. This will open a Command Prompt Window.
3. In this window, type ‘ipconfig/release’ and press “Enter”. At this point, your computer’s IP address must be 0.0.0.0.
4. Type ‘ipconfig/renew’ and press “Enter” again. Your computer will obtain a new set of IP addresses.
5. Close the window by typing ‘exit’ and pressing “Enter”.

Hopefully changing the IP address will solve your problem. However, if you still face the problem, turn off your router. Turn it on after 2-3 minutes and repeat the procedure. If the connectivity problem remains unresolved, call Helpline service.

Changing your IP address is strongly recommended if you have bought a used computer. It will give computer’s connectivity a whole new start. Connectivity problems that a computer might face when it is moved to a different location can also be resolved by this method.