Before anything else:
Thank you Chiron for your most helpful article of 2/3/12 re installing CIS/CFW at techsupportalert.com
Here is my situation:
In my house I have a Linksys BEFSR41 4 port router to which 3 XP Pro SP3 computers and a wireless access point ( WAP ) are cabled.
The WAP is accessed by 1 computer running Vista Home Premium SP2, and a netbook running W7 Starter Edition.
All 5 computers ( LOL depending on the order they’re booted ), see each other on the network I created for them ( with the exception of the W7 netbook which can be seen and accessed by the other computers, but because of the limitations of W7 Starter Edition can’t see/access them ).
I have just finished installing CFW on the Vista computer, and uninstalling Dragon and Geek Buddy which were automatically installed with CFW.
I have a message on the Vista computer stating that the firewall has detected that the computer has joined a new network shown as Wireless and needs to know how to treat the network according to my location ---- the choices are Home, Work, and Public ( the latter of course not an option for me ). I also have a checkable box " Do not detect new networks again "
Before I make the choice of location, please explain the difference in the difference in effects on my network that will occur by choosing Work or Home – I am remembering that when I was researching getting the W7 netbook networked to the 3 XP computers ( I didn’t yet have the Vista rig ) that I had to be sure to make it part of a workgroup as opposed to a home network.
Or, given my above described system, should I simply check the " Do not detect new networks again " box and leave it at that ?
If I rather should choose between Home/Work I am very concerned about not having the computers able to see and access each other because of an incorrect choice between Home and Work. I am ( hopefully correctly ? ) presuming that either choice will have no effect on each computers ability to access the internet ?
Just for information, the 3 XP computers are running the Ashampoo Free Firewall ( which sadly isn’t supported by Vista or W7 ). The W7 netbook is for now staying with the Windows firewall ( which I don’t like because it doesn’t ( unlike Ashampoo and CFW ) allow me to configure outgoing rules. As soon as I have my Vista rig properly CFW configured, I will be installing CFW on the netbook too.
If anyone has comments about any differences in security settings generated by choosing the Work or the Home option ( or just checking the " Do not detect new networks again " box ), that information will also be greatly appreciated.
My most grateful thanks in advance to those who read and respond to the preceding!