Using windows, I would like to be able to browse computers and their shares on the network, without publishing any shares, administrative shares, and not even having my computer listed in the "Network" folder on other computers.
When using windows, if I go to the "Network" folder, I get this yellow bar:
If I click and select "Turn on network discovery and file sharing", then my computer appears on other people's view of the network, and they can browse my files.
Basically, if I want to see your files, I must show you mine.
Let's take an example: At work, I visit a client, and need to access some data on a windows share on his network. How can I do that without displaying the confidential information stored on my laptop?
I know how to disable sharing of my home folder, but there are other shares that can't be disabled, they are apparently called "administrative shares", and may be vulnerable to attacks by humans or viruses on the netwok.
Also, access to these administrative shares and to my home folder are protected by my password on that computer, but that can be brute-forced I guess. Also, some people don't have a secure password — or even don't have a password at all.
When using linux to access shares on the windows network, the linux box doesn't publish anything on the network unless you explicitely ask for it (by installing a samba server etc).
How can I get the same functionnality in Windows?