I gather that you are seeing other "pee-seas" (and | other hosts) in MAC OSX Finder UI under SHARED ? T/F ?? The Finder is reflecting what others are sharing.
In any case consider these items:
with anyone on there network and to others outside who will access them via a specic host nae or address. KInda like your mate who has some files he wants to share with you. You connect to his host (machine) either by a host name (yourmate.com), an IP address (33.33.33.11) or on your local area network usually over Bonjour (yourmates_macbookair.local).
Simply THEY ARE sharing their stuff with you and this your MACs FINDER makes then apear under the SHARED parion of the side bar in the UI. This is likely what you are seeing
microsoft platforms have their users share DIRECTORIES mainly through the SHARING properties for that opject. YEp.. and then you can at a minimum SEE it . HOwever this doesnt mean you can access the contents.... This is all familiar to most.. nothing to be concerned about.
Probably no need for concern.....
(IMO), its amazing the number of PC users that unknowingly expose their folder contents on a hotel WIFI or ETHERNET network... its astonishing....!
I'll hazard a guess that form you minmal description that you may feel that others on your network can SEE YOUR STUFF?? Bt Default, any user can see ANYTHING you have put in your ~/Public folder (theis is your Public folder in your home directory. Usually they can ONLY read whats there unless you have gone out of your way to change the ACCESS CONTROL LIST (ACL) to an access for others other than READ ONLY.
An extention so to speak of this sharing is the concept of a "DROP BOX" that is also maintained by default in your homes public folder (~/Public/Drop Box). This is very useful for people to GIVE you their files by DROPPING then into this ~/Public/Drop Box folder.
So THIS folder is exposed for all to see on your local network.
How to stop anyone seeing anything?.. easy..
Step 1: go to SYSTEM PREFERENCES/Sharing/ and UNTICK the "File Sharing" service. Its probably already unticked. This will stop exposing anything that you have shared to others. pee-sea users may need your to enable SMB/CIFS TO READ YOUR STUFF. YOU WONT HAVE THIS ENABLED UNLESS YOU DID IT YOURSELF. Additionally there are windows .apps to read mac file systems too... so stopping all fie sharing will do the trick
Step 1.1: if you dont want others to see your ~/Public folder either then simply select the Public folder in your finder, open the Finder inspector (+i), open the disclosure triangle for "sharing and permissions" and then set the access by others to "NO ACCESS"
Step 2: while you are inSYSTEM PREFERENCES/Sharing/ and UNTICK the "Remote Login" and "Screen Sharing" services. Its very likely already unticked. This will stop exposing remote services such as ssh and vnc anything that you have shared to others.
Step 3: for extra go to SYSTEM PREFERENCES/Security/Firewall and enable any setting for network here that you want to disable or filter... seek out these apple discussion forums.. tonnes of stuff here on his.
Others reading this thread will also have good advice and opinions.
Post your results for others to see.
Warwick
Hong Kong