The Network location feature in Windows Vista is really just an easy way to customize Vistas firewall, based on if you trust (Private) or don’t trust (Public) the computers around you. In reality there are three Network Location settings Private, Public and Domain. The domain setting you don’t really need to worry about as it is configured for business/enterprise PCs that are on an Active Directory Domain, if your PC is on an Active Directory Domain then you won’t be able to change the Network Location Setting, if it’s not on a Domain it won’t affect you at all.

How do I decide if I should chose the Private or Public Network Location?

Private Network Location If you are in your own home which is behind your routers firewall and the only computers on your network are your own, then you would trust these other PCs so you should set Vistas Network Location to Private, thus allowing your PC to be discovered and for its resources to be accessed by your other PCs on your network.

Public Network Location If you were travelling or using your PC away from home for instance in your Airlines Club Lounge, you would not and should not trust the other PCs on this network so you should set Vistas Network location to Public. This will make your PC/Laptop fairly secure on the network, and less likely to be hacked.

For each new/separate network you connect to Vista is intelligent enough to ask you each time if you would like to set the network location to either Public or Private.

How Can I Change the Network Location Setting Once it has Already Been Set?

To change Vistas Network Location Setting go to the Vista Start Icon (as shown in figure 1 below)

Figure 1 The Vista Start Icon

Click Network | Network and Sharing Center |Customize Next to the Network you want to Change (as shown in Figure 2 below)

Figure 2 "Vista Network and Sharing Center"

You will be presented with the Set Network Location window (as shown in Figure 3 below) now just select either Public or Private and click Next then click close, and you are all done changing your network location.

Figure 3 "Vista Set Network Location Window"

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Please feel free to leave a comment about this article or contribute your experiences with the Windows Network Location feature. I love to hear what you have to say.