Private vs public connections

[jaxm]

I recently "upgraded" my dsl internet connection, which required a new modem. I had to call their tech support for assistance in getting everything up and connected. But, the connection is now "public" instead of private. Over the years I've had to do this many times, and they'll always helped me set it up as private. I explained my concerns to the techs and their responses were that the computers are more secure viewing my connection as public because the computers (one wired, others wireless) will automatically turn off any sharing.

I have set my sharing and discovery settings to off with the exception of p/w protect.

Connection security is WPA2-P/AES and nothing displays in the list when searching for files & folders being shared or shared network folders with the exception of the printer.

I've always been under the impression that private was more secure than public. Are my security concerns founded or am I just in old thought processes and the info I've received correct? Everything I've read via the 'Help & Support' sections of the computers (and other places) indicates what the techs told me is true.

Advice, please?

 

[DelJo63]

For windows 7 users, see this description of Home, Work, Public connections

How to CHANGE your choice of Location


scroll to the bottom on Location Choice dialogue

 

[DelJo63]

btw: ALL of this is about configuring the firewall via a gui wizard using the choices predetermined by Microsoft.
Those choices may or may not be sufficient depending upon your usage of the pc
and how you connect to the Internet.

As a laptop user, I may be at home, at work, or traveling and using a hotspot or two.
I have been using 3td party firewalls for sometime and currently implement Sunbelt Personal Firewall 4 (SPF 4). I have grouped the rules into four sets:

• Default (always present and active)
• Exclusions: specifics I NEVER wish to allow
• Remote Access: specific controls for RDP, SSH
• Private Lan: specifics for Print/File sharing, master browser, MySQL and HTTP server (yes, on the laptop)

The (D) list is easily enabled or disabled before I connect to any hotspot and as the deny any inbound logging active is in the Exclusions list and last in the stack of all rules, I can monitor all attempts at accessing my laptop.

Even if I were paranoid or not, having such control in my hands makes me both comfortable and responsible;
kind of like preferring to drive the car rather than just sit on the passenger seat.