network setting

Which is the preferred setting for windows 10 network.....public or private?

Plankton said:

Which is the preferred setting for windows 10 network.....public or private?

Well, that would pretty much depend upon if you were attached to a public or private network. At home, behind your router's firewall, the private network setting allows you to share files and folders and allows other computers on the same private network to see each other.

If you are in a library or hotel or McDonald's, then you want the public setting to keep other computers on that public network from seeing your computer.

Thank you. So my next question; why is the default setting on a clean install set to Public?

Plankton said:

Thank you. So my next question; why is the default setting on a clean install set to Public?

Because that is the more restrictive setting. Let's say they made Private the default setting. You go to the library or McDonald's and connect to their WiFi - if private was the default setting your computer would be exposed to the public network until you changed it to Public.