Guide: How to Disable the ‘Automatic Search for Network Folders and Printers’ in Windows XP

This step-by-step visual guide will show you how to disable the sometimes annoying Windows XP feature that automatically adds network folders & printers which you may already have installed on your system. Doing this will prevent the computer from having printers that are no longer on the network to stop appearing as well as preventing the same printer listed twice.

This feature is enabled by default. Your computer will periodically scan other computers on the network and automatically lists their shared resources on your computer. The problem arises when you already have that resource setup manually and it lists that resource again. This can lead to confusion, so if you wish to avoid that confusion, follow the directions on the PDF below. If you have anything to add to this please comment on this post and let me know.

You need Adobe Acrobat Reader 5 or above to view the file above.