I've often made the location type to be 'private' when setting up a LAN between my two home computers, only to find that it's changed itself to 'public' sometimes, thus thwarting my efforts. Now I can see it all the time. Public = Discovery of other computers & devices will be limited, and the use of the network by some programs may be restricted. (for connection to the internet). Private = This allows you to see computers and devices while making your computer discoverable. (for LAN's or work networks) - As set in 'Network & Sharing Centre' (Vista Home Premium) and explained in "Choosing a Network Location" in Windows Help & Support

so what does it mean when it says the firewall profile is private?

Works fine. Just shows the current Firewall level. HOWEVER, I switched the firewall off, set the refresh for this gadget to 5 secs but it never updated telling me the firewall was off.

Have anny one try out this gadget, to tell me if its really good on what its say.

so what does it mean when it says public?