I haven't been able to successfully share anything under my "program files" folder with other computers on my home network. I can share other folders that I create, but nothing under "program files". All I get is the option for "advanced sharing", which doesn't help because it requires me to select users and such. I need to be able to let anyone on my home network see the folders/files without having to login as a specific user.

Right-click Program Files > Properties > Sharing Tab > Advanced Sharing > Share this folder > Apply, OK > Close. To unconditionally share, you have to change the security permissions to allow Everyone access. Right-click Program Files > Properties > Security Tab > Edit > Add and type Everyone (not the quotes) into the box and OK. Tick the boxes next to the permissions you want to allow (e.g. Read or Write, etc.) then Apply > OK, etc. You may see some screens coming up with message 'An error occurred while applying ..'. This is not unusual and can be ignored by clicking Continue.

You also need to create same username/password on all of the computers. If an computer would like to access the other one, the network access needs to log on the destination system from network with a certified username/password of that system. If you create the same username/password, the access will directly pass the authentication. Otherwise, you need to enter a valid username/password when access. If you turn off Password Protected Sharing, other computers can only access it with Guest account. However, Guest account has no permissions to access the Program Files folder.Arthur Xie - MSFT