thanks that makes sense. I thought so though I wanted to see what'd happen, for example, if i have a share and see it listed and double click it. turns out it mounts it in /media e.g. after double clicking the share in that window, it says it'll mount it, then mount -l shows
//192.168.1.6/abcd on /media/MICROKNOPPIX_abcd

I see though that mounting the share is unnecessary.

I see there is a share called 'knoppix' when I access \\microknoppix
I suppose it is created from the share called [homes] in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file
The scan/mount network shares window shows it too. (I won't be mounting it)

I see that when I do smbstatus without any parameters, it always lists the abcd share that I made(whether it is being accessed or not), but it only lists the knoppix share when another computer has it open. Any idea why the discrepancy? Or how to list all shares regardless of whether they are being accessed or not?

Thanks