I recently bought an extra PC so that i could play around with minecraft servers and command blocks etc. i have been playing with accessing my PC from my laptop and used the remote desktop connection successfully. I also managed to access files on the PC from my laptop using the file browser and had to login and supply the password. Then i turned off the remote desktop access and the network discovery on the PC expecting not to be able to access the files from the file browser on my laptop afterwards however i still can.

So does any one know how to logout my laptop from the PC? Or stop the laptop accessing the PC files from the PC?

Given what you described, your computers are linked through the network through file sharing. Remote Desktop access actually lets you manipulate the destination pc usually through a screen share, streamed between the two computers - you'd have to likely have downloaded a 3rd party tool or bought a specific software package for both machines to attempt this.

If you're just popping in and viewing/editing folders in file explorer from your laptop, you're just using the file sharing feature (available feature on standard PC software). If that sounds more like what you're seeing, I think it's just a matter of r-clicking over the network folder, open sharing, advanced, and stop sharing (going off my memory but I'm sure you get the idea).

Bottom line is that remote access and file sharing are two separate things. Termination of the remote access doesn't kill file access made through file sharing.

A link I think may be helpful:
How to remove dead network paths (ghost links)

Its windows 8 on the PC and 7 on the laptop. They both come with remote desktop application. When I logged into the PC directly it killed the file sharing from the file browser. I will try some right clicking (context menus) to see if i can kill it from the laptop end. I will have a look at the link too.

Thanks very much. @Valgys

@Tez1010 Its windows 8 on the PC and 7 on the laptop. They both come with remote desktop application. When I logged into the PC directly it killed the file sharing from the file browser. I will try some right clicking (context menus) to see if i can kill it from the laptop end. I will have a look at the link too.

Thanks very much. @Valgys

upgrade both to windows 10

Why though.

i was wondering that - i generally find when you 'upgrade' windows it takes up more hard disk and more processing power!

@Tez1010 i was wondering that - i generally find when you 'upgrade' windows it takes up more hard disk and more processing power!

Is that right?

@Tez1010 i was wondering that - i generally find when you 'upgrade' windows it takes up more hard disk and more processing power!

@Cileklim Is that right?

Windows 10 at the moment is currently about 6-8gb smaller than windows 7 fully upgraded, that said down the line with constant updates over the next couple of years that gap could narrow quickly.
Speedwise Windows 10 has a bit of an edge not a huge one but it's likely to increase somewhat.
I wouldn't upgrade on older machine however, or do it just for the sake it of it either.

Thanks @R4iscool1.