C# conventions

Hi all, I'm a c# newbie and i've some questions about the c# conventions. I started learning c# a week ago due to my job, previously i mainly coded in Java so forgive me if my questions may seem stupid.

First of all "setters and getters". I learned that in c# there are "properties" and they kind substitute set and get methods. Are they mandatory? Or could i keep creating set and get methods? This question lead directly to a second one: I learned in Java to keep all my object variables "private", and accessing them with set and get. Now in C# online course i'm following everything Is always "public" and "free to access", should i set everything public then? Or should i keep my Java "approach"?