Kathy said:
We have a computer set up for our kids.
AMD Athlon 2600
windows XP
SP2
They all have their own accounts, which are set up as limited users. I
have an account as administrater. The problem is they cannot install
anything ....
That's exactly the way it's supposed to be, and exactly the way you
want it to be, if you're at all concerned with computer security and
your family's privacy. Children tend not to pay any attention to the
adware and spyware that accompany many of the cutesy links they click.
or play some games that are installed under my account. Is
there any way to fix this. I don't mind installing everything under my
account, but I would like them to be able to run the programs under
their accounts.
This is quite common if the software was designed for Win9x/Me, or
if it was intended for WinNT/2K/XP, but was improperly designed/coded.
Quite simply, the installation routine for this application doesn't
"know" how to handle individual user profiles, or the application tries
to make changes to "off-limits" sections of the registry. Quite often,
you can make this software available to other users by _copying_ the
Start Menu folder and Desktop folder shortcuts from the user profile
from which the software was installed in the corresponding folders in
the user profile(s) in which you'd like the software to be accessible.
If the application is something that can/should be made available to all
current and future users, copying the shortcuts into the corresponding
locations of the All Users profile will do the trick.
NOTE: This may not work if the software requires access to parts
of the hard drive and/or registry that are not normally accessible to
regular users. (This won't occur if the application was properly
written.) If this does prove to be the case, however, you're left with
two options: Either grant the necessary users appropriate higher access
privileges (either as Power Users or local administrators), or replace
the application with one that was properly designed specifically for
WinNT/2K/XP.
Some Programs Do Not Work If You Log On from Limited Account
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307091
For some obscure reason, game and children's software developers in
particular seem to not understand WinXP's file security paradigm, and
require even limited users to have unnecessarily high privileges to
protected systems folders. For example, saved games are often stored in
a sub-folder under the game's folder within C:\Program Files - a place
where no inexperienced or limited user should have write permissions.
Additionally, here are a couple of tips suggested, in a reply to a
different post, by MS-MVP Kent W. England:
"If your game or application works with admin accounts, but not with
limited accounts, you can fix it to allow limited users to access the
program files folder with "change" capability rather than "read" which
is the default.
C:\>cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:c
where "appfolder" is the folder where the application is installed.
If you wish to undo these changes, then run
C:\>cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:r
If you still have a problem with running the program or saving
settings on limited accounts, you may need to change permissions on
the registry keys. Run regedit.exe and go to HKLM\Software\vendor\app,
where "vendor\app" is the key that the software vendor used for your
specific program. Change the permissions on this key to allow Users
full control."
--
Bruce Chambers
Help us help you:
You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
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