Disable internet access for a single user on multi-user XP Pro: Possible?

[who be dat?]

Hi all!! Hope someone can help me out. I've got a younger user who has
abused their Internet priveleges (i.e. they are viewing nudey sites). I can
disable said sites from my firewall. However, as part of the punishment,
I'd like to disable this user's Internet access for a while (as part of
being grounded). However, I have to let this person use the computer some
due to homework. To make matters worse, this system is used by multiple
people so I can't just unplug it from the network I have here although I am
considering it.

This is WindowsXP Pro install where 3 people have passworded user accounts.
Question: is it possible to disable 'net access for just one account while
letting the other accounts use it? I had a hunch you could do it in "Local
Security Policy" in Adminstrative tools and a friend of mine thought that as
well (we are both programmers but not system admins or anything like that).
I looked there and was unable to find anything that allowed you to do that,
unless I totally missed it. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Chris Smith

 

[Steven L Umbach]

There are ways to disable internet explorer for a particular user, but that still
leaves too many work around in my opinion. First I have to assume that the user you
want to ban is not an administrator. If that is true you can try to disable the lan
connection in network properties before you log off. Another way is to use a personal
firewall that has rules to block access that can be disabled when you an
administrator wants to use the internet. Just make sure that regular user can not
change firewall rules or use a product like Kerio that password protects firewall
configuration. There is also a personal firewall called PortsLock [probably others]
that can different firewall rules based on user that logs onto the computer and I
believe you can try it free for thirty days. --- Steve

http://www.portslock.com/

 

[Jamie Allison]

One way I got around this was having ZoneAlarm installed on the PC and
taking it out of the all users start up menu and only putting it in users
who I wanted to access the internet. The result was that zonealarm never
loaded and therefore all internet access was blocked for the specific
accounts.

Although he user could browse to program files and run zoneAlarm but a
simple adjustment to security settings for that folder soon changed that.

Hope this helps.

There are ways to disable internet explorer for a particular user, but that still
leaves too many work around in my opinion. First I have to assume that the user you
want to ban is not an administrator. If that is true you can try to disable the lan
connection in network properties before you log off. Another way is to use a personal
firewall that has rules to block access that can be disabled when you an
administrator wants to use the internet. Just make sure that regular user can not
change firewall rules or use a product like Kerio that password protects firewall
configuration. There is also a personal firewall called PortsLock [probably others]
that can different firewall rules based on user that logs onto the computer and I
believe you can try it free for thirty days. --- Steve

http://www.portslock.com/

Hi all!! Hope someone can help me out. I've got a younger user who has
abused their Internet priveleges (i.e. they are viewing nudey sites). I can
disable said sites from my firewall. However, as part of the punishment,
I'd like to disable this user's Internet access for a while (as part of
being grounded). However, I have to let this person use the computer some
due to homework. To make matters worse, this system is used by multiple
people so I can't just unplug it from the network I have here although I am
considering it.

This is WindowsXP Pro install where 3 people have passworded user accounts.
Question: is it possible to disable 'net access for just one account while
letting the other accounts use it? I had a hunch you could do it in "Local
Security Policy" in Adminstrative tools and a friend of mine thought that as
well (we are both programmers but not system admins or anything like that).
I looked there and was unable to find anything that allowed you to do that,
unless I totally missed it. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Chris Smith

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

See www.dougnknox.com, Win XP Tips, Advanced Registry Editing. Use the
method outlined there to load the younger user's profile into the Registry.
Go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet
Settings

under the user's "loaded" hive. Right click in the right pane, select New,
DWord value and name the new value ProxyEnable Double click this new value
and set it to 1. Next, right click in the right pane, select New, String
value. Name it ProxyServer. Double click this value and set it to 127.0.0.1

This will prevent the user from accessing any internet site from Internet
Explorer. Of course, this assumes that they don't have access to Internet
Options, Connections.

 

[who be dat?]

Thanks for the firewall suggetion, I'll check into that.

Chris Smith

There are ways to disable internet explorer for a particular user, but that still
leaves too many work around in my opinion. First I have to assume that the user you
want to ban is not an administrator. If that is true you can try to disable the lan
connection in network properties before you log off. Another way is to use a personal
firewall that has rules to block access that can be disabled when you an
administrator wants to use the internet. Just make sure that regular user can not
change firewall rules or use a product like Kerio that password protects firewall
configuration. There is also a personal firewall called PortsLock [probably others]
that can different firewall rules based on user that logs onto the computer and I
believe you can try it free for thirty days. --- Steve

http://www.portslock.com/

Hi all!! Hope someone can help me out. I've got a younger user who has
abused their Internet priveleges (i.e. they are viewing nudey sites). I can
disable said sites from my firewall. However, as part of the punishment,
I'd like to disable this user's Internet access for a while (as part of
being grounded). However, I have to let this person use the computer some
due to homework. To make matters worse, this system is used by multiple
people so I can't just unplug it from the network I have here although I am
considering it.

This is WindowsXP Pro install where 3 people have passworded user accounts.
Question: is it possible to disable 'net access for just one account while
letting the other accounts use it? I had a hunch you could do it in "Local
Security Policy" in Adminstrative tools and a friend of mine thought that as
well (we are both programmers but not system admins or anything like that).
I looked there and was unable to find anything that allowed you to do that,
unless I totally missed it. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Chris Smith

 

[who be dat?]

This looks like something to give a try. Thanks!!

Chris Smith

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

You're welcome Note, it will only work for IE and some other programs.
Not all programs observe the Windows proxy server setting.

--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows XP/ Windows Smart Display
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com

 

[Ben King]

I've been using ModemLockDown for a few months now - seems pretty
good, certainly reliable. Supports multiple users, surf times etc.

http://modemlockdown.techconz.com