NervousDad said:
Hello. My PC is on Win98 but I think I need to upgrade to XP but I'm
not sure which version I need. My kids are pretty PC literate - that
is if my firewall or antivirus blocks something they want, they just
pres alt+ctl+del and end the antiviruis or firewall! Hence I've had
endless problems with trojans corrupt disks mucked up settings new
'helper' apps etc .. Grrrr.
Now I want to get tough. I want to :-
stop them downloading or installing anything runnable.
stop them being able to end antivirus & firewall.
stop one of them from using my DVD burner altogether - he completely
wrecked my CD writer!
Stop them changing any configuration setting whatsover via control
panel, regedit, msconfig or anything else I don't know about.
Stop them from pulling the PC out from the workstation & fiddling
with the plugs hehe bet you can't help with this one
Anyway, I think you'll get the idea. Can I do all of this with XP
Home or will I need pro for certain bits?
thanks in advance
NervousDad
You can do what you want with either XP Home or XP Professional by locking
the machine down and giving the kids their own username and password that
does not have administrative rights on the computer.
Locking the machine down would include:
- putting a password on the system BIOS and making sure that the machine is
only bootable from the hard drive without accessing the BIOS.
- Making sure the computer case is not easily opened.. Many cases have a
"ring" you can put a padlock through to prevent such intrusions.
- Your account and all other accounts on the computer would need to be
password protected. Your passwords YOU only know. Not easily guessable or
hacked.. Meaning you should come up with a phrase or something and use it..
You have up to 127 characters, including spaces you can use. Mix some
numbers in that password to.. Punctuation is good as well.
- their accounts would be limited accounts, only having rights to what you
give them. You could go so far (easily) as to make it where only you could
install things on the computer. You could lock down the DVD/CD burner, but
I seriously cannot see how anyone could break it through normal use.. I have
burned thousands of DVDs and I'd venture 100,000 + in CD burners and never
had one "wear out" that I did not expect to. With limited accounts, they
could not stop some services (like the built in firewall, antivirus software
you install and run, etc.)
You are going to have to learn some things in order to administer the
computer properly, however. It's not going to be a "simple" process where
you create their accounts and move on if you have never done any of this
before. You will become a semi-IT person by the time you finish setting up
user accounts, locking down the various directories and using a BIOS
password. This is what your IT people at work probably go through to some
extent all the time.
Some of this is good starting material:
HOW TO: Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783&Product=winxp
HOW TO: Set, View, Change, or Remove Special Permissions for Files and
Folders in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308419&Product=winxp
Doug's Windows XP Security Console
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm
Good Luck.. Read up, do Google searches, look around these newsgroups and
ask questions as needed.. You'll be a junior admin and have your kids
frustrated in no time.. *grin*
