limited user on Windows XP

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I've tried setting up a limited user account on my pc but the new user seems
to get full access to the pc. I'm sure it's not right because the new user
can change internet settings and access my AOL e-mail, among other things. I
have windows XP sp2 and a wireless home network with a Netgear DG834G router.
Appreciate any ideas
John





John
 
I think that limited users always have these abilities. Have you tried
installing anything with that limited user account? At my school, the
computers are all set on limited user which makes downloading and installing
anything virtually impossible.
 
My reply is at the bottom of your message :


JohnC said:
I've tried setting up a limited user account on my pc but the new user seems
to get full access to the pc. I'm sure it's not right because the new user
can change internet settings and access my AOL e-mail, among other things. I
have windows XP sp2 and a wireless home network with a Netgear DG834G router.
Appreciate any ideas
John
Click to expand...


Hello John . You need to set-up a good and strong password for your
administrator account.The limited should not have a password (but even if he
sets-up a password for his limited account , you can always remove it as you
are the admin )

Also , boot in Safe Mode and there you'll understand that there is a hidden
admin account visible only in Safe Modes. Enter your PC with it and then also
set-up a password for this hidden admin acount.

You do not say if you have XP Pro or XP Home ...but
if it is XP Pro you can use its Group Policy (for more info ,goto
www.microsoft.com and search in their knowledge base)
if it is XP Home or XP Media Center , use a special tool created by
Microsoft which help you manage a shared computer.

For more information about administrator control as well as malware
prevention information , visit the "Protect your PC" in my web-site
http://pandaman.my.contact.bg


Panda_man
 
thank you, Elendil and Panda Man, for your responses.
My original post on this subject was on 16/10/05 (but there was no response
and I cannot even find my post on the newsgroups now. I studied knowlege
bases and forums, studied settings in great detail, experimented in safe mode
and user profiles, deleting 'unknown user' and my owner account, etc and
caused myself a few problems and confusion (I'm stiil more of a novice for
all that I have learnt).
Then other things took priority, till now.
I still want to set up a limited user account for myself (more secure?),
i.e. in addiition to my Owner/Administator account.
Sorry, I forgot to say my pc is a Dell Dimension 4600 and it's XP Home
edition.
Tonight, I opened a Limited User account again to see what happened, and:
1. get Microsoft anti-spyware requests to authorise changing settings for
Internet Security Intranet and Internet Zones ('Restricted Sites') to below
minimum levels.
2. no web sites listed in the Internet Security 'Restricted Sites' section,
i.e. in my owner account the 'Restricted Sites' section blocks a huge number
of dodgy looking sites.
3. 'Newly discovered programme: UPnP device' in the start up tray.
4. Full range of programs when I click on 'All Programs'.
5. clicking on AOL, goes to my AOL account (not able to use it only because
I have unchecked the 'remember my password' box).
6. can change any of the Internet settings.
7. can download and install program (tried Google Earth and it installed ok).
I haven't deleted the Limited user account I opened tonight but put a
password on it for the time being.
For security, I've got:
- good password for my Owner/Administrator account, which I set up booting
in safe mode
- Windows XP Firewall (did have the McAfee f/wall in th AOL package but
planning to d/load Zone Alarm, which seems easier to understand)
- AVG free version anti-virus
- AOL and Microsoft anti-spyware
- Spybot
- Ad-aware anti spyware
and the scans are clear apart from tracking cookies.
Hope this is enough information and not too much.
Appreciate any advice,
thanks
John
 
Try looking to see what the group membership is of the "Limited user".

To do this you will need to open the computer management console in the
administrative tools in the control panel. Navigate to the local users and
groups, and double click on the username of your "Limited account". Then
select member of tab, my guess is that it will have Power Users listed in
there, click on remove and add it to the Users group. This will keep that
user from having permissions to install programs and drivers.

Your internet explorer settings are per user not per system unless
configured to be that way. Changing the local group policy will can specify
that the internet explorer settings are shared per system but you will have
to configure all the settings within the group policy.
 
I cannot find users or groups in the management console. I can find user
profiles via control panel>system (system properties)>advanced tab>user
profiles [settings]. There are the three users : administrator, owner and jc2
(my name for the experimental limited account); all 'local users' but no
mention of limited. It indicates option to change from local pofile to
'roaming profile' and if I double click on one of the users it indicates
option (but I don't think it is available) to change to roaming profile
(whatever that means).
I have been dodging between my owner and jc2 accounts and as you say it does
seem that changes to internet settings on the owner account do not change the
settings on jc2 account, and vice versa, although 'jc2' could make all sorts
of changes to security etc if he wanted to.
Windows make it sound so easy !
Appreciate more advice although if it means going too deep into the pc works
I'll have to think again about user accounts.
John
 
Well...I think you Windows have a little problem...You should create the
account and go back to the user's applet in control panel. Try to chance the
permissions again. If have no effect, I think that's something wrong in your
windows.

Good Luck,


Ed
 
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