Setting Up XP for family use - Redux

[Vince Black]

Earlier, I wrote "Help! We have a computer with XP on it. I'm the
administrator and my kids have limited accounts. How can I set up my
computer, so that they can play the games that I buy for them, without
making them administrators? A lot of games require administrator to install
(which I'm not opposed to), but these same games also require administrator
login to play them. What good is that? I don't want to keep having to log
my self into the computer, every time the kids want to play games. Isn't
there a way to setup permissions, on a case-by-case basis?"

Well, Mr. Rick Rogers responded "To install them in their accounts,
right-click the setup file and use "run as", then enter the admin name and
password. To run them under limited accounts, see this article: Some
Programs Do Not Work If You Log On from Limited Account [Q307091]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307091"

I tried those tips, but everytime I click on the game icon, XP still wants
my administrator password! Sheesh I don't want that! I want to grant a
degree of autonomy to my kids, without giving them the keys to the computer!

Roger responded with "Try to make them 'power users' and see if they can
play the games then. In Help and support, type 'power users' to get more
info. To change the accounts, go to Run and type 'control userpasswords2'
without quotation marks. Select the account and click 'properties' once
there go to the groups tab, tick 'others' and you will see a selection of
different groups, choose 'power users' there's some explanation there of the
properties of this group."

Well, XP Home apparently doesn't support power users (it's a feature in the
Professional version).

So, am I stuck? Isn't there a way to grant access on an ad-hoc basis to
computer programs without providing administrator privileges?

Thanks for reading through all of this! Regards, Vince.

 

[Cerridwen]

Earlier, I wrote "Help! We have a computer with XP on it. I'm the
administrator and my kids have limited accounts. How can I set up my
computer, so that they can play the games that I buy for them, without
making them administrators? A lot of games require administrator to
install (which I'm not opposed to), but these same games also require
administrator login to play them. What good is that? I don't want to
keep having to log my self into the computer, every time the kids
want to play games. Isn't there a way to setup permissions, on a
case-by-case basis?"

Well, Mr. Rick Rogers responded "To install them in their accounts,
right-click the setup file and use "run as", then enter the admin
name and password. To run them under limited accounts, see this
article: Some Programs Do Not Work If You Log On from Limited Account
[Q307091] http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307091"

I tried those tips, but everytime I click on the game icon, XP still
wants my administrator password! Sheesh I don't want that! I want
to grant a degree of autonomy to my kids, without giving them the
keys to the computer!

Roger responded with "Try to make them 'power users' and see if they
can play the games then. In Help and support, type 'power users' to
get more info. To change the accounts, go to Run and type 'control
userpasswords2' without quotation marks. Select the account and click
'properties' once there go to the groups tab, tick 'others' and you
will see a selection of different groups, choose 'power users'
there's some explanation there of the properties of this group."

Well, XP Home apparently doesn't support power users (it's a feature
in the Professional version).

So, am I stuck? Isn't there a way to grant access on an ad-hoc basis
to computer programs without providing administrator privileges?

Thanks for reading through all of this! Regards, Vince.

Not in Home, no. You have two choices - admin or limited. You want anything
else you'll need to upgrade to Pro (AIUI).

 

[Vince Black]

That's what I was afraid of Thanks for the info.

Vince.

Earlier, I wrote "Help! We have a computer with XP on it. I'm the
administrator and my kids have limited accounts. How can I set up my
computer, so that they can play the games that I buy for them, without
making them administrators? A lot of games require administrator to
install (which I'm not opposed to), but these same games also require
administrator login to play them. What good is that? I don't want to
keep having to log my self into the computer, every time the kids
want to play games. Isn't there a way to setup permissions, on a
case-by-case basis?"

Well, Mr. Rick Rogers responded "To install them in their accounts,
right-click the setup file and use "run as", then enter the admin
name and password. To run them under limited accounts, see this
article: Some Programs Do Not Work If You Log On from Limited Account
[Q307091] http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307091"

I tried those tips, but everytime I click on the game icon, XP still
wants my administrator password! Sheesh I don't want that! I want
to grant a degree of autonomy to my kids, without giving them the
keys to the computer!

Roger responded with "Try to make them 'power users' and see if they
can play the games then. In Help and support, type 'power users' to
get more info. To change the accounts, go to Run and type 'control
userpasswords2' without quotation marks. Select the account and click
'properties' once there go to the groups tab, tick 'others' and you
will see a selection of different groups, choose 'power users'
there's some explanation there of the properties of this group."

Well, XP Home apparently doesn't support power users (it's a feature
in the Professional version).

So, am I stuck? Isn't there a way to grant access on an ad-hoc basis
to computer programs without providing administrator privileges?

Thanks for reading through all of this! Regards, Vince.

Not in Home, no. You have two choices - admin or limited. You want anything
else you'll need to upgrade to Pro (AIUI).