XP Home User restrictions

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Guest

I have Window XP home and am trying to figure out how to keep my children
from messing up the computer. I have the Administrator account and created
their accounts as Limited Users. I thought the system would be easy, having
worked with Win 2000, NT, etc. But, when I logged on using my daughters
account and deleted some of the shortcuts from her desktop...they also
disappeared from my Desktop. This is when I stopped and began the task of
researching Admin abilities, etc. But I still haven't found the info that I
need.
I have not been able to create a group. I think that's only XP Pro.
I went into a folder, selected properties, but could not figure out how to
set permissions for other users. I could only make it private, normal or
shared. Again, I think it's only XP Pro.

Ultimately, I just want for my children to only see the programs that they
need to use...like games, word, Internet Explorer. But I don't want them to
get into Quicken, the control panel, Norton Utilities, etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...A few questions are:
1. What is the easiest way for me to make many programs and folders
invisible when my children log in, but still available when my wife or I log
in?
2. How can I install childrens games and programs that they can all see and
use, that my wife and I don't need to see when we log in?

Thanks in advance for your help,
 
All icons under C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Desktop will appear for all users!
When creating a new user account, it will copy the
settings and icons in this profile:
C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Desktop
Copy all the icons you need under your own profile and
delete them from the other profiles...
That should do the trick
 
The easiest way?
Upgrade to xp pro, or go back to 2000 pro. Unfortunatley xp home does not
support , or rather allow the administrator to set local secuirty policies.
Thus stopping you from blocking access to any of the programs you specefied.
However, i am surprised you were able to delete icons from the administrators
desktop by deleting the same icons from a limited user account. I know
certain applications that place icons on the desktop ( as with icons placed
in the start>programs menu) will have their icons removed for all users if
you delete them, or if you move them then they will be moved to exactly the
same place for all users, BUT only the administrator should be able to do
this. Similarly, yes Norton will be accessible , but a limited user doesnt
ave the ability to change any settings , or even run live update,
successfully. What i would suggest is (if you want to stay with XP home)

Delete your childrens user accounts.
Configure your computer, games word etc,
Create new user accounts for them that are limited. and make sure the
administrators files are private. ( thiscould be the reason you were able to
delete icons etc)
log on as the limited user accounts so that a documents & settings\username
folder is created.
now you have two options, you can try creating a mandatory user profile for
the user accounts ( i dont know if xp home will support this but i guess its
worth a try) or you can spend time customising the start menu and desktop for
the accounts.

Another idea, if your that intent on not seeing programs when you logon,
perhaps if using the welcome screen creating a seperate user account for each
program and having the .exe for it in the startup folder, but personally i
feel yu should only logon as administrator when you need to do admin tasks,
and even xp home supports secondary logon.

Hope my waffling offers some help?
 
Rooster8 said:
I have Window XP home and am trying to figure out how to keep my children
from messing up the computer. I have the Administrator account and created
their accounts as Limited Users. I thought the system would be easy, having
worked with Win 2000, NT, etc. But, when I logged on using my daughters
account and deleted some of the shortcuts from her desktop...they also
disappeared from my Desktop. This is when I stopped and began the task of
researching Admin abilities, etc. But I still haven't found the info that I
need.
I have not been able to create a group. I think that's only XP Pro.
I went into a folder, selected properties, but could not figure out how to
set permissions for other users. I could only make it private, normal or
shared. Again, I think it's only XP Pro.

Ultimately, I just want for my children to only see the programs that they
need to use...like games, word, Internet Explorer. But I don't want them to
get into Quicken, the control panel, Norton Utilities, etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...A few questions are:
1. What is the easiest way for me to make many programs and folders
invisible when my children log in, but still available when my wife or I log
in?
2. How can I install childrens games and programs that they can all see and
use, that my wife and I don't need to see when we log in?

Thanks in advance for your help,
Click to expand...


You should give MS-MVP Doug Knox's Security Console a try:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm

--

Bruce Chambers

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