Help me lock down a friend's computer... - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

guthmund · 01-22-2004, 11:07 AM

A friend of mine is looking to secure her computer. She wants to keep her desktop (the whole house use this computer) and such, but wants to block people from installing stuff and setting passwords.

She's running WinXP Home so accounts are possible. However, this has been tried and failed.

I know there are programs that can do this, but I thought you guys might have a better recommendation.

Thanks for the help

Edited for another question:

It isn't possible to run "disk cleanup" on her computer. When you first click on it, the box appears and then it hangs (I waited 15 minutes to be sure.) If you close it out and then restart it, nothing happens. The mouse cursor will change for a brief second indicating it's working in the background, but Nada. It's not a big deal and it's not that important, but it's an inconvenience, so I thought I'd ask.

God of Thunder · 01-22-2004, 11:32 AM

Making her an administrator and others just a user will help.

Only an administrator can change others passwords.

Also user accounts can be locked down as to not run executable and other security measures.

sailor · 01-22-2004, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by God of Thunder
Making her an administrator and others just a user will help.

Only an administrator can change others passwords.

Also user accounts can be locked down as to not run executable and other security measures.

Yeah, set her up as an admin and lock everyone else down. Or move to Linux, they will probably be so baffled, they wont be able to install anything

MontanaXVI · 01-22-2004, 01:52 PM

im curious how/why you say setting her as admin and adding users has failed?

i had a friend at work whos kids were trashing their computer installing more spam/ad/spy/malware than you can shake a stick not to mention just decided that they were going to be some little bastards about it all and really fuck it up to the point of trying to install windowsXP back on it one weeken while the 'rents were away and did not know where to look on the PC for the serial (it is a compaq)

i set up users and they have had no problems since. these little evil bastards are all on a guest account they cannot install ANYTHING they cannot even go to but like 3 or 4 web pages i allowed for tehm from the master account neopets, espn, msnbc, and cnn i think are the only ones i allowed or something like that.

guest accounts can work they are there for a reason

magua · 01-22-2004, 05:35 PM

In addition, re accounts, remember that it's possible to use 'Run As...' to run specific things as an administrator while being logged in as a normal user. So, you setup the normal administrator account, and the user account that can't install anything -- and then you always leave the user account logged in. If it comes up that you, the administrator, want to install something, you can use 'Run As' to do it without having to logout.

The only problem that I can foresee is that some games may require administrator access to work correctly -- but I believe that it's possible to set these up to always run as an administrator, as one of the settings in the shortcut.

01-22-2004, 11:07 AM	#1 (permalink)
guthmund big damn hero	Help me lock down a friend's computer... A friend of mine is looking to secure her computer. She wants to keep her desktop (the whole house use this computer) and such, but wants to block people from installing stuff and setting passwords. She's running WinXP Home so accounts are possible. However, this has been tried and failed. I know there are programs that can do this, but I thought you guys might have a better recommendation. Thanks for the help Edited for another question: It isn't possible to run "disk cleanup" on her computer. When you first click on it, the box appears and then it hangs (I waited 15 minutes to be sure.) If you close it out and then restart it, nothing happens. The mouse cursor will change for a brief second indicating it's working in the background, but Nada. It's not a big deal and it's not that important, but it's an inconvenience, so I thought I'd ask. __________________ No signature. None. Seriously. Last edited by guthmund; 01-22-2004 at 11:11 AM..

01-22-2004, 11:32 AM	#2 (permalink)
God of Thunder Talk nerdy to me Location: Flint, MI	Making her an administrator and others just a user will help. Only an administrator can change others passwords. Also user accounts can be locked down as to not run executable and other security measures. __________________ I reject your reality, and substitute my own -- Adam Savage

01-22-2004, 01:52 PM	#4 (permalink)
MontanaXVI Junkie Location: Go A's!!!!	im curious how/why you say setting her as admin and adding users has failed? i had a friend at work whos kids were trashing their computer installing more spam/ad/spy/malware than you can shake a stick not to mention just decided that they were going to be some little bastards about it all and really fuck it up to the point of trying to install windowsXP back on it one weeken while the 'rents were away and did not know where to look on the PC for the serial (it is a compaq) i set up users and they have had no problems since. these little evil bastards are all on a guest account they cannot install ANYTHING they cannot even go to but like 3 or 4 web pages i allowed for tehm from the master account neopets, espn, msnbc, and cnn i think are the only ones i allowed or something like that. guest accounts can work they are there for a reason __________________ Spank you very much

01-22-2004, 05:35 PM	#5 (permalink)
magua Tilted	In addition, re accounts, remember that it's possible to use 'Run As...' to run specific things as an administrator while being logged in as a normal user. So, you setup the normal administrator account, and the user account that can't install anything -- and then you always leave the user account logged in. If it comes up that you, the administrator, want to install something, you can use 'Run As' to do it without having to logout. The only problem that I can foresee is that some games may require administrator access to work correctly -- but I believe that it's possible to set these up to always run as an administrator, as one of the settings in the shortcut.