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"User" Account restrictions?

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madman_sam81

Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2002
Location
Sacramento, CA
Sorry if this has been asked already. I ran a few searches and didn't find any posts that could answer this one...

Ok, so here's the thing...

I'm running Windows XP Professional SP1. I only have 3 User Accounts created/enabled for regular use. I have the only account that is granted Administrative privelidges. I am also the only person with access to the built-in Administrator Account. The account I created for my girlfriend has Power User acces (It's actually her computer, so I HAD to give her some kind of elevated access...). The last account is a bare "User" account. I would love to just delete the damn thing, but until her brother-n-company (woman + 4 kids) move out, that isn't possible.

Anyways, to get to the point...Her brother and his "woman" are really starting to frustrate the hell out of me! They keep downloading/installing those little crappy internet game programs...the ones loaded with Spyware/Adware, which I try very hard to keep as close to nonexistent on this computer as possible!

How can I make SURE that they will not be able to perform ANY form of installation...and I mean ANY?!?!

My head is starting to spin from searching through the endless settings in the MMC Console. I'm searching through these 3 snap-ins:

Local Users and Groups
Local Group Policy
Security Templates

Am I even looking in the right place?!

Thanks for any help you can provide!!
 
Considering the situation is temporary, I would download deepfreeze so they can just do whatever they want and the system can be reverted to its frozen state. All the spyware and stuff won't be able to do any damage. Your girlfriend can save any of her work she needs on removeable media.
 
I do not, in any way, wish to further limit my girlfriend's access to the computer. All I really, really want to do is set it so that the "User" group (members of) are COMPLETELY unable to perform any form of installation.

Is that even possible?



Also, I can't make any sort of judgement/estimate as to how 'temporary' the situation is. Besides, my girlfriend and I are not part of the User group, thus would not be effected. If her brother and company ever actually move out while I am still living here, the only person that would still be part of the User group would be her mom...and my girl and I have both, from day one, agreed that her mom should be restricted as much as humanly possible! I've already ended up having to format and start all over due to that woman *grits teeth* going in and messing with things she can barely even read, let alone have any clue as to what they are and what they do!
 
Also, in regards to the deepfreeze suggestion. I know absolutely nothing about that program and have only a vague idea of what it does (it's purpose)...I am regularly upgrading, installing, uninstalling various applications, utilities, etc. How would that program effect those changes which I, personally, made? It would really suck to have to redo all of that stuff just to revert back to before they installed several junk programs...
 
Actually you can save into designated folders so removeable media isn't necessary to save files. Updates with new installs and such should be performed immediately after a restart, and after turning deep freeze off.

I'm not real clear on the specifics of this, but I'm currently going to test it so I can see how it functions exactly.

It offers a 60 day trial if you want to test it.
 
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deep freeze is good

Hey man, in winxp it's very difficult to mange a user account withing the same machine (local group). win 2k and winxp are lot more good for network mangement. Anyway it's better to ask help from another third party software and deepfreeze is not bad at all. It'll erase whatever the things you do the the machine (eg : installed software and ie history..etc) so this software is cool, it's running in the background and only you can control that software. So give a try to it and see.
 
its not THAT hard to manage local user groups... if ya know your way around local security policy and group policy you can do pretty much ne thing. i have to do it on my computer and my dads computer.
 
Then can you tell us how to do it?

I know my way around a little bit but thats just from playing with it myself and figuring out things here and there.
 
thats how ya learn a lot of this stuff. over the summer i went to a local technical college and took a class on installing and implementing 2k pro and server so i learned a lot of what i know from that.
 
Ya really though! lol

"I know how to do it." *nothing further is said*

haha

Anyways, I'm in the same boat as you IMOG. I know enough about it to not screw anything up by changing certain settings and all that, but as far as restrictions for installing and stuff like that, it gets a bit vague in the setting description, unfortunately.

I have spent quite a few days and nights doing nothing more than reading throughout the entire Help utility for MMC, along with the various Snap-Ins that I was trying to use. I probably spent a good 16-18 hours reading before I even looked in the subsections and what not of all the security descriptors, policies, etc. Yet, I still have yet to come across anything that is relevant to what I hope to do...
 
that's why I've told

Hi madman_sam81 that's why i told you in w2k and in winxp it's very tuff to config user accounts in local computer cause bill gates only have an idea about networking world no more than from that (lol) Anyway take the basic thing like file sharing withing a workgroup, you can share but u can't put a password like win98, only in a domian envirmoent you can assingn user account access level for that. Actually it s***.
Anyway I'll try to find a alternative method for you with my freinds and let you know. I'm not a genious in windows but keep on try and try to give you my best. till that keep on searching. mabye you'll find it sooner than me:D
 
BUBBLE, thanks for your help! However, it sounds like you are looking at it from a "File Sharing" aspect. I already have that all set and in place...have since the day I installed XP. I am not trying to limit their access to any particular files...but just simply make it impossible for them to do ANY form of installation.
 
you could try talking to them and telling them that they are breaking your/her computer and it takes YOU time to fix it. explain to them general computer "smarts" and tell them not to install stuff without your permission
 
amazon10x:

I wish it were that easy! As far as my girl's mom and brother are concerned, it is her computer, not mine; not even "ours". So, that means that it is up to my girl to say something to them about it...that will never happen... My girl isn't the confrontational kind. It is extremely frustrating sometimes too! On top of that, nobody in this house, besides me, knows anything beyond the extreme-moderate basics and everybody else this. So, even if she were to say something, I would still have to hear the whining and moaning about how I just think I can tell people what they can and can't do with something that isn't even mine to be controlling and all that crap. It just ends up as a big headache and a much bigger hassle to deal with than simply uninstalling the stuff every time they install it...

It sucks!

However, if I were to just deny them permission to perform the install tasks...all they would do is ask me why it's doing that or whatever. I just stare at the monitor for about a minute, let out a sigh, shrug my shoulders and tell them that I don't know. lol
 
Woohoo!!

I wasn't sure if the new settings were working, since I forgot to test it out on their account. However, one of them came up to me today asking me to "fix their internet" so that they could download stuff again...I guess they get an error message stating that they don't have permission to do it and to talk to their administrator.

hahahahahahaha!!! Right on!

Also, I was tired of them (mainly her mom) shutting down the computer (Folding production seems to be effected by that...lol), so I simply disabled their ability to do it! I also asked my girl to add a password to her account, so they (if they were to even think of it...highly unlikely) couldn't just log into hers and shut it down or something.
 
hahaha

I looked and looked and looked before clicking submit reply...I can't remember!

omg...it's frustrating the heck out of me too!
 
tools\internet options\security\local internet\custom level
then set file and font downloads to disable

It depends how savy the user is, if you need to disable thier setting this back. Actually you can disallow this function several ways, including the regestry. You can completly limit any user down to selecting which programs they can and can not run, you can lock them sooooo much. If you have any specific needs just post away.
 
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