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I am running a box with XP Pro at home that is being shared with my two brothers. I do not want them to mess the computer up, intentionally, or more likely unintentionally. Can someone post a list of files that need to be protected and monitored. I would like to give them as close to Admin as possible without allowing them Admin.
Why not just set them each up with a limited account? You could always give them an admin accounts password and warn them to only "right click run as" whenever they needed to correct? I guess it depends on how much you trust them!
With a limited account they cant install games the like top play, but not install things that alter certain files/folders. It's not a trust factor, it's a knowledge factor. Just yesterday my brother installed something that completely killed explorer because it was meant to run on a much older system and altered explorer; completely by accident (it was a c++ cd you get from those learn C++ books). So basically, it's to protect the computer because I do not want to install XP every 3 days.Quote:
Why not just set them each up with a limited account? You could always give them an admin accounts password and warn them to only "right click run as" whenever they needed to correct? I guess it depends on how much you trust them!
They can install just about any game they want to from a limited account if you give them one of you're admin accounts password. Like I said the "run as" feature. I damn near never see my admin desktop, and there aren’t many things that I'm not able to work around from there. Now, like you said, nothing stops them from installing something that shouldn't be installed, and nothing is stopping them from accessing the admin account if you gave that password to them. I had the hardest time teaching my brother to use the "run as" feature, but over time he finally got used to it. Thank God.Quote:
With a limited account they cant install games the like top play, but not install things that alter certain files/folders.
You have my sympathy. I can’t count the times I had to reinstall XP because of my brother’s poor computing practices. There was nothing I could do but inform him of the dangers of the Internet. We shared the same computer just as you are with your siblings and we were basically at the mercy of each other. You're just going to have to inform them of what to do on the Internet and what not to do. Like downloading from only trusted sites, stay away from kazaa porn, etc...Quote:
It's not a trust factor, it's a knowledge factor. Just yesterday my brother installed something that completely killed explorer because it was meant to run on a much older system and altered explorer; completely by accident (it was a c++ cd you get from those learn C++ books). So basically, it's to protect the computer because I do not want to install XP every 3 days.
Just my opinion.
a limited account will allow u to install pretty much anything exept files that affect the windows, and system files. Try to put your files somewhere safe, and change the name of the folder so that its not obvious, educate your brothers on what to look out for or just buy them a cheap PC just to play games
Good Luck.
Thanks a bunch guys. Sorry, I do not think I fully understood you the first time FrameWork.
xp protects system files by default. what you can do though is set permitions for each account. run gpedit.msc. this will give you the option to set permissions for just about everything. im on my pocket pc at the moment so this is a bitshort of info. i'll post more later.
I am amazed............I thought one of the benefits of XP pro was that it taught you enhanced CD handling skills, by requiring to be reloaded every three days :D
Seriously though, XP is quite a bit different from the "home", single workstation, offerings of the 9x family, so if you load something for one of them you may well get trouble. Just like trying to load network game demos on a stand alone system?
It (XP) does have a very good automatic recovery system, which I suggest that you use until your brothers are a bit more aware? It takes up a fair bit of space, so you need to monitor just how many recovery points you are keeping.
I do have a couple of machines with a commercial system, that is even better IMHO. So if you get desperate, let me know, and I will dig out the info for you. They are not online at the moment. I have never tried automating the XP facility.
I think that your major problem is in educating your brothers to "RTFM" and check that what they are doing is compatible with XP? Like "If it does not clearly say yes ..........the answer is NO "
I also think that you might need a bit of salesmanship to persuade them to ask; if they do not know/are not sure?
Good luck
The simplest thing is to make sure that System Restore is on, and set your disk space maximum to an appropriate level. This will give you a base point to restore to at any time, kind of a "last known good" startup. You could also create specific restore points, but that takes up more space but makes sure you are able to take the system back to a known good installation.
That way, the boys can muck the system up all they want, and all you have to do is select the restore point, reboot and you back in business.
I'll try the Automated Recovery/Backup, but that will take up a ton of space. He's got music, so I would not backup that, just the windows system files, but that also takes a few gig, and I'm dualing *nix :-/. Heh, probably not for the security newbies, but oh well. Thanks
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