Windows XP Home Edition + Internet Kiosk

Hello, I'm new here... :)

I currently have two accounts on this computer... my account which is a admin account and a "Family" account which is a limited account. I was wondering if there was a secure way to lock up everything in Windows for the "Family" account. I have a few members in my family who like to tamper with things and I don't really appreciate it. I basically want to setup the "Family" account so all they can do is logout and access 1 other application which will be a web browser. All they need to do is access their e-mail and stuff like that. There is no reason for them to need access to anything else other than a web browser and the logout feature. I still wish to retain the access for my account though. So they should be limited and I should still have full access. I have searched around for many hours now and have found some nice tweaking softwares designed for this but none of them lock up Windows to the extent I desire. I don't mind messing in the registry because I am experienced enough to know what to mess with and what not so if there is a registry way to get what I desire I will do it. I will do whatever it takes. My desired effect is to only provide two features to the "Family" account... browser and logout. Everything else should not be visible to them. I know this is possible because I have come close with other softwares but like I said, none of them provide the effect I'm going for. If someone could help me out I would GREATLY appreciate it. :D

I'm not sure if this will work or not but give it a try. do this in your admin account.
goto start > My Computer > Local Disk ( C: ) > Documents and Settings > then open the file that has your familly account in it. then just delete the stuff you dont want them to use. Dont just delete the folders though, open them and delete stuff inside of them. Example goto the file called "start menu" then programs then delete the programs you dont want there. You may have some trouble deleting the icons on the desktop like windows media player etc so you'll have to get a program that maby blocks it or something.

This can do everything you wanted and more. http://www.enuffpc.com/

You should format your hard drive to NTFS. This won't stop them from running other programs, but it can stop them from deleteing/modifying or reading ceratin files, including ones you might want to keep private in My Documents in the admin account. There are plenty of resources on google that tell you how to change to an NTFS filesystem.

along with what morphi...ahh yanksfan said youd be better equiped for what you want if you upgraded to pro. then you'd have access to consoles like gpedit.msc and other cool tools.

here's a screenshot of gpedit attached:

For purposes here at work, I'm working on a project very similar to what you are trying to accomplish. My solution has been for the most part, purely registry based configuration changes. The result is a Windows 2000 Pro (I know, you are using XP but changes I made should work with XP for the most part) workstation with Internet access only (using Firefox), no ability to go anywhere else, no command line, nothing...

Most of the configuration changes I learned from http://www.regedit.com - that site is loaded with registry changes. You can mix and match and achieve a fairly high level of security on your box. This following is a paper that was written that I used as somewhat of a guide as well: http://www.infotoday.com/cil2003/pre...ons/Anasco.pdf

The example used in that paper describes using Internet Explorer as your Internet browser, but I recommend using Firefox as a kiosk browser. It's a little tricky (I'm still fine tuning mine), but Firefox can be modified and most of the options, buttons, etc. can be removed while still providing basic Internet access for the kiosk user.

Read over the paper that I've linked to, then have a look at Regedit.com and see what kind of options you think you might want to try.

It is essential that you make changes only to the registry hive for the 'family' account, not your account because you may make changes that are irreversible to your account.

Let me know if you have more questions...