How to kidproof a PC

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Asgorath

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 12, 2004
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I am setting up a laptop for a kid with down's syndrome. He is a smart kid, but does things very repeatedly. If he figures out to copy a file, he'll copy it 1000 times. You get the picture. I don't want him to screw up the OS, and I want to keep the PC useful.

Right now, I want to use acronis diskimage to make an image of the PC after I've configured it, image the computer, and store the image on a hidden partition. I'll set him up on a limited account on WinXP Home, and make an admin account that is password protected.

What cheap software is there out there for locking down the PC. What practices should I use?

Thanks.
 
Set a quota on the hard drive(s) to prevent him from filling the drive.... Set up all programs so that they save files to the same place making it simpler to clean out.. Cybersitter and the likes are available for purchase... You might consider Unbuntu, which by default puts pretty much anything he downloads or saves in the users's folder...
 
Humm Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit would prob help you some here and is free. You have a lot of programs designed for public computers that helps lock them down. Can work the same for kids.
 
Yep- you'll have to use third-party software if you want to monitor HOW he uses the system.

As far as not bringing the whole system crashing to its knees- you could consider Vista.
Ubuntu would work as well.
 
Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit

Looks pretty cool. I'm gonna start reading up and setting that up.

I don't care about what exactly he's doing. He's not gonna be looking at pr0n. He's only like 6. He just has a way of breaking stuff.

I wish his mom would have bought him a desktop instead of a laptop though. He mangles the keyboard and optical drive pretty regularly.
 
The ACRONIS TrueImage software works slick. You can restore the entire system from a hidden partition in about 30mins. I use it at a local 4 computer coffee shop. It no longer matters where and what the users do to the system, as it can be put back fresh quickly, by people of little technical knowhow (after initial setup is done).

Cheers!
 
We use a program at my school called Deepfreeze I believe. Everytime you restart the computer it always goes back into its original state so you could never add or take away from it.
 
Linux Live CD's seem like a perfect application in this situation. He can NEVER screw it up. Just reboot.
And he'll learn that if he fools with the CD drive it will quit working. So that solves another problem.
 
I'm going to concur, in order of the level I agree it would work:

1. Linux live CD

2. Vista with parental controls and GP restrictions

3. XP with Shared Computer Toolkit
 
KeeganX said:
We use a program at my school called Deepfreeze I believe. Everytime you restart the computer it always goes back into its original state so you could never add or take away from it.
Click to expand...

Shared Computer Toolkit and DeepFreeze do basically the same thing, though former is a bit more flexible (but complicated) and free; also XP only, unlike DeepFreeze.

One drawback of Shared Computer Toolkit in my use is that after a while the user icon vanishes from the graphical log-in screen. This prevents a normal user logging in, so definely not good! Seems to be a fault with it. DeepFreeze is therefore more reliable.

I believe MS are due to update the Toolkit soon and rebrand as 'SteadyState' so that may bring improvements.
 
I recommend Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit.

adam.mt said:
One drawback of Shared Computer Toolkit in my use is that after a while the user icon vanishes from the graphical log-in screen. This prevents a normal user logging in, so definely not good! Seems to be a fault with it. DeepFreeze is therefore more reliable.
Click to expand...
I have never had that problem in about 1 year of use.
 
Asgorath said:
What cheap software is there out there for locking down the PC. What practices should I use?
Click to expand...
Between having him run a limited account and password protecting the admin account, you are on the right track. If you do not mind a lot of fidgeting, you could probably alter the permissions to an absolute minimum, which would prevent him from doing anything destructive.
 
ChingChang said:
I recommend Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit.


I have never had that problem in about 1 year of use.
Click to expand...

It's happened for two clients I've installed it for. I think it's related to users not shutting the PC down properly (ie. used power button rather than Shutdown). Since two out of two rollouts, and different users, I thought worth the warning.
 
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