start windows again: how to set it so dad can't mess it up

unwashed potato! · 25 Apr 2009 at 13:26

hopefully will be starting my dad's pc again over the weekend as he has messed it up again and i'm getting tired of constant fixing it to find it's broken again within a couple of weeks.

i'll be starting again and this time he wont be an admin so he can do less but not sure much else other then standard anti virus etc i can put there so hope you lot can suggest sutff.

OCdude · 25 Apr 2009 at 13:30

Maybe a bit OTT but you could run a Virtual machine, then if he knackers that, then it's not an issue

Or something that's nice and easy to setup:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx

We used it in a "cyber café" environment with one of our clients.

cokecan · 25 Apr 2009 at 13:33

lol was just going to suggest MS SteadyState. IIRC you can set it so that when he logs off anything he may have changed/broken will be removed and reset back to what ever you set up as defaults

Dolph · 25 Apr 2009 at 13:36

Just give him a limited user account and password the admin account, that you probably be all you need to do.

Dewotter · 25 Apr 2009 at 13:50

FreshUI is handy for this. Registration is free and you can remove all sorts from the interface usch as hiding specific control panel applets. www.freshdevices.com

EffBee · 25 Apr 2009 at 14:55

Might be simpler to just build the machine and get it clean and right in one partition on a hard drive, and keep an image of that decent build on another partiton. Or even just copy the "good partition" and hide it, assuming you have access to imaging and partiton copying software.

You can never truly protect a computer from a bad user. The potential for incompetence and stupidity is infinite.

theheyes · 25 Apr 2009 at 15:09

Give him a limited user account for starters. That will mitigate a lot of problems.

The disk image is a good idea. Partition his drive in two, redirect his home folder to the second partition and then when you eventually need to re-image the drive just replace the OS on the primary partition. With a limited account you shouldn't need to do this too often, however give the Administrator account a strong password.

Look into Windows Steady State also. It's basically a fancy local group policy editor.

Aside from that, you could try educating him on general good computer practice.

unwashed potato! · 25 Apr 2009 at 16:58

theheyes said:
Aside from that, you could try educating him on general good computer practice.

thanks guys for the suggestions. he has 2 hard drives in the pc so i plan on doing the partition thing suggested.

i have educated him a bit but there is always new ways for the people to trick him. he has htankfully learnt never to give credit card details out though £30 too late at least it was only £30 and not £300

Burnsy2023 · 25 Apr 2009 at 17:05

Windows SteadyState as mentioned is one of the most handy utils to be released for Windows.

unwashed potato! · 26 Apr 2009 at 12:40

wanting to start windows xp again from fresh today but he hasn't got any cd's to do this with. is there any way i can start again without a cd?

i have a copy of professional at home but his is home edition.

also just to check, i'll be putting windows on the first hard drive as it isn't being used, and then leave him to copy and files and make a note of programs he wants reinstalled from the second hard drive, then i'll wipe second hard drive to get rid of all the rubbish and finally put everything back onto it so we have first hard drive with xp, second with files. will the files on the second hard drive be safe when i install windows on the first drive? i may take the drive out just to be sure but i'm worried that the photos/files (although they have been backed up) will get wiped some how even though they are only on the second drive.

thanks again.

Kennysevenfold · 26 Apr 2009 at 13:59

or just set up ntfs rights and permissions.?