LearningPC4beginners

Secure, and Restrict a User:

 

How can I keep my kids off the internet at night?

 

Children love the computer. They will log on and stay on the computer all the time, or take up another users time unless you limit their use of the computer this can cause many headaches for family's. As I have said in the past, place the computer in a high traffic area of your home. Never allow a child, or even a teenager to have a computer in their bedrooms. Or permit them to have access to a computer that is placed in a private area of your home. This is really asking for trouble. Preditors are all over the internet, waiting for the opportunity to exploit your child(ren). Preditors are pros, and know what buttons to push.

 

Blocking access to the internet at night, makes good sense. This allows you better control and peace of mind. One word of warning though... Don't tell your children how you blocked their access to the internet. This is just incase you have a genius in the family. It's always best to keep security tweaks to yourself. Never tell anyone (unless you have a spouse) your security measures you have used, online, or offline. This includes what type security software you use.

You will need to set up user accounts. For each of your children. (If you haven't already) Create YOUR account as administrator, and limit what the rest of the users on your computer can do. You can also limit them from downloading and installing software. I am going to explain how to do this all on one page. It's also a good idea for the administrator to have a extra account too. That way you have even better security on your computer. Then you can log onto your computer as a regular user with restrictions. This way you can protect the computer, but at the same time have added peace of mind. Use the administraitor account for just making changes.

These instructions are for XP Home Edition, and XP Professional Edition.

Create a user account:

Open the User Accounts tool by going to, the Control Panel from the Start menu, and then double click User Accounts.

 

A. Click Create a new account in the Pick a task list box.

 

B. Type the name that you want to use for the account, and then click.

 

C. Select the desired account type, and then click Create Account. There are two different type user accounts. Computer administrator account and Limited account.

Your children should ALL be under a Limited account.

Microsoft explains a Limited user as:

 

•Intended for someone who should be prohibited from changing most computer settings and deleting important files. A user with a limited account:

 

•Cannot install software or hardware. A user with a computer administrator account must make these kinds of changes.

 

• Can access programs that have already been installed on the computer.

 

• Can change his or her account picture and can also create, change, or delete his or her password.

 

• Cannot change his or her account name or account type. A user with a computer administrator account must make these kinds of changes.

Windows already includes a powerful tool that can do this. To use it, you must log on to each computer as an administrator.

 

To Make Changes to an Account

 

A. Click Change an account in the Pick a task list box.

 

B. Click the account that you want to change.

 

C. Select the item that you would like to change:

 

• Click Change the name to change the name that appears on the Welcome screen for the account.

 

• Click Change the picture to change the picture that is used to represent the user account. You can use any image file on the computer for the user's picture.

 

• Click Change the account type to change the account type to increase or decrease the user's rights on the computer.

 

• Click Create/change the password to create or change the password for the user and create or change the password hint.

 

• Click Delete the account to delete the user account from the computer. When you delete the account, you are given the option to save the user's files on the computer.

 

Notes: You can not delete the account for a user that is currently logged on to the computer.
This tool is not available on a computer that is a member of a Domain.

After you make the users accounts and change privilleges for the users you will then log on as Administraitor, you'll need to use Windows' Command Prompt. Click Start then All Programs then Accessories then Command Prompt. At the prompt, type the following:

 

net user AccountName /times:

 

Replace "AccountName" with your child's Windows account name. Finish by appending specific times to the end of the command. These will be the times during which your child can log onto Windows as normal. Any time not included is restricted.

 

You can specify a day along with a time range. For example, use the following to allow computer use only on Sundays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.:

 

net user AccountName /times:Su,9AM-5PM

 

You can also specify a range of days. For example, use the following to allow computer use Monday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.:

 

net user AccountName /times:M-F,4PM-6PM

 

You can even put different schedules together. For example, use the following to allow computer use Monday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.:

 

net user AccountName /times:M-F,4PM-8PM;Sa,9AM-5PM

 

To indicate different days of the week, use the abbreviations M, T, W, Th, F, Sa and Su. To indicate times, (use only whole hours). If you mix schedules, separate each with a semicolon as in the last example.

 

o remove restrictions, you can use the following command:

 

net user AccountName /times:ALL

 

If the command prompt isn't your thing, you can resort to using a software. However at this time I do not know the name of such a software.