Limited User Accounts

i have set up user accounts for each of my children in Windows XP Home but i cant find a way of stopping them accessing certain programs, they have access to everything that is on the start menu, all they cant do is install things from what i can see. is there a way to do it or can it only be done in XP Pro? the only other thing i can think of is customising the star menu but i havent had much success at this yet.

 

Hate to say it, but if you want user management to that extent, you would want to use Windows 2000 Pro, or XP Pro.. or go through the childs startmenu and delete the things you don't want them to use, and password protect folders/files that you don't want them to access..

 

That's true. With XP or 2000 Pro, you can set permissions on the actual installation folders. When they try to access those programs, they'll get an error stating that access has been denied.

XP Home Edition tends to be very limited in that respect.

 

oh well, tried deleting the stuff from the start menu but it also took it from my start menu too so thats not an option, seems a bit daft to be able to create user accounts like this but not let them actually do anything cept have a pretty picture on ur desktop

*pauses for thought*

Ah, i almost forgot, its Microsoft!

 

Try this... Open windows explorer, navigate to your Documents and Settings folder. This should be your C: drive unless you did a custom installation. Open the folder, you should see all your user accounts listed by name, plus there's probably a 'default' user, as well as an 'all' users folder. Inside each of these folders is a folder called 'Start Menu', then inside that folder is the 'Programs' folder. The 'Program' folder holds the program shortcuts for each individual user (the programs that show on the Start Menu), the shortcuts in the 'All Users' program folder also show up in each individual menu. It would take a little work and it's a bit of a 'pain', but you could go through and edit these folders to accomplish what you need. When you install a new programs you will have to do a little clean up because they will usually add shortcuts to the All Users folder. Hope this wasn't too confusing, if you have problems post back and I will try to help.

 

it worked there were certain programs that i use that i didnt want the kids accessing like msgr programs, file sharing stuff and online games. i know they wont go looking for them through the drives but if they saw them in the start menu they would be curious.

 

Great, I'm glad it worked out.
Thanks for posting back.