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Windows XP, Games, and Administrator Privileges?
An anonymous reader asks: "I manage my kids' computer, running Windows XP Professional, with an iron fist. They have limited access rights as I do not want them accidentally deleting the wrong file or downloading trojan software. However, software products, particularly games, fight my user management schemes at every turn. Each user on the computer is member of the 'Gamers' group. This group has full access to the games directory, the place I install all of the game software. I did this since games often need to update configuration files or write save files. Despite these changes, I still run into problems. Our latest two games, Age of Mythology and Battlefield 1942, require administrator privileges irrespective of the file privileges. I have not been able to overcome the problem and it seems, based on Googling, that others are in the same boat.
Fellow Slashdot readers, what have you done to overcome this problem?"
In the long term teaching them what they should and shouldn't do will prove to be the best option to achieve this.
At lot of games should also be available on an Xbox.
Having one of those will save you the grief of having to maintain a system for gaming
I've a 10 and 8 year old who play Warcraft and Age of Mythology. My fix it to let them do what they want and accept the consequences it the system broke. Sure enough it wouldn't boot after a few months.
Rather than rush to fix it, I spent a week doing nothing but said I "was doing research into how to fix the problem." The 1 week without games was sufficiently traumatic that there's been no problem since.
1000s Warcraft Gold while you sleep
I've got the same setup for family of mine where they only use internet browsing and mail as multiple users. (They don't even use fast user switching.) And even though they all use restricted accounts, they still seem to be able to corrupt system registry hive files.
;)
My advice is not to even waste your time with this. I'm sure your time is worth so much that you could have afforded another PC, or at the very least Hard drive imaging and restore software.
It's best to let kids loose on a machine, and if they mess it up, you just restore it... it's their (save game) loss.
They will learn about all those vital microsoft tricks like backing up your important data and do not install all that junk.
It's also imporant then to get them each a machine, but since you will not be wasting time admining those machines anymore, I'm sure you will have a lot more time and thus money.
I mean, really, since Win NT 4.0 the graphics drivers have had admin rights... and you are still denying this to your kids!
I think the best admin policy is education of the user. Also keep a system restore handy with software such as Norton Ghost (with all the propper patches already installed to protect against internet worms etc.) as well as good anti-virus software. Believe me, this is the cheaper solution..
If it is truly the kids computer (so you have another one with all your important data on it), then I should let them have full privileges, and let them explore the computer on their own.
How else will they know what a computer can 'really' do, if you just let them have restricted access to a single game directory.
Let them explore, let them familiarize with the computer, they learn from their mistakes: if you do something wrong, like deleting system files, you probably wont try that again.
When my parent bought me (well it was ment to be for the whole family) a 286 computer with dos installed, I knew nothing, and neither did my parents.
so I explored, and I found a 'help' command, and a 'dir' command, and I found different types of files (the ones you can execute, and others)...
So once again:
It's not that bad when something goes wrong, format the disk, and reinstall.
However I would recommend on restrincting access to the internet, so they can't accidently download malware.
Time is the only precious thing I've got left; Don't waste it
More to the point, stop struggling and realise that windows is by design a system which will fall over itself after a long enough period of time, and you WILL have to reinstall it sometime. So stop trying to delay that moment, and make sure that you can do that easily. The previous suggestion about ghosting the system in a stable state is good, but not the best because you will still have to keep track of what important updates you hadn't done when you made the ghost image.
Probably the best solution would be to keep a CD-RW regularly updated with the entire list of drivers/service packs/updates that you need to install when you reinstall the computer, along with a list of the programs that must be reinstalled before any games (eg Office, any dev tools that you need, etc), and (this will be a shocker) teach your kids to do it!!! Then when the computer falls over, you can tell the kids that it's in part their fault, and that this is a good learning opportunity for them (and it is - you learn more about how a computer functions when rebuilding it from scratch than when using it), and so stick them on there for whatever time it takes and let them do it (under penalty of no gaming if they screw it up and you have to do it yourself, of course).
The result will be kids who know more about PCs than just gaming, who will not need to pester their friends/parents to get their computer(s) set up, and who will be more computer-literate than most of their age group. And don't worry about the task being 'too complicated'. Don't underestimate your kids, they will pick it up in no time, and by the time the next version of Windows comes along they'll probably be the ones giving you tips on how to install your PC.
Daniel
Carpe Diem
ummm... The Power Users group also has too much power to screw the machine up.
Go not unto /. for advice, for you will be told both yea and nay (but have nothing to do with the question)
Or in this case just plain miss the point. We are trying to stop the computer from getting trashed here.
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Simon
Why is this insightful?
The man wanted to know how to solve a problem. Granted, you give him a few good "alternatives", but that doesn't solve the problem.
It'd be like me saying "My car is old and doesn't run well -- what do I do to ensure it won't leave me stranded?" and you telling me "Ride a bike. It doesn't pollute and it's always ready to roll...."
Karnal
Pretty much exactly what I wanted to say.
I in no way got the impression that the submitter of the question tries to use his machine as a substitute for parenting. Or is it now bad to ever let children play games, even for a second?
I got the impression that for once a parent was trying to do the right thing in regards to their computer and their children.
No Comment.
Well, sometimes "replace the car" is the right and answer and "fix the car with gaffer tape" is the wrong answer.
PCs are not devices designed or built to be used by children. They are complicated and easily broken. Either educate the children to use the PC properly or find an alternative entertainment for them.
erroneous: look me up in a dictionary
I only mention this because I've had a lot of problems at work as a result of our server setup guy subscribing to this philosophy. Sure, a 6GB windows partition and a 40 GB data partition for programs sounds nice, but when C fills up you're hosed.