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Help!. My son is making himself the computer administrator
I am the administrator on my windows XP (media edition) computer and my son
has his own account as a user. He is somehow changing his account to also be an administrator. From there he is able to load a web browser that does not have parental controls and, well you know the rest..... Does anybody have an idea how he is doing this? I am not walking away from the computer with my desktop open, and my password is too complicated for him to know it. signed, frustrated parent |
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Help!. My son is making himself the computer administrator
"frustrated parent" wrote in message
... I am the administrator on my windows XP (media edition) computer and my son has his own account as a user. He is somehow changing his account to also be an administrator. From there he is able to load a web browser that does not have parental controls and, well you know the rest..... Does anybody have an idea how he is doing this? I am not walking away from the computer with my desktop open, and my password is too complicated for him to know it. Put a password on the BIOS (so the kid can't make changes to it). Configure the BIOS so no one can boot from the CD-ROM drive, or from any removable device (floppy, USB thumb drives, etc.). Just have it boot from the hard disk. Lock the case so the kid cannot get inside to clear the CMOS copy of the BIOS settings. Start using anti-malware and rootkit detectors to see if the kid installed a keylogger. Or install a keylogger yourself and monitor what the kid is doing. Learn parenting. Deny the kid any access to the computer because of his abuse which he repeats even after being scolded. If you let the kid use your pistol for target practice at the range and he started shooting all the neighborhood's pets, would you continue letting him use your gun? Same with the computer. Have it in a lockable room and LOCK IT. Either punish the kid or decide to let him do whatever he wants and get whatever he deserves at your expense. |
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Help!. My son is making himself the computer administrator
Nepatsfan wrote:
"frustrated parent" frustrated wrote in message ... I am the administrator on my windows XP (media edition) computer and my son has his own account as a user. He is somehow changing his account to also be an administrator. From there he is able to load a web browser that does not have parental controls and, well you know the rest..... Does anybody have an idea how he is doing this? I am not walking away from the computer with my desktop open, and my password is too complicated for him to know it. signed, frustrated parent First off, I'll echo what VanguardLH has already pointed out. You're looking for a technological answer to what is essentially a parenting issue. The unfortunate fact is that no matter what simple steps you take to control his computer usage, your son will probably find a way around it. Here's a second vote for placing the computer in a locked room with a case lock installed. A BIOS password should also be configured. Consult the documentation for your system to see how this is accomplished. There are bootable CDs easily available on the internet that your son can use to get around your efforts. You need to prevent him from configuring the computer to boot from a CD. As has already been pointed out, the computer should be booting from the hard drive first. As for how your son is promoting his account to administrative status, the first thing that comes to mind is that he's logging on with the built-in Administrator account. Every computer with XP installed has an account named Administrator that is not initially password protected. In the case of XP Media Center Edition, as soon as you create a second administrative level account, the Administrator account goes into hiding. In order to log on to this account, log off from your account. This should bring you to the Welcome screen. At the Welcome screen, hit the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys at the same time twice. Enter Administrator in the User Name box. Leave the Password box blank. If you can log on with the Administrator account, set up a password and log off. If you are told that the password is wrong, log back on to Windows with your user account. Go to Start - Run and enter the following command in the open box. control userpasswords2 On the User page, click on Administrator in the "Users for this computer" box. In the Password for Administrator box, hit the Reset Password button. Enter the password you want for this account. Close all open windows, log off from your account, and attempt to log on as Administrator using the procedure outlined earlier. Once you've protected the Administrator account with a password only you know, demote your son's account to limited status. You might want to take a look at this free program from Microsoft. Windows SteadyState http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...s/default.mspx Good luck Nepatsfan What i would do is use windows state steady which can be found at the microsoft site and lock down the control panel and other things so he cant change anything. |
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