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Old 10-24-2002, 06:11 PM   #1
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Completely password protect XP desktop?

hey guys I looked and could'nt find much help on this so here's my problem.
My sister has a new Dell with XP on it and she wants to totally lock everyone but herself out of it, her kids are the problem here. here last 98 machine I had here put a P.O.P. on it. and that did the trick. I'm not to familar with XP so Any advice ? Thanks ! Don
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Old 10-24-2002, 07:31 PM   #2
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Disable "Fast user switching" and set passwords for every account or delete the other user accounts except hers. Then she can lock the PC by hitting the windows key + L and it will lock the desktop.
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Old 10-24-2002, 08:04 PM   #3
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Quote:
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Disable "Fast user switching"

There is no reason to disable fast user switching at all .. simply enable passwords on all accounts and enable the welcome screen; it will ask for a pwd everytime someone needs to log in .. her kids may or may not have a pwd it doesnt matter .. as long as she has a pwd
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Old 10-24-2002, 08:31 PM   #4
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Yeah, but if she needs to leave the room for a few moments it's very easy to hit the win key +L and lock the desktop.
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Old 10-24-2002, 08:41 PM   #5
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I still dont see why you would advice someone to disable Fast Switching and crippling functionality when all that is needed is a password on the account unless there is a vulnerability in Fast user switching that allows unauthorized access to a password protected user account, that I just havent seen.
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Old 10-24-2002, 08:45 PM   #6
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With me it is ease of use, and her being a mom she may have to be called away from the PC and with the quick lock option it's a nice feature.
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Old 10-24-2002, 08:48 PM   #7
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Ok this is perhaps material for another thread but just to clarify, the Winkey+L desktop lock is a feature that does NOT get disabled with fast user switching. Fast user switching is the equivalent of the *NIX virtual terminal feature, whereby multiple users can utilize the computer through different accounts mutually exclusive of the application space occupied by the other user.
If user A wants to get a snack hitting Winkey+L will lock out the desktop without logging out.. but will let user B (iff there is a user B configured) use the computer. If fast user switching was disabled then user B cannot use the computer.
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Old 10-24-2002, 08:54 PM   #8
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That is my point, if she happened to be in the middle of some important work and didn't save her work, then one of the kids logs on and starts playing and the system happened to crash would her unsaved data be in tack? With the quick lock option it will be better in ensuring that the system will be as she left it.

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Old 10-24-2002, 10:13 PM   #9
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Forgive me if I took this a bit too far Statica, but Don did ask "How too completely password protect a XP desktop?"
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Old 10-24-2002, 10:18 PM   #10
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thanks for the quick reply guys, I'm going to be helping her via long distance, and her kids are 17-22 and they already tried today to boot it up but she took the power cord to work with her LOL. So they are not rocket scientists. Which would be the easist method ? I doubt she will leave it turned on unattended they have crashed the past two machines they won't get to play with this one.
T I A again
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Old 10-24-2002, 10:24 PM   #11
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I would say do what Lil Jimmie said execpt for "disabling the fast user option,if they aren't rocket scientistsyou should be fine.

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Old 10-24-2002, 10:24 PM   #12
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In that case just assign passwords for all accounts and give the kids a limited account. If she needs tighter security disable the fast user switching.
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Old 10-24-2002, 10:32 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally posted by lil Jimmie
In that case just assign passwords for all accounts and give the kids a limited account. If she needs tighter security disable the fast user switching.
Ok she doe's not even want them on it period. She's going to restore the old machine and let them use that one but we know they will try and use her new XP machine while at work etc...She wants to totally lock them out .
Sorry if I wasn't clear on that.
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Old 10-24-2002, 10:39 PM   #14
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Then only create ONE account (hers) and then set a password on that account. Then make sure the guest account is disabled.
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Old 10-25-2002, 12:46 AM   #15
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Ok thats kinda what I thought, but after reading the MS website and being unfamiler with XP...well you know the rest
Thanks again guys !
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Old 10-28-2002, 09:26 AM   #16
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Make sure the Administrator account is strongly passworded too!
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Old 10-28-2002, 11:00 AM   #17
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Thanks for your help,we got her set up the way she wants and she spent about 30 mins trying to get on without a password or wrong password and is confident this will do the trick. Now I want to go and get XP after this experiance
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Old 10-28-2002, 11:04 AM   #18
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One thing you may want to have her try is to boot to Safe mode and try to log in as the Administrator. Too often, people don't remember to set an Administrator password, as glc said.
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Old 10-28-2002, 11:06 AM   #19
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Ok dor G I will have her do that tonight when she gets home Thanks again !
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