Is it possible to ban files on your computer?

[RSI]

I share my computer with 4 people (my family). I use Win2K and I have my own user which nobody has access to. There is another user for others to use, it's main purpose is to provide everything one needs to do homework. At first I had this account restricted, but my bro started complaining. Problem is, I don't want him playing MUD (multi-user directory) games (text games) on my computer. Once he starts, he never stops. I don't have a computer in my room for others to hog and play games on. I don't mind letting people use it to do homework, that's perfectly fine by me.

Problem is, he always puts his stupid muds on the computer, and I know that he plays whenever he can. I don't want the damn thing on my computer, on my hard drive. No, asking him not to play will not suffice, he is the type that thinks he's above others and authority does not apply to him. Plus, I am his brother, which that in itself lowers the odds of him listening to me quite significantly.

So any suggestions? I can't restrict the account, cause that'd cause trouble. I can't put a BIOS password on the computer, because everyone needs to be able to access it. I can't just keep deleting his muds or that'll cause too much trouble as well.

I'm thinking that the only way that I can settle this without too much trouble, is that if every time he tries to run, or re-install his mud, the files are corrupted and he gets an error message.

Any way to do this at all? I would REALLY appreciate it if this could be done somehow, if somoene can help me or point me in the right direction.

Thanks...

-RSI

 

[vi edit]

I'd just restrict the account and give him a standard "user" login without the ability to install software.

 

[kranky]

Does Win2K allow you to schedule tasks to run in the background? If so, identify one or two critical files that are necessary for his MUD to run, then schedule a task to run every 15 minutes that will delete the files if they exist.

 

[vi edit]

Can you give more info on the muds? How they install? Where they install? What programs they use to operate(telnet maybe?)

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

<< So any suggestions? I can't restrict the account >>


You have no choice. This all comes down to file permissions. Since you have admin privilages, use the policy editor and restrict access to all directories except "My Documents." Then limit the user profile size to like 300KB or something very very low.

If these text games are incredibly small, then he'll probably end up installing them and staying under the profile size limit anyway. If that's the case, might I suggest setting up his profile to purge all settings and documents every time he logs off. If he needs to do homework (ie type a paper), tell him to back it up on disk or floppy.

That, or you could kick his ass.

 

[Squisher]

Like vi_edit said just make everyone else a "standard" user.

 

[gopunk]

what's "too much trouble"? i think you should just restrict his privileges.. he's proven he can't handle the responsibility.

 

[RSI]

Just how the hell does standard user save me? He can still install and play his mud with a standard user!!

I like the idea of beating him the most. Unfortunately I'm an intelligent, mature and civilized person, so I wouldn't even consider such an option. Furthermore, I'd get in trouble, which wouldn't make it worth my time at all.

I can't restrict him down to "my documents", because he needs music software for something, he needs internet access. All the MS-Office apps have to work. He needs an archiver (to unzip/unrar files he downloads).

I'm completely OK with everything there, except that he'll spend his time mudding, pisses me off.

aNyway I'll look into some of the stuff mentioned here.

-RSI

 

[nateholtrop]

in his acct make the dir wherever it installs non writable

nate

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

If it is YOUR computer, restrict his ass right off of it.

 

[RSI]

The snot made his directory invisible.

Dumbass! I'm the administrator. I'm God. Does he think he can hide something from me on my own damn computer?

I'm trying to think of the best way to go about this...

-RSI

 

[RSI]

Lmfao!

His folder was shared. And in the permissions, it had "Everyone" and "Administrators" all checked off for "deny"! BWAAAAHAHAHA. *deletes those two permissions and clicks ok*.

/me shakes head...

-RSI

 

[gopunk]

to answer your original question, i'm sure there's a way to do this... you could write a program to do that and have it run in the background... i'm not clear on specifics, but i'm sure that's possible.

but i *still* think you should assert your authority and just restrict his account. let him complain... what's he going to do about it?

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Dude, if you aren't going to lay down the law, can't you just make a Win9X partition for him and dual boot? That way he'll be stuck on that partition alone if the others you use are NTFS.

 

[RSI]

Well, he'll complain to my parents, and they'll get pissed off about the whole thing.

I don't have any FAT32 partitions, so I can't install W9x, and I don't see how that would help.

-RSI

 

[Mears]

Uhh...dude, I hate to burst your bubble, but he doesn't need any fancy software to play MUDs(Multi-User Domain). All he needs to do is connect through telnet. I'm assumint the software that you are referring to is Z-mud or something else. Oh, what MUD does he frequent?

 

[RSI]

I know, he uses ZMud.

But the account is for HOMEWORK.

-RSI

 

[vi edit]

If it requires telnet, just find the telnet.exe application, right click on it, do a properties, click on security, and then only give admins the permissions to use it.

 

[RSI]

Bwahahaha.

There are some .dll's in the folder. I renamed them to .sys (same icon), and I renamed one of the .dat files to .dll. Now it gives some messed up error message when trying to run the program.

If he keeps reinstalling it, i'll keep doing this. He'll just give up eventually.

-RSI

 

[WillyF1uhm1]

How much do you brother and parents know about computers? Maybe this sounds a bit sneaky, but if they don't know too much about it, you could still restrict the priviliges of your brother. If he complains to your parents and they want to know why you did it, you'll say something about that game compromising your security-measures, so that everyone from the outside could 'look at the content of the harddrive'.... or something like that.
And if that Zmud thing really uses telnet.... then afaik at least you're not too far from the truth.

 

[gopunk]

ok, i am a fvcking genius, RSI, listen up.

what you do... install zone alarm. make it so that you have to have a password to make any changes. make it so that his mud can't access the internet. problem solved!

ok, i guess that'd still be a problem...

but i don't get it... why are your parents going to be pissed because you won't let him use your computer for stuff that isn't homework? do they want him to slack off? i don't understand.

 

[yakko]

I can send someone over to break his fingers for you. That should teach him.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

<< I can't restrict him down to "my documents", because he needs music software for something, he needs internet access. All the MS-Office apps have to work. He needs an archiver (to unzip/unrar files he downloads). >>


Shouldn't most software still work with only read access to the drive? Restrict access to all folders except My Documents to read only. This way he should still be able to read/write/unzip files to the MD folder.

Maybe I'm missing something. :/

 

[RSI]

For now it's ok cause I just reformatted the whole system including my backup downloads/programs drive, D:. I was infected with Nimda and perhaps other virii as well. And I think I may still have a problem. Is it normal for when you repartition/reformat, for there to be three things? I want only 2. I want 1) 4GB boot partition for Windows and system files only. And #2) 16GB partition for all downloads/programs. In partition magic it showed two identical 16GB partitions. One said 16GB used, one said 16GB free - ROUGHLY - one of them had ~4MB taken, the one I could modify - I guess to store allocation table information or something? The thing that irks me is that one of the two, I could not edit/delete/modify in any way! What's up with that? I've never seen that before. I can't completely get rid of all my partitions!! It's like my 16GB partition has a ghost stalking it. In other words, some kind of reeeeally evil virus? Is this possible? what can I do about it? Download Quantum's HD software and look for an option to wipe it on a "deeper" level or something?

Am I worrying for nothing?

As for the ZoneAlarm suggestion, thx alot, I forgot all about good old ZoneAlarm. That should do quite nicely...

-RSI

 

[GigaCluster]

There's a pretty simple fix, if MUD games mean what I think they mean. I also used to spend years of my life playing those.
MUDs usually operate on high ports, like 4000, 5000, 6666, etc.
What you can do is get a firewall that offers password protection, and allow ONLY ports 20,21,80,443, and whatever other valid ports he may need.
Disable all other TCP ports.
That should do the trick!