Win XP: how can i make a restricted user account?

[OverVolt]

Hey everyone!

Well, sometimes i let my friends borrow my laptop so they can use photoshop, illustrator, or just to burn a CD or whatever. Anyway im really sick of putting my settings back to the way i like them, even though i have a separate account for my friends to use, they can still fool with my settings.

At any rate, i know the computers in the lab say "The action is restricted" or something like that when you try and chang the settings on the machine(right click -> properties for example), or install a program etc. Does anyone know off the top of their heads how i can make that happen on my machine? It's Win XP home, the only Win XP home machine in my house, and its my lappy . Anyway, thanks for thr help/time.

 

[OdiN]

You can give them a limited account. Go to the account list, pick their account, click change type and then select limited account. Unfortunately, with XP Home you are limited in what you can do. You can try some policy crap in the registry but it may affect you as well.

 

[dawks]

The computers in the lab are probably XP Pro systems that are members of an Active Directory Domain. Active Directory gives network admin's great control over what users can and can't do. XP Pro does support some of those features, but not near as many. XP Home does not support those features.

What you could do to limit a users access is give them a limited account, they cant install programs or drivers for example. But this itself can cause problems. Some programs will not run on a limited account, or may be crippled. This also doesnt prevent them from changing the settings on a program such as Photoshop (ie. moving toolbars around). What you could do is make separate installs of each program, and give them access to those.. though thats not the easiest thing to do.