I am looking into a solution to allow my son to use the computer (probably going to make him his own) but anyways. I let him play on mine and he loves it. The only thing is I am worried about him deleting shit and getting into stuff he shouldn't. Along with browsing porn/getting viruses and shit. He is only 3 (4 in december) years old. I though maybe a limited windows user would work and maybe some vista tweaks to remove things like the run command and all that good stuff... Any ideas?

I found this thing called magic desktop which runs in windows... i remember using this thing in school way back when that had a moc desktop looking thing that was totally kid friendly.

I know i could also do a VM or something along those lines so if it gets jacked i just copy over the jacked VM with a fresh copy but was wondering if any of you have ran into this situation.

I don't want to limit him completely from using windows so that he gets familiar with how it works and such.

Just Another Miller
2E2X1.net
TeamDrunk.net

The P in PC stands for "Personal" and I don't like anybody else using my box. It's not so much because I'm worried of somebody finding some stuff theey shouldn't, but more because nobody resists the temptation to install whatever stupid programs they normally use. Plus if something goes wrong I have no idea what was installed so it's much harder to do the cleanup.

So for me the best solution is to have another PC. Sure it's some expense but it doesn't have to be the most powerful box out there. WinXP now runs on pretty cheap hardware. If that box goes to hell then you wipe out the HDD, reinstall and voila good to go again.

The other solution would be to setup a VM. Personally I run VMWare with Ubuntu (which you can do for free as the VM Player and the Ubuntu "virtual appliance" are both freely available). Only downside is that you need quite a bunch of RAM.

In both situations the ability to clean up all by reverting to a saved backup is really helpful. When it's not your PC, it's very annoying to have to spend time doing tech support.

The third thing you could do is use a LiveCD - you reboot the PC with it, and you get a fully powered PC that's mostly unbreakable. For storage you can use an external HDD.






[download a life]

> The P in PC stands for "Personal" and I don't like anybody else using my box.
> It's not so much because I'm worried of somebody finding some stuff theey
> shouldn't, but more because nobody resists the temptation to install whatever
> stupid programs they normally use. Plus if something goes wrong I have no idea
> what was installed so it's much harder to do the cleanup.
>
> So for me the best solution is to have another PC. Sure it's some expense but it
> doesn't have to be the most powerful box out there. WinXP now runs on pretty
> cheap hardware. If that box goes to hell then you wipe out the HDD, reinstall
> and voila good to go again.
>
> The other solution would be to setup a VM. Personally I run VMWare with Ubuntu
> (which you can do for free as the VM Player and the Ubuntu "virtual appliance"
> are both freely available). Only downside is that you need quite a bunch of RAM.
>
> In both situations the ability to clean up all by reverting to a saved backup is
> really helpful. When it's not your PC, it's very annoying to have to spend time
> doing tech support.
>
> The third thing you could do is use a LiveCD - you reboot the PC with it, and
> you get a fully powered PC that's mostly unbreakable. For storage you can use an
> external HDD.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [download a life]
>

Install it, make a image of the hdd with something like norton ghost, and then keep it safe, everytime something messes it up, just restore it.
use something like crawler parental control to block access to harmfull sites and porn. (be aware that crawler parental control shuts smbservices (transfer files between network computers)).

but that´s just me.



> I am looking into a solution to allow my son to use the computer (probably going
> to make him his own) but anyways. I let him play on mine and he loves it. The
> only thing is I am worried about him deleting shit and getting into stuff he
> shouldn't. Along with browsing porn/getting viruses and shit. He is only 3 (4 in
> december) years old. I though maybe a limited windows user would work and maybe
> some vista tweaks to remove things like the run command and all that good
> stuff... Any ideas?
>
> I found this thing called magic desktop which runs in windows... i remember
> using this thing in school way back when that had a moc desktop looking thing
> that was totally kid friendly.
>
> I know i could also do a VM or something along those lines so if it gets jacked
> i just copy over the jacked VM with a fresh copy but was wondering if any of you
> have ran into this situation.
>
> I don't want to limit him completely from using windows so that he gets familiar
> with how it works and such.
>
> Just Another Miller
> 2E2X1.net
> TeamDrunk.net
>

one can never destroy the power of evil

I don't see why a Windows profile for him without admin privileges wouldn't work. I've worked at places where IT had things so locked up I couldn't get anything done. You should be able to restrict permissions on folders at the user lever for him. I'd just do that, install net nanny, and make a backup image to be safe.
Keeping him out of Retrogames CA is what I'd be worried about instead of the local machine.

I have an old 1.8ghz lieing around for him with i think 1gb of ram and a 6800gt or something in it (over kill for reader rabbit lol) but anyways... the only thing i am wanting to protect from is destroying system files and putting viruses on the network. Porn i could really give two shits about but with porn comes viruses (or at least more likely when browsing sites like that).

> The P in PC stands for "Personal" and I don't like anybody else using my box.
> It's not so much because I'm worried of somebody finding some stuff theey
> shouldn't, but more because nobody resists the temptation to install whatever
> stupid programs they normally use. Plus if something goes wrong I have no idea
> what was installed so it's much harder to do the cleanup.
>
> So for me the best solution is to have another PC. Sure it's some expense but it
> doesn't have to be the most powerful box out there. WinXP now runs on pretty
> cheap hardware. If that box goes to hell then you wipe out the HDD, reinstall
> and voila good to go again.
>
> The other solution would be to setup a VM. Personally I run VMWare with Ubuntu
> (which you can do for free as the VM Player and the Ubuntu "virtual appliance"
> are both freely available). Only downside is that you need quite a bunch of RAM.
>
> In both situations the ability to clean up all by reverting to a saved backup is
> really helpful. When it's not your PC, it's very annoying to have to spend time
> doing tech support.
>
> The third thing you could do is use a LiveCD - you reboot the PC with it, and
> you get a fully powered PC that's mostly unbreakable. For storage you can use an
> external HDD.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [download a life]
>


Just Another Miller
2E2X1.net
TeamDrunk.net

> I don't see why a Windows profile for him without admin privileges wouldn't
> work. I've worked at places where IT had things so locked up I couldn't get
> anything done. You should be able to restrict permissions on folders at the
> user lever for him. I'd just do that, install net nanny, and make a backup
> image to be safe.
> Keeping him out of Retrogames CA is what I'd be worried about instead of the
> local machine.
>
>


Just Another Miller
2E2X1.net
TeamDrunk.net

> I have an old 1.8ghz lieing around for him with i think 1gb of ram and a 6800gt
> or something in it (over kill for reader rabbit lol) but anyways... the only
> thing i am wanting to protect from is destroying system files and putting
> viruses on the network. Porn i could really give two shits about but with porn
> comes viruses (or at least more likely when browsing sites like that).
>
> > The P in PC stands for "Personal" and I don't like anybody else using my box.
> > It's not so much because I'm worried of somebody finding some stuff theey
> > shouldn't, but more because nobody resists the temptation to install whatever
> > stupid programs they normally use. Plus if something goes wrong I have no idea
> > what was installed so it's much harder to do the cleanup.
> >
> > So for me the best solution is to have another PC. Sure it's some expense but
> it
> > doesn't have to be the most powerful box out there. WinXP now runs on pretty
> > cheap hardware. If that box goes to hell then you wipe out the HDD, reinstall
> > and voila good to go again.
> >
> > The other solution would be to setup a VM. Personally I run VMWare with Ubuntu
> > (which you can do for free as the VM Player and the Ubuntu "virtual appliance"
> > are both freely available). Only downside is that you need quite a bunch of
> RAM.
> >
> > In both situations the ability to clean up all by reverting to a saved backup
> is
> > really helpful. When it's not your PC, it's very annoying to have to spend
> time
> > doing tech support.
> >
> > The third thing you could do is use a LiveCD - you reboot the PC with it, and
> > you get a fully powered PC that's mostly unbreakable. For storage you can use
> an
> > external HDD.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [download a life]
> >
>
>
> Just Another Miller
> 2E2X1.net
> TeamDrunk.net
>

one can never destroy the power of evil

Seriously, try a program called Deep Freeze. We use it at my college, and the program seems to work well. A user can even 'format' the hard drive, and upon rebooting everything is back to the way it was before.

I might even be able to hook you up, if you're interested.

From the website:
Faronics Deep Freeze helps eliminate workstation damage and downtime by making computer configurations indestructible. Once Deep Freeze is installed on a workstation, any changes made to the computer—regardless of whether they are accidental or malicious—are never permanent. Deep Freeze provides immediate immunity from many of the problems that plague computers today—inevitable configuration drift, accidental system misconfiguration, malicious software activity, and incidental system degradation.

Deep Freeze ensures computers are absolutely bulletproof, even when users have full access to system software and settings. Users get to enjoy a pristine and unrestricted computing experience, while IT personnel are freed from tedious helpdesk requests, constant system maintenance, and continuous configuration drift.





> > I have an old 1.8ghz lieing around for him with i think 1gb of ram and a
> 6800gt
> > or something in it (over kill for reader rabbit lol) but anyways... the only
> > thing i am wanting to protect from is destroying system files and putting
> > viruses on the network. Porn i could really give two shits about but with porn
> > comes viruses (or at least more likely when browsing sites like that).
> >
> > > The P in PC stands for "Personal" and I don't like anybody else using my
> box.
> > > It's not so much because I'm worried of somebody finding some stuff theey
> > > shouldn't, but more because nobody resists the temptation to install
> whatever
> > > stupid programs they normally use. Plus if something goes wrong I have no
> idea
> > > what was installed so it's much harder to do the cleanup.
> > >
> > > So for me the best solution is to have another PC. Sure it's some expense
> but
> > it
> > > doesn't have to be the most powerful box out there. WinXP now runs on pretty
> > > cheap hardware. If that box goes to hell then you wipe out the HDD,
> reinstall
> > > and voila good to go again.
> > >
> > > The other solution would be to setup a VM. Personally I run VMWare with
> Ubuntu
> > > (which you can do for free as the VM Player and the Ubuntu "virtual
> appliance"
> > > are both freely available). Only downside is that you need quite a bunch of
> > RAM.
> > >
> > > In both situations the ability to clean up all by reverting to a saved
> backup
> > is
> > > really helpful. When it's not your PC, it's very annoying to have to spend
> > time
> > > doing tech support.
> > >
> > > The third thing you could do is use a LiveCD - you reboot the PC with it,
> and
> > > you get a fully powered PC that's mostly unbreakable. For storage you can
> use
> > an
> > > external HDD.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > [download a life]
> > >
> >
> >
> > Just Another Miller
> > 2E2X1.net
> > TeamDrunk.net
> >
>
>
>
> one can never destroy the power of evil
>

> Seriously, try a program called Deep Freeze. We use it at my college, and the
> program seems to work well. A user can even 'format' the hard drive, and upon
> rebooting everything is back to the way it was before.
>
> I might even be able to hook you up, if you're interested.
>
> From the website:
> Faronics Deep Freeze helps eliminate workstation damage and downtime by making
> computer configurations indestructible. Once Deep Freeze is installed on a
> workstation, any changes made to the computer—regardless of whether they are
> accidental or malicious—are never permanent. Deep Freeze provides immediate
> immunity from many of the problems that plague computers today—inevitable
> configuration drift, accidental system misconfiguration, malicious software
> activity, and incidental system degradation.
>
> Deep Freeze ensures computers are absolutely bulletproof, even when users have
> full access to system software and settings. Users get to enjoy a pristine and
> unrestricted computing experience, while IT personnel are freed from tedious
> helpdesk requests, constant system maintenance, and continuous configuration
> drift.
>
>
>
>
>
> > > I have an old 1.8ghz lieing around for him with i think 1gb of ram and a
> > 6800gt
> > > or something in it (over kill for reader rabbit lol) but anyways... the only
> > > thing i am wanting to protect from is destroying system files and putting
> > > viruses on the network. Porn i could really give two shits about but with
> porn
> > > comes viruses (or at least more likely when browsing sites like that).
> > >
> > > > The P in PC stands for "Personal" and I don't like anybody else using my
> > box.
> > > > It's not so much because I'm worried of somebody finding some stuff theey
> > > > shouldn't, but more because nobody resists the temptation to install
> > whatever
> > > > stupid programs they normally use. Plus if something goes wrong I have no
> > idea
> > > > what was installed so it's much harder to do the cleanup.
> > > >
> > > > So for me the best solution is to have another PC. Sure it's some expense
> > but
> > > it
> > > > doesn't have to be the most powerful box out there. WinXP now runs on
> pretty
> > > > cheap hardware. If that box goes to hell then you wipe out the HDD,
> > reinstall
> > > > and voila good to go again.
> > > >
> > > > The other solution would be to setup a VM. Personally I run VMWare with
> > Ubuntu
> > > > (which you can do for free as the VM Player and the Ubuntu "virtual
> > appliance"
> > > > are both freely available). Only downside is that you need quite a bunch
> of
> > > RAM.
> > > >
> > > > In both situations the ability to clean up all by reverting to a saved
> > backup
> > > is
> > > > really helpful. When it's not your PC, it's very annoying to have to spend
> > > time
> > > > doing tech support.
> > > >
> > > > The third thing you could do is use a LiveCD - you reboot the PC with it,
> > and
> > > > you get a fully powered PC that's mostly unbreakable. For storage you can
> > use
> > > an
> > > > external HDD.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > [download a life]
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Just Another Miller
> > > 2E2X1.net
> > > TeamDrunk.net
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > one can never destroy the power of evil
> >
>
>
>
>


Just Another Miller
2E2X1.net
TeamDrunk.net

First option is do you need Windows at all?

Ubuntu is very user friendly. Downside, it's not Windows so he may think Win is a piece of crap when he has to use it :-)

Then I've done a lot of magic recoveries on old PCs using Spybot and Ad-aware.
They can install some protection scripts that help prevent some damage.

Removing IE and forcing to use Firefox is a very good idea. I would install adblock as well with an automatic subscription for filters.

I would also remove any chat programs (MSN, AIM, etc). He's probably too young to use them but just in case. Some of these can run in a browser.

Maybe captain obvious but turn on automatic upgrades in WIndows...

Not running as admin helps but some programs will attempt to get root privileges.
Spybot has a tool called TeaTimer that detects if changes are attempted to be done to the registry.

For games you could run emulators (consoles and DOS games). Bit old but he'll have a big library that is portable to any system.

Last but not least maybe let your kid install the PC... if he learns how to do it then he can wreck it all he wants and fix it :-)



[download a life]

Definately windows... seeing as thats the operating system of choice for the foresee-able future. I will use firefox with ad block and spybot. As for installing himself he will only be 4 in december so i don't think he will grasp that concept yet. Thanks for all the info though

> First option is do you need Windows at all?
>
> Ubuntu is very user friendly. Downside, it's not Windows so he may think Win is
> a piece of crap when he has to use it :-)
>
> Then I've done a lot of magic recoveries on old PCs using Spybot and Ad-aware.
> They can install some protection scripts that help prevent some damage.
>
> Removing IE and forcing to use Firefox is a very good idea. I would install
> adblock as well with an automatic subscription for filters.
>
> I would also remove any chat programs (MSN, AIM, etc). He's probably too young
> to use them but just in case. Some of these can run in a browser.
>
> Maybe captain obvious but turn on automatic upgrades in WIndows...
>
> Not running as admin helps but some programs will attempt to get root
> privileges.
> Spybot has a tool called TeaTimer that detects if changes are attempted to be
> done to the registry.
>
> For games you could run emulators (consoles and DOS games). Bit old but he'll
> have a big library that is portable to any system.
>
> Last but not least maybe let your kid install the PC... if he learns how to do
> it then he can wreck it all he wants and fix it :-)
>
>
>
> [download a life]
>


Just Another Miller
2E2X1.net
TeamDrunk.net

This is off topic but, people here have grown up as this thing is over 10 posts deep and no one took a shot at the title. I was expecting at least one candy, drifter, and unmarked van reference.


http://www.prizerebel.com/index.php?r=409255 <-Click to win points for gaming prizes.

> This is off topic but, people here have grown up as this thing is over 10 posts
> deep and no one took a shot at the title. I was expecting at least one candy,
> drifter, and unmarked van reference.
>
>
> http://www.prizerebel.com/index.php?r=409255 <-Click to win points for gaming
> prizes.
>

With Linux it's easy to restrict a user to their own home directory, and they can still install and run whatever they want as user. In Windows you can't create a restricted user?

And for anyone not familiar with Linux I wouldn't have them embark on a mission to configure virtual machines. That's like throwing someone out of an airplane and telling them to stitch a parachute before they hit the ground.

Fuck command line.

pixel-eight.com

Figuring out how to install Linux and a VM is way easier than figuring out how to install Windows and get it to the point where you can be productive.

Seriously, installing VMWare is a piece of cake in Linux. Installing Linux is a piece of cake (well, Ubuntu at least, haven't tried other flavors for years, but Fedora and SuSE must be simple too).

I don't see where the command line comes into it. Download the VMWare install, allow it to execute (in properties), double-click it, enter password... installed...

Honestly I see a lot more people afraid of wizards in Windows that try to dupe you with vague language and tons of options that take your system hostage. In Linux, at least 99.9% of the software you install in the same way and it asks no questions.

I reinstalled Ubuntu last week and it's been hell on Earth getting my wireless to work (again). I have a page of command line parameters I have to run and files I need to modify to get it to work. I got it to work but here's the kicker; when I first turn on my laptop I need it to be within 10 feet of the wireless or else it will never find it. After that I can roam. If I try to boot up in the next room it just refuses to connect (even after standing a foot from the wireless router. I have never encountered anything remotely like that in Windows. Windows installs go like this; Next, Next, Next, Finish. I'd love to know where these elusive mega-configurable Windows installs are.

Now I'm trying to get the Linux Citrix client to work so that I can work entirely from Linux. That too is the most agonizing thing on this whole planet. First I need to get certain libraries to get it to work which I get through Synaptic. Then it complains that the libraries aren't installed but what it's really saying (after troubleshooting this for an hour or two) is that it wants the 32 bit libraries...I have the 64 bit installed. No where does it ever indicate this. SO now I have to download the source of the 32 bit library and compile it manually and then take those binaries and place them in lib32. I get that done and now it's complaining about something else...it goes on like this and I have yet to finish this after too many nights of putzing around. Can you imagine a casual PC owner compiling goddam source code? That's unforgivable. Casual PC owners don't play with Linux just for these reasons. I'm a software developer and even I can't stand this crap.

Admittedly, Synaptic makes things a lot easier but you don't get very far before you're back on the command line. I have to grep, ls, ln, gedit and cd 'til I'm blue in the face because there isn't a single HowTo on the entire internet where anyone actually uses a UI. It's made huge gains but Linux is still not the user-friendly OS that Windows is. If you wanted to talk about true user-friendly competition then we could discuss the Mac.

pixel-eight.com

Yeah that sounds like a hellish experience. Do you have any reason to run the 64-bit Ubuntu?

I have a MacBook Pro and an Athlon X2 desktop, and a Celeron D media PC, and they are all running 32-bit since yeah, a lot more stuff runs out of the box with it, and I don't have more than 4GB RAM on any of those. I don't think there's any point in running the 64-bit version yet, it's mainly there so developers have a reference to work against. As with most open source projects, when there's a need, it'll get done.

Wireless didn't work until recently on my MacBook Pro so I just used a USB wireless adapter I had and it worked. Now it's not a problem. I used to have to manually compile a driver for my acx100 but now it's in the kernel, and that version works like a charm because the distribution has it all pre-configured, whereas I had to tweak the settings for the one I compiled.

I feel your pain on compiling programs and shit and getting it to work right, it's pretty much hit or miss, if you have to deviate from the README then it's a real pain. For commercial apps like Citrix, LSB will be in place to provide a default set of libraries developers can expect to be there as long as the distribution is LSB compliant. More and more distributions are working towards that and when that goal is met, a lot of commercial applications will start working really well. Some do now, such as VMWare, CrossOver, and everything Google puts out, but it's more difficult to get right as things are now.

I guess if you want to run Linux that badly, you'll find a way, but when it works it's brilliant.

There are drivers for almost everything, and they don't require you to have the original driver installed from CD in order to update, they don't install companion programs and annoying preference applets and systray notifications or custom update mechanisms. I can plug my hard drive into another computer and it'll load up fine without warning me about all these driver changes and hardware detection.

Application installs are easier and every install is the same, applications don't try and hijack your system or install spyware or talk back to servers, they don't have "pro" versions you have to upgrade to, they don't bother you if you're running an older version or require you to change the date to install, they work with most or all file formats and don't try and invent their own to push their own proprietary format, it's easier to convert stuff to get it into your preferred application, usually applications don't have their own custom skin and UI set (there are exceptions, such as Blender and xmms), you don't have to worry about product activation or registration nags.

I don't need to use the command line to set up anything, even on a fresh install. Yeah, howtos usually have things to paste into the console, but I guess that's because it's just one step as opposed to clicking around everywhere. It's a lot better than how things used to be at any rate, and if you consider how far Linux has come in such a short time compared to Windows, it will definitely get better. Now it's easy to get to the desktop and do daily things such as web browsing, email, word processing, etc. A couple of years ago it was pretty uncommon for so many users to be even installing Linux at all. With more desktop users, things will improve quickly in that area.