How can i make sure nobody installs anything on my computer?

Question

i just bought a new computer and am trying to make sure my computer literate kids cannot install any programs on the new PC. I would prefer something that asks for a password when installing anything or uninstalling anything. in the past my kids had managed to install a keylogger which rendered every password i had useless so i want to make sure this is impossible to achieve again.

i also want to make sure this program or whatever can not be removed in safe mode etc and requires a re-format.

thank you for you assistance

Answer 1

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Answer 2

I'm not a big computer tech person, but I believe you can give each member of your family their own profile on the computer. You can make your profile the ADMIN profile and set it so that only you can download stuff to the computer.

Answer 3

I assume you're using Windows XP.

Truthfully, you may not be able to do this with 100% effectiveness.

My solution was to build my kids their own.  You can set up password protected profiles and make your kid's limited and not administrator.  You can adjust their access rights and defaults via Windows.

But the simple truth is, if they're good enough, and they surely seem to be, they will beat you at this game every time.

Of course good parental instruction and the fear of God might help, but again if they're good enough .........

The ultimate solution is to switch to Linux, but I'm betting that isn't really an option.  

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Simply set up accounts for each of your kids, and change the account from "computer administrator" to "limited". The limited accounts prevent them from installing ANYTHING without an administrator password, which of course makes keyloggers impossible to install as well. Once you have done that, make all your files and folders private so your kids have absolutely no access to them.

I would also consider giving your kids consequences for installing keyloggers. These are very dangerous programs and can infect your computer with harmful viruses.  

Answer 6

If your family is that computer literate, I don't think any device will stop them. You may need to make this a open statement with all family members attending to re-up on some values that this is yours and if someone betrays your trust they will not like the h**l they created!

Answer 7

Set up to accounts one as the administrator and the other as the guest.  Put a password to the administrator account.  The administrator account is the only one that is allowed to make changes to your computer.

Your guest cannot make changes without an administrators concent.