Child Proof Windows 7

JeremyAlexander · 19 May 2011

I would like to know if there is any way to dissable the browse (windows explorer) from starting.
Things I have done to mostly child proof my 4 year olds computer.
Changed the security settings of the destop so he can't delete /copy icons.
Completely stripped taskbar.
Moved all Public Desktop items to admin account.

But there's still two problems.
1) some games need admin privledges 'a disney game' WHY

is there a way to always run as admin in windows 7 without prompting for password?
2) some how he gets windows explorer (browse) open I don't know how there is no shortcut anywhere but there seems to be a plethora of ways to open it.
Tried making a child group in policy settings and changing group policy settings. That ended in a clean install LOL.
Edit: also tried to deny his account write access to the entire drive- epic fail

Tepid · 19 May 2011

Parental Controls

Parental Controls - Windows 7 features - Microsoft Windows

How To Use Parental Controls in Windows 7 - How-To Geek

7 Things To Like About Parental Controls in Windows 7 | GeekDad | Wired.com

win 7 parental controls - Bing

JeremyAlexander · 19 May 2011

ok I don't mean parental controls. Thanks though. He's 4 I need him to not drag and drop things and rename things ect.

severedsolo · 19 May 2011

Just a thought, how about enabling the guest account? He won't be able to change anything important, and any changes to the guest account will be undone when it's logged out: Guest Account - Turn On or Off

JeremyAlexander · 19 May 2011

That would be a good solution but there's no media center and that still isn't a preventative to the root cause, but that was one of my early attempts.

on my laptop I have an standard account he can get into that immediately starts kidzui and he can't get out of, but looking for a solution for his own computer. btw if you have kids this is awesome and free KidZui - The Internet for Kids this an enormous amount of safe stuff for kids and can be customized by parents to prevent the child from going back to windows and hurting your pc.

Tepid · 19 May 2011

Well,, you will need to get to know Group Policy and

This link might be very helpful....

List of All Kinds of Restrictions for Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Server 2008 and 7 - Tweaking with Vishal

24. Restricting any desired application
Go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer\DisallowRun

Create new String value with any name, like 1 and set its value to the desired program's EXE file.
e.g., If you want to restrict msconfig, then create a String value 1 and set its value to msconfig.exe. If you want to restrict more programs, simply create more String values with names 2, 3 and so on and set their values to the program's exe file.

Becareful with that, you can lock yourself out but good on that account, or maybe even toast windows.

Get to know how to edit the registry for accounts from other accounts. a.k.a edit other users registry hive

James Colbert · 19 May 2011

As Tepid states, GPedit is your best bet, but GPedit is only available for Win7 pro and up, and given that this is a 4 yr. olds machine, I'd be surprised if it was running pro.
________________________________________________________________________

~~Anyway, the problem with GPedit is that you can't selectively apply it (i.e., only to standard accounts).~~

Correction here:

Child Proof Windows 7
________________________________________________________________________

The 2 possibilities I can think of off the top of my head:

1) Create an image of his system (Windows Backup, Acronis or similar) that can be reverted to when needed. You would have to create a new image whenever there is an 'authorized' change

2) Find a 3rd party software that will allow you to disable certain aspects of the system.

3) Both

I remember when kids used to play with toys. I guess I'm getting old...

As for the games, have you tried right clicking on the 'Disney' shortcut and choosing Properties|Compatibility tab, making sure that there is a check mark next to 'Run as Admin'? I think that would work (you can ignore the 'Run in compat mode' option [step 2]...stock screenshot :) ).

Child Proof Windows 7-admin_run-as_2.jpg

And as for W.E., he can get to it through the start Menu, via any folder shortcut or simply by pressing winkey+E, amongst other ways.

James

JeremyAlexander · 19 May 2011

His pc is home premium 32 bit.
Thank you for the links amd your time. I can make some use of this info, but I am not confident that with the information I have I won't 'toast windows' with the group policy again. If I disallow explorer.exe won't that be the same. I just want to only allow a single instance of explorer.exe I thought I was close to something with trying to rename it and run it as a log in task but I guess not. When exactly does explorer.exe run? Isn't there or wasn't there (back in the olden days) a way to make windows shell into another application if so why can't I make that work. I swear in school we had a cash register kinda app that would just start as a shell instead of windows but that was many years ago now. I was hoping I could rename explorer.exe to something else and start that as a shell but I don't remeber how that worked exactly and I don't know if that would even work in windows 7 because I am pretty sure that was windows 'something before xp' but I don't rember for sure.
Really nobody has tried this before I really searched the internet for a solution and all I could find was stuff to keep older kids in line and out of 'bad' internet stiff but nothing to stop drag and drop renaming type things. The only other thing I can think of is to start media center and (somehow) keep it from closing I know what to do to make it say it won't but windows seems to have a bug that lets you out. At anyrate how could I allow his games to be in the extra menu things like lego island(s), tonka search & rescue, dora ect ect. Can't find a good tutorial anywhere for how to get those things in the media center extra's menu. Could someone who knows all this stuff help with that.

James Colbert · 20 May 2011

I wouldn't recommend disabling Explorer.exe...it's too tied into the system. The best way for you to control system use is by limiting what specific 'user groups' can do. This, however, can be problematic and will require study on your part. This is not something that can be learned via a few posts in a forum. It involves changing permissions for certain user groups and in the security options of programs you wish to restrict access to. Below is a link to a post that has some links and info. This will give you a start:

User account help

And to a Sevenforums Tutorial:

Permissions - Allow or Deny Users and Groups

You can do further searches to give you more (and updated) info.

That said, changing permissions and security settings can get one in trouble, including being locked out of your own system. Before attempting any changes, it is highly, highly recommended that you create an image of the system partition or any other partition you plan to make changes to. There is free software to do this, but you will require an external drive to keep the images on (which can be quite large).

Here is a link to free imaging software:

Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

One other strong warning: When changing permissions, security changes and user groups, you must be sure not to remove any admin or system groups. Create an admin account for yourself and make sure that it is included with full access to the programs and activities you wish to limit before you add, remove or change any user groups or user access.

I can't stress these warnings strongly enough. This forum is riddled with threads requesting help with permission problems. If you must follow through with this, do your homework:

1) Familiarize yourself with the imaging software before anything else. Make some images, restore them, make sure you are comfortable with creating, restoring and exploring them.
Have at least two validated images on hand. With these, you have a safety net that will bring you back to where you were before any changes were made.

2) Thoroughly study the use and practice of limiting accounts and the use of and restrictiion of user groups.

3) One other warning: You may run across a utility called TakeOwnership. This utility will not serve your purposes in this case and is a source of problems for many. It's also not to be applied to the system drive under any circumstances!

All of this said, a bit extreme for a toddler, but if you're sure you want to go through this amount of effort, you may learn a lot, and as long as you maintain your system images, you can always go back.

James

RSAvenell · 20 May 2011

This is a great thread. I was looking for something along the same lines. Curious if anyone knows if there are any third party programs for helping to childproof Windows 7. I would love to just have it boot up to Kidzui (I found that the other day, and was happy to see an endorsement for it here).

However, I would like to put a password on all other windows features like the start menu. Booting up to Kidzui is great, but then how can I set up access to a few icons to the educational games I have for him.

Would be nice if Microsoft would create a kidproof OS option in Windows 8!