Solved Need a resettable sandbox environment, ideas?

[officialxian]

Hi, I am working on my grandmother's laptop, I just did a fresh install of Windows 7 Home Premium and upgraded to Windows 7 Professional. She is a hacker's wet dream, she'll click on anything and download anything. Frankly I'm getting sick of fixing her laptop over TeamViewer, and this last time I couldn't as it required modifying system files. What I originally planned to do was make an Admin account with password restricted access, and make her account require permission to install anything. I forsee this being a problem because I may not be available when she needs permission.

My other idea is to create some sort of resetting environment. For example at the public library I used to go to would reboot when you logged out. You were allowed to download files, install programs, basically do whatever, but when the computer rebooted all programs would be uninstalled, settings would be restored, but files would remain. I have no idea what to search in Google, because what I've searched ("sandbox environment", "resettable environment", etc.) returned nothing. Has anybody seen or worked with something of this sort? Also, the laptop in my profile is my grandmothers. Thank you in advance!

 

[whs]

Here are some ideas:

1. Have your grandma use a user account and not an admin account. Don't give her the password.
2. Run the browser in Sandboxie - Sandboxie - Sandbox software for application isolation and secure Web browsing
3. Have her run all web activity from a virtual Linux. No hacker can attack that and if they do, it is easy to replace. See my posting here: http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/362902-canned-linux.html
4. Trade the laptop for a Chromebook. That is safe, it's Linux.

 

[officialxian]

whs - The way I have it set up right now is her user account is a regular user (ergo requires admin password to install programs). Idea 2 could be plausible. Idea 3 I'd rather avoid as she would have no idea how to do anything outside Windows lol. Thank you though!

 

[Berton]

Have you considered setting up Kiosk mode?
https://www.google.com/search?q=win...sedr...0...1c.1.62.serp..7.3.1015.VQiI3Xy3sNM

 

[officialxian]

Have you considered setting up Kiosk mode?
https://www.google.com/search?q=win...sedr...0...1c.1.62.serp..7.3.1015.VQiI3Xy3sNM

I actually browsed that question and someone mentioned SteadyState, I did some more searching, and found Shadow Defender, which does exactly what I want. It rolls back all changes, but you can exclude certain folders (such as C:\Users\User\Documents, ..\Pictures, etc.), allowing her to preserve her personal files, while also allowing me to roll back in an emergency.

 

[whs]

whs - The way I have it set up right now is her user account is a regular user (ergo requires admin password to install programs). Idea 2 could be plausible. Idea 3 I'd rather avoid as she would have no idea how to do anything outside Windows lol. Thank you though!

Operating a browser in Linux is the same as in Windows. And in my canned system there are 2 browsers on the taskbar - Chrome and Firefox and Opera is in start. But that is a safe way to operate on the web.

 

[SaNdMaN82]

There are some programs that freezes the computer... Whatever change you make to the system, once the computer is restarted, they are gone...
Google deep freeze...
You can also set directories that do not get frozen, so that she can have personal stuff...
Once you set the computer as you want it, you freeze it... After that, all frozen parts of the system will go back to the frozen state with a simple reboot...
Only thing I could see as an issue, is your grandmother saving files into a frozen directory... Or maybe the browser having issues saving the history...

 

[officialxian]

whs - The way I have it set up right now is her user account is a regular user (ergo requires admin password to install programs). Idea 2 could be plausible. Idea 3 I'd rather avoid as she would have no idea how to do anything outside Windows lol. Thank you though!

Operating a browser in Linux is the same as in Windows. And in my canned system there are 2 browsers on the taskbar - Chrome and Firefox and Opera is in start. But that is a safe way to operate on the web.

Yes but she would have to know how to enter and exit the Linux can. I know operating the browser is the same, I use Linux all the time. But you overestimate her skills. She can barely use the computer, yet she knows enough to get by. Anyways, I figured out a simpler solution. Thank you anyways.

 

[SaNdMaN82]

whs - The way I have it set up right now is her user account is a regular user (ergo requires admin password to install programs). Idea 2 could be plausible. Idea 3 I'd rather avoid as she would have no idea how to do anything outside Windows lol. Thank you though!

Operating a browser in Linux is the same as in Windows. And in my canned system there are 2 browsers on the taskbar - Chrome and Firefox and Opera is in start. But that is a safe way to operate on the web.

Yes but she would have to know how to enter and exit the Linux can. I know operating the browser is the same, I use Linux all the time. But you overestimate her skills. She can barely use the computer, yet she knows enough to get by. Anyways, I figured out a simpler solution. Thank you anyways.

Would you mind telling us?

 

[officialxian]

Operating a browser in Linux is the same as in Windows. And in my canned system there are 2 browsers on the taskbar - Chrome and Firefox and Opera is in start. But that is a safe way to operate on the web.

Yes but she would have to know how to enter and exit the Linux can. I know operating the browser is the same, I use Linux all the time. But you overestimate her skills. She can barely use the computer, yet she knows enough to get by. Anyways, I figured out a simpler solution. Thank you anyways.

Would you mind telling us?

I actually browsed that question and someone mentioned SteadyState, I did some more searching, and found Shadow Defender, which does exactly what I want. It rolls back all changes, but you can exclude certain folders (such as C:\Users\User\Documents, ..\Pictures, etc.), allowing her to preserve her personal files, while also allowing me to roll back in an emergency.

It's called Shadow Defender. It's great because you can exclude folders, allowing the person to maintain files. It costs $35USD for unlimited licenses I guess. It's the best solution for someone who chronically has problems with their computer. And if she needs to install a program I can disable the "shadow mode" and then make the changes.