Log in and Internet

My friend has a problem with his son getting on the computer, getting on the web, and looking at things he's not supposed to. He is running win98 and has enabled the user password but says when the password dialog comes up and click the x at top to close the window it goes right to the desktop and he can access the internet without the password. How can he prevent him from using the internet and from getting on the computer all together. Thanks.

BB

 

Go into the BIOS and put in a password there, he'll have to look around for the exact location, it's different in different versions. This way you have to enter a password just to boot up.

Depending on the computer brand you can get to the BIOS in most cases by hitting the Delete key at the begining of the boot process, while it's checking the memory is a good time. It usually tells you at the bottom of the screen what key to hit to get into "setup" or BIOS. If a splash screen comes up first showing the brand name of the computer you can hit the Esc key to see what's going on behind it and find out what key to hit.

HTH

Edit: There is a way to force the use of a password at the login screen but it involves editing the registry. Let me know if you want the instructions for that.

 

Reply

Yes, please let me know how to do that also. I will also look into the BIOS password. Thanks for your help. Anyone else have any other ideas?

 

This copied from my files which, if I remember correctly, I copied from a link provided by someone here.

Firstly, setup your computer for multiple users by using the "˜Users’ wizard in the Control Panel. Create a new user in addition to any existing users, then restart Windows and login as the new user (this will become your new default account).

While you are logged in open your registry by clicking on Start\Run, type in Regedit and hit enter. Look for a key named Hkey_Users and expand it by clicking on the plus sign, there should be several sub-folders including ".DEFAULTâ€, "Software" and a folder corresponding to the new username you created above.
Navigate to this key:
Hkey_Users\. DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Run

Open the key listed above (if the "˜Run’ key does not already exist then create it). In the right pane you want to create a New String Value "NoLogonâ€, just right click in the right pane. You will see a little window with New on it, hover your mouse over it and it will expand, select String Value. It then will appear highlighted waiting for you to name. Name it then hit enter. Now right click on it and select Modify, and enter this in exactly.

RUNDLL32 shell32,SHExitWindowsEx 0

Log-off and now when you login using the new username you should gain access to the desktop, but when you press Cancel or enter the wrong password the desktop should partially load, and then the computer should return to the login screen.

If you have any problems, restart in Safe Mode, open Regedit and remove the Value.
Once put in, any new users will get the Nologon. To remove for one particular user, you would take it out at:
Hkey_Users\[username]\Software\Microsoft\Windows\C
urrentVersion\Run

If you want to control what a user can do with their logon access, you could install the System Policy Editor, located on the Win98 cd in the Tools\Netadmin\Poledit folder.

Go to Start\Run, type in regedit and press Enter.
Navigate to this key using the + in the left pane. Logon must be highlighted.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Network\Logon

You should see 'Username' in the right pane. In the right pane of Regedit, right click on the blank area and choose New\DWORD value. The side menu containing DWORD will appear when the mouse is over New. It will appear ready for you to name it. Name it;

MustBeValidated

and press Enter.

Then right click on 'MustBeValidated' and select Modify, and give it a value of 1.
This will disable the ESC key workaround. Reboot.

If you want to prevent them from Restoring a backup of the registry to get around this, delete the Rb00x files located in C:\Windows\Sysbckup, there should be 5 of them, one may be named Rbbad. These will be recreated, one for each day the computer is started. That folder is a Hidden folder, you will need to have Windows Explorer Show All Files to see it.

 

Thanks, I'll give it a try when I go over to his house next time.