Need help removing W2K machine from network

First of all, I'm not an IS pro and have minimal hands on experience with networking so please bear with me if i don't use all the correct terminology. I recently purchased two 2-yr old desktops for my children from the office where i work. They were being replaced so i got them at a great price. They run Windows 2000 professional and were attached to a server at the office. When I turn them on, they seem to be still looking for that network.

I have all the passwords and can get into them and use them etc but can anyone please tell me how reconfigure them for home? They will normally not be on a home network and it's just a pain to have that extra step of "signing on" and I have NO CLUE what else may be happening in the background. Plus there appears to be 2 or 3 "users" set up on the machines, including administrator, our tech guy and the individual originally assigned to the machine. Should I delete the users and if so how?

At risk of being wordy, one additional goal i have is to be able to eventually attach them to my high speed router at home. These will be in my kids rooms and i don't intend to allow them internet access in there but I want to be able to plug in my self to retreive updates etc.

Thanks in advance for your guidance,
Mike the networking novice.

 

Well first off your IT department should have already done this.
You will need to know what the local administrator password is.
Local Administrator is an account on that machine that is a top level account to manage that computer.
If you will right click on the "My Computer" Icon and sellect properties.
Go to the "Computer Name" Tab.
In the lower half of that window you will see a "Change" button. Click it one time.
I would assume the Domain button is sellected with a Domain Name in there.
You will need to select "WorkGroup" and type in a workgroup name of your choice.
"Workgroup" is the most common choice.
You will be asked for a administrator password to leave the domain. That's where you will need the Local Administrator Password.
After entering the password you will be asked to restart the computer. You are done!

 

If you have the 2K install CDs, your best option at this point is to do a clean install of the OS. Format the hard drive(s) and install the OS.

You will then have a clean machine to work with. It will still want you to do something with the logon box but it is fairly easy to set things so that info is automatically entered and no one ever has to see the logon. In fact, with kids it is ideal since you can set them up with a limited user account that automatically signs on and when you need to do any work with the system (intstalling things or changing settings) you can just hold down the SHIFT key while windows starts and you will get the logon screen and can log yourself on as the administrator.

Win2K has excellent security features and is fairly simple to set up. Plenty of advice here. In general, a standard 'user' account can use the PC but not really tear it up. The admin account can do anything and if it were me, I would password that account and not let the kids know what it is.

Yet another possibility depending on their ages might be to set up accounts for each of them (would require logon but might be worth it) so each could have a desktop that suited them and personal documents/folders the other(s) couldn't mess with.