How to stop my clever son accessing the PC?

[im]

Hi all

I'm trying to stop my very PC literate son starting the PC up when I don't want him to. I've tried locking him out via the BIOS password function but he came round with his mates whilst I was away and used a Password Revealing program to show him the bios password - used the PC - and then said he hadn't used it.

So, in order to stop the PC being started again when I don't want it started I thought I'd change the Landing Zone of the Hard Disk in the BIOS to something spurious and then just re-input the correct Landing Zone when I want to use it or want to allow him to use it.

Will this work? What are the pitfalls (if any)?

Cheers

Ian

[littlegreenfairy]

What about hiding the power cable

[TangoAlpha]

What about removing the power cable from the motherboard, enough so that it's disconnected but not enough that it shows?

Remove the hard drive cables?

Remove the fuse from the PSU?

[ProPlus]

why don't you want him to use it?? Just out of curiousity and how did they managed to get password reveil software on there....

Oh and try safeboot, that piss him off

[robbieduncan]

iirc the Landing Zone is the address where the harddrive parks the heads. If you put an incorrect address in the harddrive could park the heads on a data section and permanently destroy the harddrive and all data on it. The only real solution is to physically isolate the machine. No physical access = no PC use.

[im]

All good ideas but access to the pc is difficult and I want to be able to release the PC for use at the drop of a hat...so I need a 'key stroke' solution.

He got the password revealing software from a mate on 3 1/2 floppy.

If the Landing zone is a non-starter what about changing other hard disk parameters?

[flossythepig]

Stick the hard disk in a removeble drive bay caddy. Take the hard disk out and lock it in a drawer or take it with you.

[igiveup]

One of these www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=96988&&source=14&doy=search or just tell him to leave it alone or else!!

[tvrforever]

why not use the XP multiple accounts and install some of the usage control software (eg Symantec Internet Security etc) which has Parental Control (http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/

[Don]

Why not simply beat the shit out of him?

This suggestion is a metaphorical one. I do not mean physical violence.

[Podie]

flossythepig said:

Stick the hard disk in a removeble drive bay caddy. Take the hard disk out and lock it in a drawer or take it with you.

Put a password on the Windows profile, and only grant him "user" (not admin) rights.

Actually, I agree with Don. Tell him not to use it. If he does, then punish him.

[Davi]

another wild and crazy suggestion - my parents used to use this one...

"if you use the PC, you wont get any pocket money and you'll be grounded for x days, no friends, no TV, just school then sat in your room with no toys no nothing. If ignored, the punishment gets worse.

I know discipline is a bit of a far fetched idea in todays society, but I'm sure it used to work.

[slapmatt]

im said:

All good ideas but access to the pc is difficult and I want to be able to release the PC for use at the drop of a hat...so I need a 'key stroke' solution.

He got the password revealing software from a mate on 3 1/2 floppy.

If the Landing zone is a non-starter what about changing other hard disk parameters?

Take the floppy drive out and beat your son around the head with it. No-one uses them nowadays anyway!

[road2ruin]

How about this one. Remove the fuse from the main fuse box for the ring circuit the computer is plugged into. He will never work that one out as all the other electrics will work. He wont be able to watch the telly though. Still, every cloud etc.

[im]

I like the ones that suggest 'beating him about a bit'.

Unfortunately he's 17, weighs 15 1/2 stone, is built like the proverbial sh1t-brick house , pushes weights 2 hours a day and does a bit of

The days of my him are well and truly over.

So, I've got to win by brains alone or else

Think the ring-main fuse idea is a go-er...but if he picks me up flips me upside down and shakes me a bit the fuse will drop out of my pocket

Sadly the fuse idea means its a bit of a mission each time so would have preferred a keyboard solution but I'm sure that if there were one you experts would have divulged it by now.

The 'Individual User' option is already up and running but he's aware of how to get round that as well. Bloody clever-clog friends of his.

Cheers

[JonRB]

Alter the Audit Policy on the machine to log system startup and shutdown and/or install a logging program like my (freeware) SimpleActivityLogger program. Confront him with the evidence that your machine has been used without your permission. Enforce sanctions if it is used again.

Or you could buy one of those fingerprint scanners or some other biometric security device.

Also, why on earth have you got your BIOS set up to allow boot from floppy or CD-ROM? Set it to HDD only and reapply the BIOS password. He'll have to open the machine and zap the BIOS to circumvent that, and that can be made more difficult with a padlock through the case lock (if your case has one).

Or buy him a cheap laptop and tell him if he uses your machine again you'll break his fingers.

Edited by JonRB on Friday 13th April 14:50

[JonRB]

slapmatt said:

Take the floppy drive out and beat your son around the head with it. No-one uses them nowadays anyway!

[BaconBonce]

Sell the PC

[im]

JonRB said:

Also, why on earth have you got your BIOS set up to allow boot from floppy or CD-ROM? Set it to HDD only and reapply the BIOS password. He'll have to open the machine and zap the BIOS to circumvent that, and that can be made more difficult with a padlock through the case lock (if your case has one).

DAMN...Thats the one I was looking for!!!

Well done! I didn't disable the floppy drive from the boot-up routine!!!

Thanks Jon!!!

And thanks everyone else for your various suggestions as to how I could deal with him over this matter.









...some of them will come in handy should I ever feel like committing suicide.

[JonRB]

im said:

Thanks Jon!!!

No problem

im said:

And thanks everyone else for your various suggestions as to how I could deal with him over this matter.
...some of them will come in handy should I ever feel like committing suicide.

Who is the boss in your house? In fact, whose house is it?

It's your house and your rules, I would presume, so tell your son to sling his hook if he doesn't like the "my PC, hands off" rule.

Does he have a car? Take it out for a drive without his permission and use up his petrol. Or make some phone calls on his mobile. See how he likes it.