xp shutdown

theletch1

Grandmaster
MTS Alumni
Joined
Jan 21, 2003
Messages
8,073
Reaction score
170
Location
79 Wistful Vista
I'm trying to figure out how to program my computer to shut down at a specific time each night and require a password to be rebooted. The situation I have here is a 16 year old daughter who is getting home from work about midnight, getting on the computer until 2 then not wanting to get up for school. Yes, I know, control my kid. Ever tried to control a 16 year old girl when it comes to IMing friends? Any help would be great. I have windows xp.
 
Schedule a shutdown: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;814761#kb4

For passwords your best bet would be a bios password. Every bios is a little different so I can't give you exact instructions. As it is turning on tap the "del" key, you should get a blue screen with all the system settings. Find the one for start up password and add one in :)

It can be removed by pulling the battery and putting it back in, which resets the bios. So if you ever do forget it you can remove it.
 
You can set it up so she does not have an account and the account you have as the administrator has a password. That way she can't get onto it.

This is done in the control panel -- users and groups

You can also have the screen saver be locked by a password. It under your screen saver options. This allows you to place a password to have to be used in order to get the screen saver to shut off.

The ulimate password though would be the bios password that Andrew mentioned. To disable that you have to get into the computer and take out the bios battery. DON'T FORGET YOUR BIOS PASSWORD.
 
Thanks. I think I got it set up just right now. Next step is to hook an electrical charge to the chair in front of the computer that will send a charge into the backside of anyone sitting in it after midnight.
 
I wouldn't reccomend not giving her an account if she uses the computer.

Not to mention what a pain it would be to have to come and type in a password for her everytime it logged out...

Bios password is easier, enter it once too boot up then users can log in and out without any trouble.
 
Andrew Green said:
Schedule a shutdown: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;814761#kb4

For passwords your best bet would be a bios password.
I second that. Good call!


Andrew Green said:
It can be removed by pulling the battery and putting it back in, which resets the bios. So if you ever do forget it you can remove it.
I thought the more recent ones (relative to when I began working on computers) had a shunt on the main board that had to be moved to a set of pins for so many seconds to clear it. Seems like that is what happened the last time I did that. Albeit, it has been a while back (years).
 
XP uses the NTFS file system, which supports file-level security. You could always password-protect the admin account, give her her own acount, and then restrict the IM program to administrators.
 
A lot of routers support timed port blocking. You could set the router up to deny all ports after a certain time, that might be more fun. Computer would still boot up, log in, everything seems fine... but no internet :D
 
Kreth said:
XP uses the NTFS file system, which supports file-level security. You could always password-protect the admin account, give her her own acount, and then restrict the IM program to administrators.
That is what I would do, but I don't know how savvy the original poster is. Accounts and permissions can be a daunting task for someone without any experience with dealing with them.
 
Bigshadow said:
That is what I would do, but I don't know how savvy the original poster is. Accounts and permissions can be a daunting task for someone without any experience with dealing with them.
Well, he has a forum full of geeks to walk him through it... :)
 
Andrew Green said:
A lot of routers support timed port blocking. You could set the router up to deny all ports after a certain time, that might be more fun. Computer would still boot up, log in, everything seems fine... but no internet :D
HAHAHA, that would be fun! Way technical though. I wonder if the built in firewall will do something like that? Although I really do not like that thing as I already have a firewall in front of my network. :(
 
Andrew Green said:
I wouldn't reccomend not giving her an account if she uses the computer.

I would recommend it. I would supervise her every internet moment.

In fact ... I am going to set up an account for my daughter to which she will not have the password so that she can do her email via the old Juno style - it downloads at a certain time of day and she can return the emails and it will send them at a certain time of day.

I have lost two computers now to trojans and worms which came in during her sessions on files she just HAD to download - from friends, of course .... And then there's that whole MySpace thing ....
 
If you do end up creating a new account for her, even if you restrict what that account can do (install, access to specific programs ect...) you'll still want to add entries to "Restricted Sites" in Tools>Internet Options>Security (Internet Explorer). This will allow her browse (study, hit Martial Talk) but you can add whatever you don't want her to access there (MySpace etc). If you want to totally disable access (XP Pro, not sure about XP home...never used it but in this case, it should be the same) you can do the following:

  1. Click on the Start>Settings>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs
  2. Click on set program access and defaults
  3. Select the Custom pull down list
  4. Deselect the enable access to this program checkbox for Internet Explorer and\or Firefox
  5. Click ok
 
my parents just sat up the modem and wireless internet in their bed room and pulled the plug on it at when we went allowed internet (grounded or to late at night)
 
BrandiJo said:
my parents just sat up the modem and wireless internet in their bed room and pulled the plug on it at when we went allowed internet (grounded or to late at night)
It's getting more and more common for neighbors to have wireless, though. When I check available networks from home lately, I see no less than 5 unsecured, plus 1 or 2 that are secured.
 
Kreth said:
It's getting more and more common for neighbors to have wireless, though. When I check available networks from home lately, I see no less than 5 unsecured, plus 1 or 2 that are secured.
You can have some fun with them... :EG: Harmless fun, that is...
 
Bigshadow said:
You can have some fun with them... :EG: Harmless fun, that is...
At my last apartment, one of my neighbors had some silly SSID like "F3AR the X-Mansion". I was so scared, I logged into their router with the default admin pwd, checked the connection log to get their MAC address, and locked them out.
 
Back
Top