Controlling on/off time of PC (Win XP)

Topic

New Reply

Aw, c’mon Dad, staying awake all night in front of the glow of a monitor is a hallmark of geekdom. Seriously, though, you may want to check the system BIOS – many modern BIOSes allow for scheduled on/off times. Otherwise, you’ll be looking at the group policies (in XP Pro) to restrict logon hours or perhaps a third party program. I’m not aware of any but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Reply | Quote

Replies

I’m planning to give my daughter her own PC for Xmas. Till now, she’s used the family one.

To prevent her spending all night on the PC, I’d like to try and control when the PC can be switched on. I know that a program like CyberPatrol will let me control the hours for internet access, but I’m looking to see what I can do to control PC use generally, ie games, off-line readers etc. I know that with boot disks or whatever, anyone can get round this, but she’s not capable of that (yet!!!) I think (or is that hope).

Does anyone know of a Win XP based program that would let me do this?

Thanks

Reply | Quote

Colin,

I hope this doesn’t sound too nasty (it’s not meant to be), but….

If you are that concerned with her use of it Why give it to her?

As for solutions, place the computer in an “open” area so you can monitor it. Something like the family room, the living room, something like that.

Reply | Quote

I’d have to second this one myself. It’s a parenting decision, ultimately – but I would rather it was in the open simply because kids don’t realize the dangers of being too forthcoming on the Internet. Software can always be worked around.

Reply | Quote

Colin, Here’s a couple to check out. See SafeLogon here http://www.gemiscorp.com/english/main.html%5B/url%5D and 1st Security Officer here
http://www.1securitycenter.com/sc/index.html%5B/url%5D. I don’t know if either is any good and I’m sure there are plenty of others available.

hth,
Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

Joe,

That is amazing. How do you do it? You always seem to come up with such great links. You must know exactly the phrase to use in your searches.

Reply | Quote

I have experience of ONE (only son) but you’ve got a big question on your hands, Colin! My comments are probably a mixture of coming close to what the others have said already. Your daughter sounds like a TEEN with some computing experience under her belt. Giving her a PC and then telling her you’re going to lock it during night hours or put it in the living room would be a blow to how she perceives your trust in her. It would be fairly easy to “teach” her the potential dangers of chat rooms, viruses, porn sites, spam and all the other dangers on the ‘Net – the media is full of example stories. Then, it comes down to TRUST. On the other hand, if she’s a pre-teen, I think I would opt for the physical location, rather than the locking or special software. Good luck, Dad, with your decision! And Merry Christmas to HER, however you decide to go. She should be a happy camper…..

Reply | Quote

If some of you had READ the original post, they would have seen that I wanted to restrict the Hours she spend on the PC, not what she does on it. What she visits is a matter of trust.

However she is in final 2 years of school, and I want her (as does she) passing exams as well as passing computer games. So it is sensible parenting to agree a timescale that can be enforced. Otherwise, she will spend an unreasonable number of hours on line, and she and I will suffer in the end.

I’m afraid this is one area where parenting has to be a bit stricter than kids would appreciate. She’ll still get plenty of time on-line, and as late as we agree is sensible, but then she’ll have to have a rest.

Reply | Quote

Thanks for the various comments.

I’ve downloaded SafeLogon, and will give it a try.

Reply | Quote

Gang, let’s remember what Colin asked for….which wasn’t parenting advice. Colin, you may want to keep in mind that software can be defeated, so make sure you set up user profiles and use them appropriately if you want to keep SafeLogon, erm, safe. If your daughter has administrative access it won’t do any good to install it.

Reply | Quote

Thanks.

Yeah I haven’t built hers yet. I’ve just finished my son’s, and I’ve left hime with administrator privileges.

I’ll need to remember to add appropriate users when I build hers.

Thanks

Reply | Quote

Colin ~

If you have XP Pro you can use the Local Security Policy to force your daughter off the computer and allow her to log on to the computer only at the times you determine.

First, set Log On hours. Open the command prompt by going to “Start” >”Run…” > then type cmd. Type in a net user command to set the user’s hours.

Example:

net user colin /time:M-F,18:00-20:00
net user sarah /time:M-F,6pm-8pm
net user edward /time:M,6pm-8pm;T,5pm-6pm;W-F,20:00-21:00

Notice that the user name is listed after the net user command. After the /time: switch you enter the day of the week and time frame they can log onto the computer. Please note the appropriate spaces.

Now you need to configure the Local Security Policy to log users off when they go past their logon hours. Go to “Run…” and type gpedit.msc.

Go to the following location:

Local Computer PolicyComputer ConfigurationWindows SettingsSecurity SettingsLocal Policies

Look in the right pane for Network Security: Force Logoff when logon hours expire. Double click on it and set it to enable. Restart the computer. Bada-bing-bada-boom! Your daughter will only be able to log on when you want her to & the machine will force her to log off when it’s time to get off the computer and into bed.

Reply | Quote

Thanks but unfortunately I’m using xp home

Colin

Reply | Quote

Edited by WyllyWylly to clean up markup code.[/size]

I’m a homie too, unfortunately . I believed the salesmen, and PR material, that said Pro had a few extra security features useful only for networkng .

But, it seems it’s not quite as crippled as it appears

I just tried out the NET command, as suggested by Bruce, and it seems to work. I set up a new limited user, timetest, and made sure it worked OK (log on/off). Then, as admin, used the command:

net user timetest /times:M-F,06:00-07:00

When I tried to log on as timetest I was asked for a password (it doesn’t have one!), effectively preventing a logon. As admin I then used the command:

net user timetest /times:ALL

Now timetest was back to normal, able to log on/off.

So, you can define logon times. However, without gpedit , the forced log off needs another solution. In your situation, maybe just a scheduled task to pop up a reminder to go at the appropriate time.

Another potentially useful command that’s available is cacls, to fiddle with file access control lists.

NB Either net, and cacls, could cause similar grief as playing with the registry, so tread carefully.

Reply | Quote

[indent]

---

Another potentially useful command that’s available is cacls, to fiddle with file access control lists.

---

[/indent]It’s worth mentioning that CACLS will only work with the NTFS file system – and personally, I’d avoid fooling with access control lists as it relates to Colin’s original request. That would prevent access to certain resources, but it won’t lock out the workstation at an appropriate time. Besides, why use the command line when the GUI is there to make it simpler? I say that even though I am a command-line commando.

The NET commands should work in all iterations of XP, though, as it’s part of NT’s original design (from which XP is borne). Great example!

Reply | Quote

Quite right. cacls won’t help with the original request.

I intended it as an example of how Home has a bit more scope than at first appears. Also forgot to say that a likely use for cacls may be when the “simple file sharing” proves too simple.

Unfortunately, I don’t know of any GUI options to cacls with Home, but if there are any, I’d love to know about them. I grew up with the DOS prompt, and it’s predecessors, but prefer to keep life simple where possible.

Reply | Quote

CACLS is the command line equivalent of the (NTFS only) options that show up when you view the disk properties (right-click on the drive, properties, and then the security tab). I don’t have a screen shot handy because the machine I’m on is formatted with FAT32.
..

Reply | Quote

Maybe you’re thinking of XP Pro, the Security tab is absent in Home?

As you can see from the screen shot (under NTFS), the options are somewhat limited. You get to this screen only after braving the warnings about sharing the root of a drive on your PC.

That’s why I like the idea of cacls being there as a 2nd last resort. The last resort is all users as admin .

Reply | Quote

I’m just wonder… How long will it take her to fugure out how to change the time on computer clock?

Reply | Quote

I needed a good to start off the day – thanks .

The original request seemed to be after some firm handholding, rather than mission critical barriers, so this shouldn’t be an issue.

Reply | Quote