up vote 4 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

Like most kids, my kids love computers, and if I let them, they'd camp out on it every waking hour Facebooking and playing video games. So we have an app that limits their time each day (trying to introduce balance into their lives).

However, homework needs to be done on the computer, and it shouldn't count against their fun time.

Is there a way to create a 'homework' account that can: - only run limited programs (Word, Excel, Power Point, Internet Explorer) - can only go to a limited number of websites (school site, Wikipedia, NYTimes, etc, etc) - without affecting other accounts on the computer

Then the homework account could have unlimited time and they could spend as much time as they wanted studying/learning.

I suspect Group Policy or Local Policy is the answer, but I'm not sure how to do it. I'm geeky enough that the home computers are part of a home domain.

link|improve this question
feedback

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Sure. The management policies for that account would include white listing the executables to run and proxying the browser to a non existent host and white listing URLs for sites they can visit.

link|improve this answer
Any hints where in Group Policy to white list apps and URLs? – DougN Dec 10 '11 at 22:31
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

If you're using XP, download MS SteadyState and set up a 'Homework' user account.You can tweak it pretty much to what you need

link|improve this answer
Someone geeky enough to have a home domain is probably not running XP. :-) – afrazier Dec 10 '11 at 19:21
lol - afrazier, you are correct :) – DougN Dec 14 '11 at 20:27
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.