I have a computer for my kid, the OS is XP professional, I create only one administrator account for him(for my personal reason, I want my kid use administrator account only, not limited account, not other accounts). I allow my kid to access internet, but I don't want my kid downloading any software from internet and installing the software to his system. Can I do that by using the Group Policy and how to do it? I also want to completely prevent my kid installing any software on his own from cd-rom, usb or internet, how can I do that by setting up the group policy?

I have created the Group policy Editor console, I go through the computer configuration and user configuration, But I don't see anything that I can use to prevent internet downloading and software installing. Anyone have some suggestions, thanks a lot!

I would not give him the administrator account to use. You should create another account and add that account into the administrators group. That would accomplish the same thing. If he messes up the administrator account you could end up having to reinstall the OS. That being said, what's the point of giving him administrator access if you don't want him installing software. The best way to control that is to give him a normal user account.

Short of that, I would look at some third party software like Net Nanny or Cyber Patrol to monitor his surfing and downloading habbits. If you don't know how to use group policies then I would not mess with them.

Group policy is overkill for what you want to accomplish. I agree with above that a separate limited user account - problem solved. Make sure to password protect the admin account. Find out what software he needs to have installed beforehand and do that from the admin account. This is what I do for my kids.

I agree with the above posts.

Also, is his computer part of a domain? If you don't have a domain, and he has a local administrator account on that computer, I'm pretty sure that anything you would do in group policy, he could just undo.

Thanks your help, I just want to know is it possible to use WinXP group policy to disable software installing and software downloading from internet. I understand we can do this by using third party software or setting up a limited account. But I really want to do this to an admin account by WinXP Group Policy. I have checked all the options of Computer Configuration and User Configuration, but I don't see anything I can use. I hope some can tell me which group policy I can use and how to use it, thanks a lot.

The answer is no, you cannot do this with a group policy alone.
Something I still don't understand is why would you want to? By giving him an admin account on the machine you are giving him all access privileges to that computer and then trying to use a group policy to take that away from him. This is not the correct way to do it. There is NO way to prevent him from downloading a file from the internet. There are certain areas (like Temporary Internet Files) he will have to be able to write to or IE will not function... if he knows what he's doing he can save any file he wants to that directory. Whether he can install it is another question... again, he could probably install it to that directory but that would depend on the installation program and there's no way to be certain.

If you trust him that little then don't let him use the computer unless you're there with him. Security policies are no substitute for parental involvement. Kids will always find away around it. Again, 3rd party tools are your best bet for this.

If you're worried about him messing up the computer then grab yourself a copy of Norton Ghost and image the hard disk before you let him start surfing. If he manages to blow up the OS then just restore the image. I did this with my kids PC. (along with installing Cyber Patrol)

My kids, they are learning some basic programming languge, they need to compile the source code and doing other stuff too. If I setup a limit account for them, limited account not allow user to compile file. I have to give them admin account, but I don't want them download too many games from internet and install the games. I hope we can prevent software installing by using WindowXP group policy. Please help, thanks a lot.

That's usually a pretty easy thing to do and you don't need to use a policy.

First set them up as a standard user.

If they are using something like VB6 or Visual Studio, those programs are installed under c:\program files so find the directory where their program is located, if they are compiling their programs in another directory just find that directory. All you need to do is right click on the directory and select Sharing and Security. Click the Security tab and you can give either their user name or the users group full control of that directory. If you keep them setup as a standard user they will have a very difficult time installing applications.

Without 3rd party software you will not be able to stop them from downloading anything off the internet... at least not that I know of.

One of the most important things being overlooked here is that the administrator account is for that purpose only, administering the computer. You say you "have your reason" but you clearly don't understand the purpose of that account. Surfing the internet with an administrator account means that any infection that gets in under that account has absolute full access the computer. That's just begging to get your OS destroyed. Making your kid an administrator and trying to take away his rights as an administrator is absurd. Follow the advice given here by others and make him a limited user.

Thread is 3 years old.

I don't know *** reply me

Wierdos can't you just answer his question. He already said he doesn't want to use limited acct for his own reasons..

No ans

Hi friends

Go to IE tab internet option--> security -->because tom level-->here u see many tab u can block download tab...

Just get them their own PC. Lol

I want to stop downloading,only browsing & surfing,I am using win server 2008 & I want to stop downloading any user by policy... plz give me a suggestion