Prevent Shutdown?

[LR6]

I have a PC with Vista Home Premium 32. My three year old has discovered how to power down the PC, Using the power down icon on the start menu or on the log on screen. Usually this is not a problem, but sometimes I have stuff running in my account.

He already has a limited user account, so is there a way to prevent power down from his account? I found that this can be easily accomplished in Vista Business and above, but not home premium.

 

[Arkaign]

You could move the start menu to a weird spot and autohide it. That might slow him down for about 5 minutes

What I would honestly do in that case, is use a Virtual OS install for him, full-screen it (the hotkey combo to get out of full-screen virtual OS can be pretty obscure), and let him rip. IIRC, you can set it up to ask for a password when the host OS comes up after the virtual OS is 'shut down'.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Just Drag the Start Bar into the window so that you have to manually drag it out in order to access it. Annoying yes, but its an easy solution

 

[sonoma1993]

Originally posted by: LR6
I have a PC with Vista Home Premium 32. My three year old has discovered how to power down the PC, Using the power down icon on the start menu or on the log on screen. Usually this is not a problem, but sometimes I have stuff running in my account.

He already has a limited user account, so is there a way to prevent power down from his account? I found that this can be easily accomplished in Vista Business and above, but not home premium.

you can do it through the local security policy, I can't recall if Windows Vista Home Premium allows you to play around with the local security policy settings. But if it does, you can find it in administrative tools and look for group policy object editor or local security policy. It somethen along those line if it available in Windows Vista Home Premium.

computer configuration\windows settings\security settings\local policies\user rights assignments. then look for Shutdown the System.. which will allow you to specify which users or groups can shutdown the system.

 

[corkyg]

You might investigate setting a password for shutdown. There are such utilities. This looks like one.

SD

On the other hand, a three year old needs to be kept away from your computer until such time as he or she can be schooled. Even if you have the shutdown process passworded, etc., how long will it be before he/she discovers the on/off switch?

You need to work with the kid. Three is still a bit young for that.

 

[Swampster]

Simple Solution:

Go into Control Panel / Power and /Change Plan Settings / Change Advanced Power Settings / and expand Power Button and Lid. Look for the item refering to the Start Menu Power Button and change that to Hibernate.

To him, it will look like it has shut down, but when YOU push on the power button on the front of the system, it will recover from Hibernation in about 30 seconds and everything is just as you had it.

Sleep Mode (if you have an S3 setting in your CMOS) is quicker, but if the computer loses power while in sleep mode, such as is common here in sunny central Florida in the summer time, then you are right back where you started.

 

[KeypoX]

Originally posted by: Swampster
Simple Solution:

Go into Control Panel / Power and /Change Plan Settings / Change Advanced Power Settings / and expand Power Button and Lid. Look for the item refering to the Start Menu Power Button and change that to Hibernate.

To him, it will look like it has shut down, but when YOU push on the power button on the front of the system, it will recover from Hibernation in about 30 seconds and everything is just as you had it.

Sleep Mode (if you have an S3 setting in your CMOS) is quicker, but if the computer loses power while in sleep mode, such as is common here in sunny central Florida in the summer time, then you are right back where you started.

except i think windows uses hybrid sleep by default meaning its saved to ram and to HD. If no power loss faster restore, if power lose restore from HD

 

[Fox5]

Go into power settings and you can change what the power button does. At the very least, you can set it to suspend instead of shut down.

 

[corkyg]

I'm not talking about the front panel power relay - that's easy. I'm talking about the PSU switch on the back, or the power strip switch, or the UPS main switch. Instant power off with no guff from the PC.

 

[Swampster]

I wasn't aware of that. What is your source of information on this new feature. If it can be confirmed, then it would about do away with Hibernation, as long as your BIOS supports S3 Sleep mode.

<BTW>, Don't forget, if you are going to use Sleep OR Hibernate, then you need to change your security updates to specific time intervals instead of "at boot", or it will not be kept current. I use Every 4 Hours on my AVG 8.5.

 

[amddude]

Spankings

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: amddude
Spankings

Watch out for child abuse. I prefer a lock on the door.

 

[Piuc2020]

Teach him?