Recommendations for locking a computer (parents want to know for my lil brother's computers)

[BigFatCow]

buy them laptops with docking stations, when you dont want them on it you just pop it off the docking station and take it with you.

 

[Zrom999]

Your brother is just like my stupid ass brother, replace the computer chair with a toilet and he would be set for life. When my parents got pissed for and threatened to get rid of the computer, I went and got my own, screw him. Whatever they did he figured a way around it, you can't win esp. if other people need to use the machine. Just remove yourself from the situation, break open your piggy bank go get your own computer and let them fight it out.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: SithSolo1
Things tried:

Taking the modem

Taking the power cable

Taking the KB and mouse

Taking the power cable adapter

Taking the CDs

Shutting the power of at the breaker

Disconnecting the cable from the house

and most resently taking the computers out of their rooms and placing them in the den

All the above have failed.

They pick locks, break down doors, and borrow parts from friends.

If this lock thing fails the computers are gone.

Holy sh!t. Prepare for rant.

How about a little discipline? Where are the fvcking parents here? They need a little taste of "My House, My Rules". Make a post in the Off-Topic forum, you'll get results pretty fast.

On the other hand, why do you care unless they're interfering with your time? They'll get the wakeup call when their report cards are straight D's.

Edit - Glad to see that at least "If this lock thing fails the computers are gone."

I'd go with a BIOS password. And FFS, make it hard to guess. Maximum length allowed, numbers and bizarre characters required.

- M4H

 

[hjo3]

Originally posted by: SithSolo1
We should just give them macs and see how they like that.

Whoa, whoa, there's no need to abuse them. You shouldn't say stuff like that in a public forum anyway; someone might call Child Protective Services.

Macs. Ew.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Originally posted by: SithSolo1
Things tried:

Taking the modem

Taking the power cable

Taking the KB and mouse

Taking the power cable adapter

Taking the CDs

Shutting the power of at the breaker

Disconnecting the cable from the house

and most resently taking the computers out of their rooms and placing them in the den

All the above have failed.

They pick locks, break down doors, and borrow parts from friends.

If this lock thing fails the computers are gone.

Holy sh!t. Prepare for rant.

How about a little discipline? Where are the fvcking parents here? They need a little taste of "My House, My Rules". Make a post in the Off-Topic forum, you'll get results pretty fast.

On the other hand, why do you care unless they're interfering with your time? They'll get the wakeup call when their report cards are straight D's.

Edit - Glad to see that at least "If this lock thing fails the computers are gone."

I'd go with a BIOS password. And FFS, make it hard to guess. Maximum length allowed, numbers and bizarre characters required.

- M4H

Right on Better get those defiant lil' hoodlums straightened up before they get drivers' licenses.

 

[SithSolo1]

WoW! I didn't expect my thread to be graced by the mighty M4H. I am humbled.

One of my brothers has been out of school since last semester when the school told us that it was better to be absent than tardy. He's also got some psychological problems and his psychiatrist told us it would be best if we didn't discipline him ourselves and to call the police if we needed help. We almost called them(wouldn't be the first time) while moving the computer to the den until I told him the cable modem was faster and then he promptly moved his system. The youngest one isn't doing so hot in school either. The one who hasn't been in school already has his car and will get his license this year, he's a better driver than me. Hell, I don't even drive but thats another post.

I am made to care because I am the only one with the technical "know how" to set anything up. Plus if it works I get paid, so its not all doom and gloom.

 

[FishTankX]

One thing i've tried, to limit computer access to people, is setting the 'Clear CMOS' jumper, at clear.

This prevents the system from even being turned on. When they want to play, you just put the jumper back. It's a simple procedure that even your parents could learn. You could just tell him that the computer is in league with you and it refuses to work when he hasn't done his homework. It would take even a computer expert a good 15 minutes to troubleshoot this problem. To a hardware illiterate, it should be damn near 'Evil brother' proof.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Krk3561
Some cheiftec cases have a drive bay door that covers the power button and it has a lock.

an example of what I'm talking about

bingo, and a keyed latch on the side door so he couldn't even reset m/b bios

u can't even turn it off and on because the power/resets behind the door lol

add a bios password and it would take extraordinary effort to break in

 

[moonshinemadness]

Password protect the bios, then the operating system, take the power lead and then maybe you could password protect the CDROM Drive i dont know if this can be done but you can do it with hdd i think? Failing that remove the CDROM..should be fairly protected theyd probably get bored trying to crack it in the end

Or maybe you could fit a power switch to turn on the PSU inside the case so the pooter could only be booted if that switch was flicked, then put it in a locked case...or maybe a key lock to turn on and off the PSU. Might work!

 

[SithSolo1]

All great ideas. I'll try the OS pw first, if that doesn't work I'm gonna recommend the removeable HD bay in hopes that I can snag one too.

We each have our own computer, hell I don't even live at home. If they get theirs taken away my dad still has his computer with its uber l33t 233-Cyrix.

 

[Gunbuster]

his psychiatrist told us it would be best if we didn't discipline him ourselves

Sounds like that has worked real good so far you need to stop dicking around with the puters and open up some whoop@ss on the kids

 

[Rainsford]

How about some parenting? Failing that, how about reversing the power switch leads going to the motherboard? Simple to switch around, but they would have no way to tell unless they know enough to try it. The CMOS reset jumper is good too.

 

[Bonesdad]

I know you said no software solutions...but this is a pretty good one. I use it to limit my kids computer time each day to 30 min. He hasnt figured out how to get around it yet.

Watchdog

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: FishTankX
One thing i've tried, to limit computer access to people, is setting the 'Clear CMOS' jumper, at clear.

This prevents the system from even being turned on. When they want to play, you just put the jumper back. It's a simple procedure that even your parents could learn. You could just tell him that the computer is in league with you and it refuses to work when he hasn't done his homework. It would take even a computer expert a good 15 minutes to troubleshoot this problem. To a hardware illiterate, it should be damn near 'Evil brother' proof.

That'll work until the procedure is observed by those who are locked out - then they will either try it themselves and a) get the computer to work again, or b) connect the wrong thing and fry everything.
I'll also go with the notion that if the hints of lockouts don't get the message across, it won't get there by just blocking the path. Locks can be picked, especially the ones that AT PC cases used to have - those things used pretty much universal keys - one size fits all. Great for gloves, but not locks.

You could maybe use an Admin account in WinXP to severely restrict NTFS permissions, and then only let them log on using User permissions. That'll at least limit their access to folders on the hard drive.

What kinds of games do they play? Installed ones or Internet games?

 

[43st]

No lock or countermeasure is going to work for these kids. They've already proved there ability to own the house. It's already become a game to all parties involved.

They need a stern warning first and then sent to military school for a semester (or more). If that's too harse then your parents need to remove all computers from the house. They probably won't want to do that but sometimes you need to sacrifice something to gain something.

 

[HokieESM]

Recommendation: take their current computers and give them, oh, a PII-300 with onboard video and 64MB of RAM. Won't even boot up modern games. Will run Word just fine (for schoolwork) or let them browse the internet for schoolwork.

That notwithstanding, the removable hard drive racks are a great idea. Take the hard drive at appropriate times.... even if he can get another drive, he'll have to have an empty rack and the key to get it in. And just lock up the case.

Or use Win2K/XP Pro and give them only a guest account and lock them out from installing programs. And from the current games on the machines.

I'm sorry to hear about all the problems. If he truly has psychiatric problems, computers probably aren't a good idea anyway--especially if he has socialization issues. If its just a lack of discipline, that's another story.... and i won't even go there.

 

[CraigRT]

for the locking I'd have just gotten a small Antec case with locking front panel.. and ALSO put a PS on the OS.. you can't get in at all without one!

seems to work well for me @ work

 

[HappyCracker]

Get an old computer and put Linux on it. I'm sure most games they play won't even run on Linux. If they were smart enough to use WINE/Linux alone, the performance would be horrible. With the newer distributions, network setup is cake. Good luck!

 

[SithSolo1]

I assure you that Whoopa$$ has been tried for the past oh 10 years of his life. While my youngest brother and I responded well and have learned to do what we're told(sometimes), my younger brother is just as stubborn as my father. So when whoopa$$ failed it was either the A)psychiatrist or b)boot camp and mom convinced dad to go route A until he turns 18 or shapes up which ever occurs first. Hell between some drill sergeants and my brother I don't know who would back down first.

And Happycracker Linux sounds like a great idea but my knowledge of Macs far surpasses my knowledge of Linux and all I know how to do on a mac is open IE.

 

[Slogun]

I didn't read all the posts here, so hope this is not a repetition of what anyone else said.

Sure, it's possible to install a keyed power-on switch. However you would also have to physically secure the case itselfl.
This would be MUCH more trouble (and certainly no more secure) than an OS or BIOS password.

 

[tsapiano]

One extreme option to avoid them being able to reset the CMOS would be to take a pair of small wire cutters and remove the appropriate pin from the motherboard. You'd have to be very carefull about it and you'd have to make sure that you remember the password (you could still reset it, you'd just have to short it out yourself) - however it would make it a somewhat difficult task to perform, even if they did know what to look for.

As others have mentioned, asside from the reset threat (which requires them to go into the case and move a specific jumper) the BIOS password would be pretty foolproof. If the pin used in the jumper were missing, then that task may be sufficiently complex that it would act as a deterant. The HDD cage will also do the job, but from what you've said you'll need a pretty secure place to store it when it is not in the computer.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: SithSolo1
I assure you that Whoopa$$ has been tried for the past oh 10 years of his life. While my youngest brother and I responded well and have learned to do what we're told(sometimes), my younger brother is just as stubborn as my father. So when whoopa$$ failed it was either the A)psychiatrist or b)boot camp and mom convinced dad to go route A until he turns 18 or shapes up which ever occurs first. Hell between some drill sergeants and my brother I don't know who would back down first.

And Happycracker Linux sounds like a great idea but my knowledge of Macs far surpasses my knowledge of Linux and all I know how to do on a mac is open IE.

/breathes deeply

I'm really trying my hardest not to insult your family here. I'm really trying.

But if he's still acting like this, Whoopass has obviously not been properly employed. Here are some helpful tips from Maddox. (Not to be taken seriously - at least not totally.)

So let me get this straight. Your brothers are both under 18. Living with their parents. You don't.

Maddox:
Remember: never take **** from your kids. You make payments on the house, utilities, their clothes, school, and their food. You own them. If they don't like it, they can move out.

Easy. Dad says "You get your computer back when your grades go up" and takes it away. They put up a fight? Dad calls police and employs proper self-defense.

And I know it's not my place to say it - but tell your mother to stop being such a pushover. Give your father the backup he needs and ship these two sons of bitches off to boot camp. I promise you, no drill sergeant will back down to your brothers - in fact, they'll give them just the ass-kicking they need.

- M4H

 

[alkemyst]

as a ex-haxor , the only way my parents would be able to keep me from running a system would be lock me up.

Password = hacks/backdoors/reinstall

Remove hardware = buy another PSU/HD/CPU/extra

Locks = pick or strong arm

etc

The thing is why are they choosing the PC over their education....make it more interesting and they will learn.

 

[pukemon]

bah screw the politically correct touchy-feely logical solutions. methinks dad's gotta open up a can of Whoopass(tm) on the little squirts.

seriously though, how old are these kids? if they're in middle or high school, hasn't school drilled the "extracurricular activities is really important for your future" drivel into their head by now?

 

[mrzed]

Originally posted by: tsapiano
One extreme option to avoid them being able to reset the CMOS would be to take a pair of small wire cutters and remove the appropriate pin from the motherboard. You'd have to be very carefull about it and you'd have to make sure that you remember the password (you could still reset it, you'd just have to short it out yourself) - however it would make it a somewhat difficult task to perform, even if they did know what to look for.

As others have mentioned, asside from the reset threat (which requires them to go into the case and move a specific jumper) the BIOS password would be pretty foolproof. If the pin used in the jumper were missing, then that task may be sufficiently complex that it would act as a deterant. The HDD cage will also do the job, but from what you've said you'll need a pretty secure place to store it when it is not in the computer.

Uh, there's still the BIOS battery, no matter what pins you cut, pulling that thing for a minute will reset everything.