Limited User Account has too much access to computer

[SteveParks]

Hello to anyone with the knowledge!
I'm using XP Home Svc pack 2. My first problem is that I would like the
access of more folders to be restricted to limited user accounts on my
computer. I don't understand why in the sharing tab (under properties) of
some folders I can check "make this folder private" and in other folders,
this is not checkable or uncheckable. I would think that any folder on the
Administrator's account should be denied access to a Limited account, not
just the Administrator's My Docs folder.

My second problem and the reason why I'm here is that I have an external
hard drive connected by USB. I can go into the Guest user account, and have
total access to that external hard drive. Is there a way for the
Administrator to block access to this or any other connected device that
shows up in My Computer? If not, then why not? This seems to be a very basic
and important feature of having multiple user accounts on one shared machine.

I do not want to encrypt the contents of my external hard drive, nor do I
want to unplug the drive and lock it up somewhere every time I leave the
computer.

Thank you for your time.

Steve

 

[Anteaus]

RE: Limited User Account has too much access to computer

XP Home has only limited control over what users can access, and is not
officially designed to allow you to either set NTFS permissions direcly, or
create non-administrator users. There are hacks to allow this, but if it
breaks as a result... you get to keep both pieces.

Home doesn't allow data encryption, either. Though I have reservations about
using EFS in any case, owing to the number of reports of lost data. It's
probably OK in the hands of a trained Admin, but for a home user who doesn't
understand the key-management aspects it's messing with C4.

Options are to upgrade to Pro, or to use a third-party product such as
Truecrypt.
http://truecrypt.org

"SteveParks" wrote:

> Hello to anyone with the knowledge!
> I'm using XP Home Svc pack 2. My first problem is that I would like the
> access of more folders to be restricted to limited user accounts on my
> computer. I don't understand why in the sharing tab (under properties) of
> some folders I can check "make this folder private" and in other folders,
> this is not checkable or uncheckable. I would think that any folder on the
> Administrator's account should be denied access to a Limited account, not
> just the Administrator's My Docs folder.
>
> My second problem and the reason why I'm here is that I have an external
> hard drive connected by USB. I can go into the Guest user account, and have
> total access to that external hard drive. Is there a way for the
> Administrator to block access to this or any other connected device that
> shows up in My Computer? If not, then why not? This seems to be a very basic
> and important feature of having multiple user accounts on one shared machine.
>
> I do not want to encrypt the contents of my external hard drive, nor do I
> want to unplug the drive and lock it up somewhere every time I leave the
> computer.
>
> Thank you for your time.
>
> Steve

 

[SteveParks]

RE: Limited User Account has too much access to computer

thanks, this helps!

"Anteaus" wrote:

> XP Home has only limited control over what users can access, and is not
> officially designed to allow you to either set NTFS permissions direcly, or
> create non-administrator users. There are hacks to allow this, but if it
> breaks as a result... you get to keep both pieces.
>
> Home doesn't allow data encryption, either. Though I have reservations about
> using EFS in any case, owing to the number of reports of lost data. It's
> probably OK in the hands of a trained Admin, but for a home user who doesn't
> understand the key-management aspects it's messing with C4.
>
> Options are to upgrade to Pro, or to use a third-party product such as
> Truecrypt.
> http://truecrypt.org
>
> "SteveParks" wrote:
>
> > Hello to anyone with the knowledge!
> > I'm using XP Home Svc pack 2. My first problem is that I would like the
> > access of more folders to be restricted to limited user accounts on my
> > computer. I don't understand why in the sharing tab (under properties) of
> > some folders I can check "make this folder private" and in other folders,
> > this is not checkable or uncheckable. I would think that any folder on the
> > Administrator's account should be denied access to a Limited account, not
> > just the Administrator's My Docs folder.
> >
> > My second problem and the reason why I'm here is that I have an external
> > hard drive connected by USB. I can go into the Guest user account, and have
> > total access to that external hard drive. Is there a way for the
> > Administrator to block access to this or any other connected device that
> > shows up in My Computer? If not, then why not? This seems to be a very basic
> > and important feature of having multiple user accounts on one shared machine.
> >
> > I do not want to encrypt the contents of my external hard drive, nor do I
> > want to unplug the drive and lock it up somewhere every time I leave the
> > computer.
> >
> > Thank you for your time.
> >
> > Steve