In this day and age, children, even as young as 2 years old, already has an idea on how to use the computer. Leaving the computer on and reachable can cause a lot of trouble. Remember, randomly pressing the keyboard can get them to delete important files or worse, send an email!
So, how can we child-proof your computer? Here are some simple steps.
- Lock the Computer
Make sure to lock your computer when not in use. You can also enable the screensaver password in case your child gets to it before your computer sleeps.
You can either choose to set your computer to sleep after 5 minutes or even an hour of inactivity. But it’s best to be safe, so set it to lock after a few minutes that it’s not in use.
- Limited Account
If you allow your kids supervised use or play on the computer, then you can set it to a limited account. Do this by giving them limited access to apps other than the games they play.
Set the Guest account user for them in Windows. This limits their access to other apps in the system. It’s great to limit their access with the Guest account because it also limits an installations.
- Take Advantage of the Parental Controls
For Windows users, you can also set the parental control which is built-in with the Windows 7 and 8. This feature allows parents to limit and filter website access and visits.
Of course, the controls cannot totally limit your child’s access to your computer. But it’s one of the best way to limit their access and protect your files, especially work files from virus and deletion.
- Encryption
You can also encrypt your data to keep it safe. Make sure to protect important files from unverified access and deletion by encrypting it.
You can use TrueCrypt to do this. It’s a free program, easy to use, and lasts a long time.
- Use the Group Policy
You can also limit and even restrict the access to drives and the Control Panel of your computer with the Group Policy. This computer proofing method also prevents the user to prompt the task manager or delete the browser history.
This means you can totally lock down your computer. Personal computers’ group policy is accessible by typing gpedits.msc on the Start button.
- Deep Freeze Your PC
You can also choose to deep freeze your computer. This is a great way to protect your files if you don’t mind a lot about parental control.
Deep freeze means allowing your children to do anything they want on your computer. But the great part is changes won’t be permanent. By the time you restart your computer, it’ll be back to where you left it.
This is one of the most used computer proof even at schools. The best part is, even if your child accidentally deletes a file, all you have to do is restart your computer and it’ll be back to its original state.
So, make sure to protect your computer accordingly. Remember, there’s always a way to protect your files and your children, too, as they use the computer and access the Internet.
