I am looking to limit the time that my kids can use the computer, between certain times. Does anyone know of a way to do this without purchasing a third party program. They are using Windows XP MCE2005. Any suggestions would be great thanks.
Put a password on the account, and log in and out for them is probably cheapest and easiest. Otherwise I only know of stuff that applies to servers, and MCE isn't able to connect to a server anyway. Link for reference though: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816666
EDIT: Looks like something in that link might work after all maybe. Try creating a new user account for them and playing around with the "net user" command. You'd naturally need to create a password protected full admin account too. Then look at this page for some more pointers: http://www.builderau.com.au/program/wind...39282967,00.htm
Some routers have a setting to set connection times to certain days and times.. Can you configure windows to assign a different ip depending on who is logged in? because that's how my router does it. I can't test the theory because I'm not likely to have a 'doze machine in the house for at least a week.
I considered saying that, while it would be a good buzz kill for something like WoW, it doesn't stop them from playing games offline, I imagine one also needs to be able to boot the beggars off the computer completely when their time is up.
When I have kids they're going to hate me, lol. And then the bastards are going to work out how to beat me at my own game, I can see it already...
Well thanks for the replies i havent had a chance to try them out yet but I will. I will post results so that others can follow in the footsteps if it works and make it easier. It has been a pain in the butt, thanks everyone.