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Windows XP Pro Problems

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 9:17 pm
by edwin108
Hello,

At the high school that I attend, all of our ThinkPad notebooks are connected through a single network with a common domain. Unfortunately, some of my peers are very immature and tamper with my computer using the shutdown, tasklist, and taskkill commands from the command prompt. Are there any ways to prevent them from tampering with my computer besides me having to turn my wireless radio off constantly?

Thanks,

Edwin Suarez

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 9:31 pm
by hdave
keep your computer with you, or lock it when u leave it somewhere

Thanks

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:01 pm
by edwin108
Thanks for your reply. My computer is always with me, they shut me down or close my apps when I am working. What makes it worse is that I can't even find out who did it because event viewer doesn't show many details

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:18 pm
by GomJabbar
Windows Help and Support wrote:Other ways to secure your computer include locking it whenever you are away from your desk and setting up a password-protected screen saver. By pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL and clicking Lock Computer, you can help prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to your computer. Only you and members of the Administrators group on your computer can unlock it. (You unlock it by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL, typing your password, and then clicking OK.) You can also set up a screen saver so that whenever the computer is idle for more than a specified length of time, the screen saver starts and the computer automatically locks.
Another way is to press Fn + F4 when you leave your computer to put it into Standby. Make sure that the following is set: right-click on an open area of the desktop, choose Properties > Screen Saver tab > Power... > Advanced tab, and check box to "Prompt for password when computer resumes from standby".

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:31 pm
by edwin108
That would work if they have physical access to my ThinkPad. These morons that I go to school with harass me by shutting down my computer over the network using command prompt. Is there any way to prevent them from shutting my computer down or to find out who is doing it?

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:32 pm
by jdhurst
If they are shutting down your computer "while you are working on it" then change your passwords. All of them. Including Administrator. Make them unbreakable (it will take a while and huge tables to break $q$dewercs$era$uoy$11$). It doesn't have to be quite that long, but secure passwords on each and every userid including administrator will stop most persons.

If you leave your computer, turn it off and make sure it has a hard drive password.
... JD Hurst

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:48 pm
by edwin108
jdhurst,

Thank you very much. I just realized that I left the Administrator account without a password!

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:17 am
by ennma
phew, for a minute there I thought, your friends bypassed the password on your thinkpad, but when I read about the Admin acc not having a password I was relieved.

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 3:30 am
by intelliot
If they're able to do it over the network, it sounds like you're running an unpatched version of Windows. Be sure to use XP SP2 with the latest updates. Also, install a firewall (the Windows firewall is only barely sufficient). Symantec Client Security works pretty well (my only complaint is that it blocks too much), and would be good to try in your case.