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Windows ME help

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by goldenknight

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My buddy has a question about Windows ME and I cannot answer him as I have not had much experience using the new Microsoft Windows ME edition. It's a dilema that I"m hoping one of you out there might be able to answer.

He wishes to monitor and maintain where his daughter has been online when she surfs the web. Shes found out that she can delete the History of the computer so no one can see where she's gone (she tends to goto inappropriate sites)
She's also learning where else to go to delete info so no one can follow her trail (the temperary internet files, etc.) I don't know if ME is the same as 95 or 98 in most of what its functions are. I would like to know the following;
Is there a way to deny her the ability to delete the history files or the temperary internet files?
Is there a way to make copies of the files in these places elsewhere without her knowing so even if she does delete them a record can still be shown?
My buddy uses Profiles under ME...is there some way to lock out delete features in a profile? batch files, etc? restrict access to certain abilities?
I know if it's like Win 98 security is a trifle compaired to Win NT. I'm guessing NTFS is out of the question in Win ME as it is in 98
He just wishesto be a responsible parent and not let his daughter sneak around his back on his computer and end up viewing files she's surfed for on the web and
then deleting any record that she's done so...i'm not sure what else to ask if there another way to do this.
again i'd really appreciate any help anyone out there can give me

15 replies

by roland63

Wouldn't you rather KNOW what's being typed and have PROOF of it rather than play these cat & mouse games of user-deletes/parent-blocks?

What you really need is a keystroke monitoring utility; like KEYBOARD SPY.

This will actually record EVERYKEY STROKE typed regardless of the program or whether it was in windows OR dos.

It will cost a few bucks (trial download from download.com) but its worth the money.

Paid version runs in stealth mode so the user is none the wiser.

Good luck.

by glanz

First of all, you must establish passwords for each user of the computer, with one principal "boss" user... This will be the person who decides who gets access to which fichiers etc. So click on the My Computer icon, on the drive where the folder orfile you want to protect/share is located, click on it then in the file menu of the document or file click on sharing, define the type of access if desired, then under passwords, define a password. This only works if there is one principal user who controls all others with passwords. Everyone may share all or almost all files. It is up to the "Main Man" to decide who gets access to what, just like the old days before the phrase "politically correct" was coined. There may be a few words in this intervention which are a tad ambiguous. It's because I am presently using a French version of Me at work (Montr?al)..... and all the dossiers, files, etc. are of course in French, including the help files. Good luck.

by jpt

There are a couple of ways you could also try. The first way in to make it a hidden file and turn off the option to show all files under the tools, folder options. The other way is to put a $ sign in front of the folder. This way even if see does a search for the folder she may not find it because of the $ sign.

It may help you out and save you some money on buying software to protect yourself. If you do have to purchase software look at enfiltrator.com.

Good Luck

by macgyver.hicks

goldenknight,
I agree with rhernandez, except for the price. You or your friend can go to www.nonags.com, click on the Search in the left pane, and type; keystroke then "enter".
Click on "2. NONAGS Monitoring Utilities - Freeware" and scroll through the list of programs that can record keystrokes. These are all freeware, hence the name
"NoNags.com".

by marence

jpt has a good idea (answer#3) for dealing with this without installing other software - BUT - renaming files requires some changes in Preferences and the Registry. You can point to whatever folder you'd like for Temporary Internet Files in the preferences (otherwise known as Internet Properties), but the History folder is specified in the Registry (specifically, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders), and renaming it will cause no history to be recorded, and renaming it and changing the Registry key (insert standard Registry hack warning here) will not stop her from being able to hit that button in Internet Properties to delete History.
Two suggestions (both from parents of "problem children") -
1- Change your passwords and lock her out. Only let her surf when you're there in the room.
2- Spend the money for a "stealth" program, then print out a list of the sites she's been to, and confront her with it. Then take away her access. She can always go to the library if she needs Internet access for schoolwork - and they have blocking software there!

by sluggo210672

I am surprised nobody has mentioned this one yet, but then again this file may not exist in ME. I know it does in 98.

If you right click on the Temporary Internet Files Folder after everything has supposedly been deleted, you may notice that there may be some files left in there. If that is the case, do a search on index.dat. There may be one in this folder.

If one is found in the folder, open it up using notepad or Write. It displays a whole list of URL's along with some gobbledegook.It may take some time to decifer all the URL's as there is no semblance of order. I have been able to delete it at one stage, but only after rebooting to a DOS session. It cannot be deleted through Windows as it seems to be linked with Explorer, which is always running (unless Windows has crashed) and supposed to stay running.

Hope this helps..

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