Question: Is there a way to stop students from playing the game Halo on school computers?
The IT Guy says:
Yes, absolutely. Whether students are using computers in a lab, classroom, or laptops they have assigned to them 24/7, their user account in WindowsXP or Macintosh OS X can be limited to prevent them from installing new programs. This is a free option that does not require the purchase of additional, third-party software. In Windows XP, to set up a limited account (as opposed to an administrator account, which is unrestricted rights to install software and make configuration changes) refer to Types of user accounts. For Macintosh OS X, good instructions about configuring multiple accounts, including limited user accounts, is available on Logging In and Multiple Accounts in Mac OS X v. 10.3.
These built-in capabilities to limit user behavior are pretty good, but can be bypassed by saavy students. To further insure computers stay locked down, you might consider installing a third party program like Fortres 101. When a new software program needs to be installed on the school computer, you can log in with an administrator account to install the programs. A variety of third-party security software for Mac computers is listed on SecureMac.com.
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