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 (http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/ua_c_account_types.mspx). 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 (http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/OSX3/Loginx3/loginx3.html).
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 (www.fortres.com). 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 (www.securemac.com).
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