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Family coming over and have a history of messing up the computer. Long story short - And I can not said "don't use it."XP can create users to control access.Here are some questions:- I created a user with limited access name John (for example). Is that the same as Guest - the default limited access user?- I want to give John all the access of the internet, but don't want him to download anything, change any PC settings, or move files. What do I do? Is limited access enough? From my test, John can still move and delete things.- I want John to have certain access to icons that's on my desktop. So some will be on both desktops, some only on one. How do I do that?- In Windows XP Professional (at work) it said I should not be using the computer by login in as Administrator. I should create another log in with the same access so I don't mess up the Administrator functions. Do I need to do that on my Home XP Media Edition?- Yes. I think I did mess up my PC a bit. I restore my Windows using a old recover point 6 months ago. Everything is fine. EXCEPT the D Drive (recover drive) partition show a warning of Low Disc Space as soon as it's booted up each time. It asked me to delete to free up space. I did, and it looks like there is nothing there, but it still does through the motions. How can I fit it??I'm not a computer expert, so go easy on me.Much TIA

I can only really help with one of them:Quote, originally posted by GoLowDrew »- I want John to have certain access to icons that's on my desktop. So some will be on both desktops, some only on one. How do I do that?Things like Start Menu items and desktop icons are in the Documents and Settings directory. There's a subdirectory All Users, and one for each username. Under those, there are Desktop and Start Menu directories. items you put in Documents and SettingsAll UsersDesktop will show up on the desktop for all users, items in Documents and SettingsAll UsersStart Menu will be in the Start Menu for all Users. Items you put in Documents and SettingsGoLowDrewDesktop and Documents and SettingsGoLowDrewStart Menu will only be there for user GoLowDrew (unless you duplicate them into the other user's unique directories, or the directories under All Users)I don't know how MCE works with different user roles and damage potential, but I'd say create a new limited user, not guest, and see what he can do with that. Not supposed to be much, according to the wizard, but I haven't tried.

You can create unique users, but I don't know that you can shut them out completely as far as Windows Explorer is concerned. They could still browse your computer and run other programs even if shortcuts aren't set up on their Start Menu or Desktop.As for IE, I think you're up the creek on that one too. You can change the Privacy settings to High or "Block All Cookies", but that last setting basically renders the Internet useless since so many content providers use cookies now.Your BEST option is to do a full backup the night before your family shows up. And make sure your anti-virus software is up-to-date. Good Luck!