[Pro] Help with user rights to run a program

I'm not sure if this should have gone into the security thread so here it is. I have a Windows XP Pro SP2 box for my daughter to use. I setup a limited user account on it for her to use when she's on the PC. I installed as the administrator all of the applications she might need. I'm not sure about all of the apps, but on one for sure that is a bit on the old side she has problems running it under a limited user account. There was no problem running it as the administrator, however, so I assume it's a permissions issue. I'm trying to figure out how to resolve this without giving her administrative rights to the PC. I tried using the Run as option but that doesn't actually resolve the problem because one of the things you have to do for this program is run it, than minimize it, open Task Manager, highlight the process and set the affinity to a single processor. Running the program under admin credentials doesn't allow her to do that. Any thoughts or ideas on how to keep her using a limited account in these types of cases?

Unfortunately there are a lot of badly written apps that are like that, and won't run under limited user accounts :( There is little you can do about it unfortunately. One thing that might work is to give her permissions to write to HK_Local_Machine in the Registry, that can occasionally be all that's required.

How about using a virtual machine setup? That way your daughter can have a virtual instance of OS (consider licensing requirements) with no restrictions. VMware Player (although you need Workstation edition to create an instance) or Virtual PC 2004 are free.

Or....try using a program/tool that will automatically set your processor affinity based on program used:
http://www.activeplus.com/us/freeware/runfirst/
http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/05/...uck/index.html

The latter link is the one that everyone seems to be going on about, however, it would appear that part of that site is down at present.

HTH,

TEk

There may be a way to do what you want.

Possibly useful links:

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com...7-6168870.html
http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-623...218458&start=0
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/...1#352005236731

Wow, this is a lot of great informaiton. Thanks. I'll check out all of this and let you know what I figure out.

mcseguy9--Can you (running as Administrator) give her the necessary permissions to run that one program by right clicking on the executable file for the program|Properties|Security tab?
You will not see the Security tab unless you turn off file sharing.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307874

I'd assume so. I think the main problem is setting the affinity for the program so that it uses only one processor. I need to figure out a way to allow for her to do this or figure out a way to force the program to always use one processor.