? How would you handle this ????

i have a "friend" that has asked for my advice. i've given a couple of suggestions but i don't think they were too helpful; so i thought that perhaps someone @ webopedia can suggest something that she can do.

here's the situation:

my friend just transfered from one college to another (she is a sophomore) & her roommate is a freshman.

my friend has a pc (win 98, hp pavilion), her roommate has no computer.

the university has a computer lab in the dorm, which is usually empty & also has computers in the library & at other locations.

the roommate asked my friend if she could check her email & my friend said yes. she did & was only on the computer a few minutes & all was well.

my friend went home about the second weekend of school & when she came back, she checked the history and was surprised that her roommate had used her computer the whole weekend, without asking permission :mad: . no-one said anything at all. the roommate didn't mention that she used it & my friend didn't confront her with the facts.

the next weekend, my friend again had to go away, so she turned the hard drive off before she left. when she came back, my friend immediately knew her roommate had used it. as she forgot to turn it off when she was done using it.
(you would have thought that with the computer being turned off, the roommate would have got the message)

my friend doesn't want to cause a scene & knows that if this isn't addressed in some manner that this will only escalate BUT they don't want their computer to get messed up & doesn't feel comfortable knowing that the roommate can look at all her folders & files.

my friend is going home again this coming week end & wants to know what to do.

i asked if there was a password that she could change so that the roommate wouldn't be able to get in but she said no.

i suggested that the best thing to do would be to confront the roommate & ask that she not use it in her absence but if she doesn't want to confront the roommate that she should take the mouse & or keyboard with them...perhaps the roommate will get the message this time!!!!

BUT i was thinking is there any way that my friend can disable her computer
by typing something in that makes the keyboard lock or disable/freeze the computer somehow, or better yet...make the roommate think she crashed it ??????

any suggestions???


p.s. edit: attn. moderators, is this the correct forum for this post??? if not please move it...thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by amarok-sookgah

i asked if there was a password that she could change so that the roommate wouldn't be able to get in but she said no.

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Why not :confused: ??? Doesn't her Windows user account has a password? If not, she can simply add it. Which version of Windows? B4 we explore more sophisticated method, please try this simple one.

Well ... you could password it. But if you just need to protect it during "away" times another solution would be to remove the power cord and take it with. Sure, the roommate could get another one ... but password protection could also be defeated. Pulling the power cord also will keep power surges and lightning strikes away from the machine...

There should be a way to set a boot password in the BIOS setup for the machine. While those are defeatable, it involves opening the case. They're certainly harder to crack than any security built into Windows 98.

to falcon2000: she has Win 98

i'm not sure exactly why a change of password wouldn't work; but my friend said that it wouldn't help ????


oh, i also forgot to mention that one afternoon she was going to be gone for about 10 hrs...so, she left a note on the screen stating that she was having trouble with the computer & asked that the roommate not check email; the roommate used it anyway (i think)

i like the idea of taking power cord

thanks to all

p.s. in case your wondering why she just doesn't tell the roommate to quit it...i believe it is because other than this problem the roommamte is very nice & they get along quite well PLUS the roommate is apparently from a very poor family & is struggling at college...but with access to other computers @ college, i don't see why this should occur..yes, i know it is so much easier to use a computer in your own room than get dressed up & go to another floor in the dorm to use one in the computer room BUTas they say "that's life in the big city". my freind is a very sensitive person & would hate to hurt anyone.

Get your friend to the DOS command prompt my tapping F8 from power up and then selecting DOS Command Prompt (option 5 I think for Win98).

Then at the prompt:

type cd windows then press enter
type ren system.ini system.old then press enter

then turn the computer off

Any attempt to boot will result in an error message saying that system.ini cannot be found and that you need to run setup to install the file and to press any key after which the Your system is safe to shutdown screen will be displayed, which will probably scare your friend's room mate into thinking they have done something bad.

To reverse follow the same path to get to the DOS prompt and then:

type cd windows then press enter
type ren system.old system.ini then press enter
press Ctrl+ALt+Delete to reboot

presto, magico all working again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by amarok-sookgah

the roommate is apparently from a very poor family & is struggling at college

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Yeah, it's tough to not have your own computer in college these days. May be the roommate can join Freecycle. People give away used computers all the time. Granted those are not the latest and the greatest but it's a start. Or check out eBay. Used computer parts are dirt cheap. She can buy the parts and have somebody (ah ... may be someone who know about computer such as yourself ;)) put it together for her. I routinely do that for other people who can't otherwise afford a computer. I just put together one pretty descent system (1GHz P3, 256MB Ram, 30G HDD) for an elderly neighbour w/ eBay bought parts for just over $100 (I donated an old used monitor.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by falcon2000

I just put together one pretty descent system (1GHz P3, 256MB Ram, 30G HDD) for an elderly neighbour w/ eBay bought parts for just over $100 (I donated an old used monitor.)

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Crikey my system is only 950Mhz Athlon, 512Mb Ram, 20G HDD and I paid over $3500 in January 2001.

Your elderly neighbour's $100 system would give mine a run for it's money. :eek:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nix

Crikey my system is only 950Mhz Athlon, 512Mb Ram, 20G HDD and I paid over $3500 in January 2001.

Your elderly neighbour's $100 system would give mine a run for it's money. :eek:

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Don't feel bad. In 2001, your system was state-of-the-art. I built my wife's system rt around the same time for $2000 US. Similar spec as yours. It is still a great system for her usage but if I were to put it up on eBay I would probably get $70 or so for it. Computers are the worst investments.

Yeah, that's the nature of the beast... things just move so quickly in the computing market it's flat out amazing. Certainly not "investment" material and only one thing holds true when ordering or building a system... it'll be outdated within 6 months.
However outdated they are still good machines that serve us well! And we'll keep fixing/upgrading them until they drop dead! ;-)

Frankly, I don't care HOW "nice" her roomate is...using the computer after she has been ask NOT to isn't "nice". Her roomate obviously doesn't care and will probably use the system whenever she can get away with it....perhaps her family background has taught her that somehow, someway she has the right to use whatever is within arm's reach no matter who it belongs to. No matter...it is flat out wrong. I would consider getting a removable hard drive if she doesn't want to go with Nix's suggestion.

I would suggest using Nix's suggestion and removing the power cord, whenever she is away. This roommate is the type of person that would download anything, which could lead to all sorts of malware issues.

Some people, rich or poor, just think that the world owes them anything that they want. I think she needs to get a new roommate.

Life is too short to put up with this. After all, now it is the computer, what else might she feel entitled to borrow, use, etc. without asking.

Linda

How'd removing the power cord become Nix's suggestion? ;-)

And just incase she is smart enough to get a replacement power cord, you could try removing a internal cable to stop anything booting.e.g. an IDE cable, or a Molex cable.....as long as she is not too technically minded....or determined.;)


Liam

Nix....my friend said that when she clicks on start, one of the choices she has is for DOS, so she click on that and typed what you suggested BUT nothing happened (my friend said that she loves the suggestion about making her think that she did something bad...however, after much thought, i have reservations about doing something like that as it might make the roommate panic & perhaps she or someone else that she got, would try to fix this & maybe end up doing real damage to the computer).

Falcon...How can my friend add a Windows user account that needs a password as per your 1st post ??? (Win 98) dsl via the college

Abhoth...you are the one credited with the suggestion of removing the cord.

thanks to everyone for all their posts & help

Quote:

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Originally Posted by amarok-sookgah

Abhoth...you are the one credited with the suggestion of removing the cord.

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Pheew! I was worried there for a moment! ;-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by amarok-sookgah

my friend said that she loves the suggestion about making her think that she did something bad...however, after much thought, i have reservations about doing something like that as it might make the roommate panic & perhaps she or someone else that she got, would try to fix this & maybe end up doing real damage to the computer

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Good point, wouldn't want her getting some techie friend to format and re-install windows.

I think the removable hard drive idea, suggested by bistro, is sounding good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by abhoth

How'd removing the power cord become Nix's suggestion? ;-)

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I don't think it did, I think LindaHewitt was suggesting using my idea AND your idea eg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LindaHewitt

I would suggest using Nix's suggestion and removing the power cord, whenever she is away.

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that's the way I interperetted (sp) it anyway.

O.K., I'm not going to joke around with you guys anymore! I'm taking my toys and going home!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Abhoth

O.K., I'm not going to joke around with you guys anymore! I'm taking my toys and going home!

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that's what the friend needs to do.

Yeah, just haul the box with when you leave....! Pretty sad that folks must consider these options at all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by amarok-sookgah

the roommate asked my friend if she could check her email & my friend said yes. she did & was only on the computer a few minutes & all was well.

my friend went home about the second weekend of school & when she came back, she checked the history and was surprised that her roommate had used her computer the whole weekend,

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You didn't mention that your friend had actually told her not to use the computer without asking. May be the 1st time when the roommate asked your friend the roommate thought she asked permission in general instead of a one-shot deal. I am trying not to judge the roommate without really knowing the exact conversation exchanged. She may not be such a bad person after all ... may be it's just a simple case of misunderstanding ...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by amarok-sookgah

Falcon...How can my friend add a Windows user account that needs a password as per your 1st post ??? (Win 98)

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She's on Win98 so we can forget about the user account password idea b/c for Win98 you can simply press the "Esc" key to login without actually typing in the password ... very lame.

Actually, Tuttle's suggestion of setting a BIOS password is pretty good. But then again, we are dealing w/ a proprietary machine here, that BIOS option may not be available. If that is the case she may consider 3rd party software like this one: http://www.sys-guard.com/

Or she can simply get a new desk which has a lockable computer tower compartment.

IMO though:

The best way to deal w/ it is simply for your friend to talk the roommate. It doesn't has to be confrontational either ... just 2 adults talking openly and frankly. I gether that your friend avoids to talk to her b/c she doesn't want any confrontation and to hurt her feelings ... but by doing all these stuffs to lock the roommate out may actually cause the exact situation your friend is trying to avoid. Think about it. If the roommate simply misunderstood your friend, then the roommate may feel insulted when she is suddenly locked out. The roommate may ask herself, "Why couldn't so-and-so just talk to me about it?"

I'd have to recommend upgrading the OS to Windows 2000. It usually runs well on machines of Win98 vintage (WinXP does not), and is very secure in comparison to Win98. Although it is possible to defeat the password in Win2000, you have to know where to look on the Internet to find the tools, and it cannot be done in such a way that your friend wouldn't know the PC had been hacked into. Win98 is trivially easy to get into, and cannot be made secure.

BIOS passwords are also easy to defeat unless they're used in conjunction with a lockable case. However if your friend's roommate isn't particularly computer savvy then a BIOS p/w might be effective.

SuperSparks,

Will W2K run with 64 MB or 128 MB of RAM. That is probably as much RAM as is on the machine. Your idea is a good one, if there is sufficient RAM. Even if the upgrade was done, if I were your friend, I would still take the power cord whenever I was going to be away from the dorm room.

Cheers,

Linda

Linda, it will run with 64, but will be a bit slow. It will be happier with 128MB (I ran Win2000 with 128MB when I first got it). 256MB is ideal for W2K, and it wouldn't cost much these days to increase the memory to that.