I currently have a mentally handicapped friend stuck in hospital for the last month, and I've been trying to find something to make his life suck just a little less than it does right now. I've managed to get hold of an old laptop running xp, and I've flushed out most of the crap, with the intention of having it for him to watch dvds on due to it having a reasonably sized screen. I also figure I can dump some vids on there via usb each time I visit to give him some new stuff to watch.
His mental handicap isn't extreme (he can hold a conversation) but experience tells me that he tends to 'explore' computers until they stop working (generally by clicking through everything and fiddling with things he shouldn't)
I want to make things super-simple and super-secure. The ideal scenario would be DVDs autoplay, there's a video folder on the desktop, and he literally can't do ANYTHING else (except maybe shut down).
What's the best way of going about this? I want to keep the xp installation because provided this works there are a couple of other things he likes I might add in the future (windows things...), and the laptop is pretty old and probably can't handle anything post-xp.
Create a babby account for him and lock him out of the admin account
I just did a Google search for "windows XP" & "media centre" to see if there have been any third-party shells or something, and lo and behold there's a first-party shell! Maybe look into that:
http://startxp.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/transform-windows-xp-to-windows-xp_25.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NMvdbLn4oY
>>54507132
I'm not sure this will be enough, because I don't think xp account features can go as far as locking down the ability to move/delete files and other basic stuff...
>>54507100
i would say that maybe you need a media center OS, ypou know, those that you can find for raspberrys and stuffs
>>54507176
Seems like a reasonable idea, but desu there's way too much going on here. He's familiar enough with xp to get the basic function of it, but it's most likely he'll just get confused by this, and given his current problems confusion and frustration is definitely a bad idea...
>>54507100
Does it have to be XP? Can you not run [insert flavour here] linux live from a USB stick? If he rapes it, all he'll need to do is restart.
>>54507283
>frustration
Give him some porn, that should help.
>>54507261
Ideally I really want to keep it to xp because it's what he's familiar with. I've stripped everything else out except for a dvd-player that was already on there, and dumping media player classic on there. I just want to restrict everything else, because I know him and if I don't he'll keep doing stupid stuff until the internet works >.<
>>54507297
Oh god I don't even want to start on how bad an idea that is. Pretty sure he's never seen porn and it's hard enough dissuading him from masturbating when he likes one of the nurses....
>>54507303
Pull out the WiFi adapter/antenna and tell him that it didn't come with wifi.
Also, look into Kiosk mode and group policy settings.
>>54507333
Oh, actually, Windows SteadyState looks damn near perfect. Upon reboot, all changes made by non administrators are reverted.
>>54507333
I already plan on doing this, but I know he won't listen and will try anyway, hence the problem. Will look into SteadyState though, that sounds awesome.
>>54507100
I don't understand why he's so stupid. Just leave him be.
>>54507417
He's mentally handicapped. What's your excuse?
>>54507431
no mean why he fiddles with the os
>>54507315
He's been basically on nofap his whole life. Give him porn, have him wank 10+ times a day for a month and you'll see how he becomes more letargic and less horny over time.
>>54507458
He sounds like the typical /g/ poster at this point :^)))
>>54507186
group policy
if you're lazy, just freeze/mirror the HDD/OS
>>54507100
thats not a friend, hes just a retard lol stop being a faggot
Give him The Leading OS for Retards, Tablet, and Cloud™
http://www.ubuntu.com/
>I currently have a mentally handicapped friend
Are you retarded as well? Why else would you hang out with someone who doesn't have a full bag of potatoes?
Install Arch Linux and make it boot directly into Kodi (XBMC) and let it sit. He cant fuck up kodi that much.
>>54507529
That's a pretty autistic thing to say.
>>54507100
You can try a tweak tool similar to ultimate windows tweaker v2.2 but that one is for 7 not xp. Just google around and you will find something similar that can limit what users can do on their account. In extreme cases you can even disable Control Panel, start menu and right clicking with mouse etc.
>>54507352
Just use Microsoft's SteadyState. I used to use it to lockdown public computers used by little children, high school kids and homeless bums. MS stopped compatibility after XP, but that's perfect for you. Alternatively, Deep Freeze was another option we had. In both cases, people could do fuck all to the computers, and I'd just reboot the PCs and everything is back to original.
>>54507529
He pushed me out of the way of a speeding car and got hit instead, which caused his handicap.
Actually, I'm not OP, but FUCK YOU!
Underaged edgelords pls go.
>>54507489
>>54507529
> You must be over 18
>>54507777
I am OP, and I am grateful for your quads of truth.
>>54507186
https://a.pomf.cat/vgstmb.reg
add these policies to the limited account. It should lock it down where he can't access the c drive directly
>>54508391
and if you want you can also add NoViewOnDrive to his registry with a dword value of 4. This will further restrict folders he can access
>>54507529
can you just kill yourself?
>>54507547
>>54507777
>>54507817
>>54508506
Didn't know this place had so many SJWs. Fuck off to Tumblr and cry or something. Also I hope your retarded friends fucking dies.
What is wrong with him?
>>54508640
I'm not an SJW, I can't fucking stand them, but if you can't tell the difference between being a white knight cuck supporting feminism and being a hurrdurr edgelord dick ripping on retards for no reason, then you should probably stop skipping school.
Also he will die. So will you. We're all gonna die, but I bet you anything he'll die more loved than you'll ever be, you pathetic piece of shit.
>>54508640
Nobody cares dude :^)
>>54507100
Why not just wipe the HD and install some distro of Kodi?.