How do I stop my kids from messing up my computer? [ASK MR. NOOBIE]

QUESTION: They drift in and out of our house and, no matter what, when they leave our laptops ALWAYS have something altered. Yes they are our children, doesn’t matter that they’re adults. They are still in the age group that knows everything. I think my only solution is to add a profile for only them. My concern is in the green screen days I was always taught that personal profiles take up a LOT of space on your computer. Mr. Noobie, save 3 lives and tell me how to lock them out of doing things. – signed Marla, your biggest African American Fan (I created the title myself)

ANSWER: Marla, your questions (and they way you construct them) always bring a smile to my face. I’m always happy when you share your fun personality with me and trust me to answer your questions.

This one’s easy so I’ll be quick and to the point. You should definitely create separate profiles for each child. Or, at the very least, one profile that all of your children share.

My children share their own computer and each of them has a separate profile. In addition, to control access to the computer, my wife and I are the only ones who know their profile password. This stops them from jumping on the computer whenever they want. It also stops them from screwing around or otherwise messing up each other’s profile.

I wouldn’t worry about the space the profiles take up. Desktop computers and laptops have come a long way since the green screen days and any average computer should have more than enough disk space and memory to accommodate the separate profiles.

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