XP "Time Quota"...

scriptasylum

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Joined
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Is there a built-in feature (or perhaps a third party app) that will apply a time quota to the users of an XP box?

This is my story:
I have 4 kids who share the same PC. The problem is they are always fighting because "sibling1 has been on for 3 hours", or "sibling2 has been on twice and I haven't used it yet", etc etc.

It's getting to be a pain in the butt to hear this all the time and I want a way for the computer to be the "bad guy" and tell them to log off instead of "evil dad". :)

What I would like to do is allocate a maximum of, say, 3 hours of login time per person. When that time is reached, it simply logs the user off and doesn't allow them to log in again until the next day (or an admin changes the time limit). It would also be sorta nice if there would be a warning message about 5 minutes before the logoff time.

There is a drive space quota but I cannot find anything about a time quota. I even browsed through the policy settings but couldn't find anything there either. A google search turns up nothing too.
 
I've never heard of such a thing, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. That would turn out to be a pretty handy tool though, so I hope that someone can give you more help than I can.

Another solution: Buy 3 more computers. :D
 
I already have 3 computers: One for me, one for the wife, and one for the kids. The wife got her own when she was using mine too much for playing Pogo online :rolleyes:, and the kids got their own because they are kids and somehow find ways to destroy stuff. :)
 
I'm pretty sure it's in the group policy.
Start --> Run... gpedit.msc

Be careful though as it's possible to lock yourself out of the computer (along with all other users).

I've also heard at one point that is it supposedly not possible to auto logout a user, but you can prevent the user from logging in during certain times of day. I remember that applying to NT4, so not sure about XP.

Hoepfully that's a start, but I'm no expert, and I can't stress enough to be careful. I was playing around with group policies on Win98 a couple years ago, I fubar'd my computer so I had to do a clean re-install. A third party program might be better in this case.

-Ryandor
 
Thanks everyone for the responses. The "TooMuchPC" seems like a winner. It has all the features I am looking for (on paper at least). I'm gonna try the trial and see how it goes...

I know the kids won't like this one bit! :cool:
 
ok script asylum i got just the thing for you hope its what you want

run cmd. type shutdown add the parameters required easy peezy plus uses less resources
:cool:
 
Too bad longhorn is a ways off.

Well, I tried that program "TooMuchPC" and found it has issues. First of all, it won't let the kids sign off... sometimes. It's kinda weird. Sometimes it will let them log out, and sometimes it just returns them to the desktop when they try. I have to kill the process for the program when that happens. :confused:

Then, sometimes, XP will not boot. It will stay on the blue scrolling bar forever until I reset. Weird. After I uninstalled the program everything returned to normal.

I really wish it would have worked though because it looks like it had all the features I wanted! I will email the author, maybe he has some ideas.
 
Well, ideally, I'd like it to keep track of the cumulative time each of them has been on the PC, no matter when they log on. Setting a certain time for each child would work I guess, but if they happen to not be available during that time, then they would lose their turn. I don't want to be a d**k about it either, I just want everyone to have their fair share of time without having to set my stopwatch.

No matter how long one kid have been on the PC, I always hear: "But I just got on...". :rolleyes:

I downloaded the trial copy of PCTimeCop which seems to do what I want (so far). Currently, the time limit is set for 3 hours but that will probably be reduced to 2 hours each since I have 4 kids.
 
just wire the chair up to a timer that when the time is up releases the mains voltage into their ass. trust me theyll be off there an hour early:blink:
 
hehe, that sounds like something I would do, but I think the missus might object, not to mention some little technicality called "the law". :D
 
Originally posted by Kevin Ar18
Since you are having problems with that other program, here's something that you might like even better:

http://www.akrontech.com/wgpage1.html

I did a google search for "limit time on computer" and got this on the second page.

Thanks!

Although that program seems to focus on limiting time on a specific program. In my case, I just want to limit their total time on the PC, no matter what they are doing. They do not have online access yet, so filtering is not a concern. Even when I do get broadband, I most probably will not allow them access to the internet. There just seems to be too much crap out there for them to get into trouble. Plus I don't want them downloading everything under the sun just because they can.

So far, the PCTimeCop program I've tried seems to do the trick. It also has the ability to limit access to certain programs, but I could do that myself with XP's built-in access tools if I wanted to. All the programs on their PC is usable by all 4 kids and each has their own login/password (I even put a pic of each kid on the welcome screen to make it easy).

Anyway, PCTimeCop is easy to set up and use. Here's the link in case anyone is interested: http://www.pctimecop.com/pc_timecop_with_watchdog_compu.html

Thanks everyone for their input!

It would be really nice if Windows had this feature built-in. It seems like it would be a logical addition for the "home" edition of XP considering its target audience.
 
LOGIN QUOTAS

you could setup a domain controller, using win2k with active directory, which would control ur other pc's in ur home. that would allow u to set when a username could or couldnot login, dunno if thats a good idea for you, but its a idea
 

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