Stop a program from running

[eclipse45337]

Ok, I have a few different personal computers running xp pro in my home. All of which are in the rooms of teenagers. They like to put limewire, shareaza, itunes, and other p2p programs on their computers and allow them to run constantly. Which as anyone would know, kills your bandwidth. I want to know if there's any way to keep certain programs from running on XP Pro. I don't care if they install it or not. I just want it to automatically kill the process if detected. I would like for it to do it silently. To avoid confrontation.
Ok, so I'm looking for a program, script, registry key, or anything else that will watch for certain programs in the process list and then kill those processes when detected. Any ideas?

 

[Zoron]

Setup a firewall and simply block the ports the programs use. Make sure the firewall is password-protected so they can't get in and open the ports again. They can install and run the program, but it simply won't connect... so they won't have a reason to use it.

I wouldn't kill iTunes, though... especially if they have iPods.

 

[eclipse45337]

no iPods. No reason to have iTunes.

 

[Zoron]

Lots of people still use iTunes, even without iPods. It's no different than using Windows Media Player. It doesn't have P2P capability... so I don't see how it's hogging your bandwidth. Yes, you can use it to purchase music, but you can't use it to share music or download music from anyone else other than the iTunes store.

Also, since you're using XP Pro, you could set up a group policy to prevent access to the programs you don't want.

 

[eclipse45337]

Where can I find out how to set group policies?

 

[Zoron]

You can edit / create group policies by going to Start --> Run then typing in gpedit.msc. I haven't personally done this myself, but I have seen it being done. My boss was setting up a computer for use in the lobby at a local hotel... he locked out everything on the one account except for Internet Explorer and MSN Messenger. (Machine is for clients to check email and do a little web-surfing).

 

[eclipse45337]

After going to gpedit.msc, you go Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Software Restrictions
You can set it up to disable software from running by a number of different factors.

 

[Joe_The_Dragon]

Just block the ports in your cable / dsl router and don't mess with there systems a software firewall will get in the way of there games.

 

[fattony]

group policies are ok but somewhat impractical and an overhead to what your final goal here is

make your kids their own user profiles, put them in the users group (not power users or admins) and they won't be able to do a whole lot, it's automated lockdown, just make sure they don't have your password or any other administrator account password

they won't be able to install any apps.

 

[Joe_The_Dragon]

group policies are ok but somewhat impractical and an overhead to what your final goal here is

make your kids their own user profiles, put them in the users group (not power users or admins) and they won't be able to do a whole lot, it's automated lockdown, just make sure they don't have your password or any other administrator account password

they won't be able to install any apps.

It's too bad that able to do a whole lot = not able to play meny games.

 

[fattony]

group policies are ok but somewhat impractical and an overhead to what your final goal here is

make your kids their own user profiles, put them in the users group (not power users or admins) and they won't be able to do a whole lot

, it's automated lockdown, just make sure they don't have your password or any other administrator account password

they won't be able to install any apps.
It's too bad that able to do a whole lot = not able to play meny games.

i didn't say they would be able to do a whole lot