"PC Lockdown"

[neilault]

Any chance you could add some settings that when enabled and gbpvr is running that keys like Alt+Tab, Alt+F4, Ctrl+Alt+Delete, Windows Key etc are disabled. Therefore when the application is running there is no way to get out of it except for some magic key press or a password or something?

This way my children could never get around the screen and would only have access to stuff within gbpvr and not Windows itself!

[sub]

Sorry, I wont be doing this. You actually have to do quite a bit of work to achieve that, and its not really something I see the need for in GB-PVR.

You might be able to find some third party utility that'll help you do this, or may be able to take the keyboard away and just give them a remote.

[flyswatta]

Some PCs don't need a keyboard, mouse, or monitor to start up. Look around in the BIOS for "on error: halt" and change it to continue or resume or whatever option is available to that effect.

[madcat]

I don't think there is a way around CTRL-ALT-DEL.
Regarding the rest, if you had GB-PVR start as your shell, instead of explorer.exe (there is a guide in the Wiki - although I never did it), I think it will reduce some of those possibilities to get "out" of the PVR.

[flyswatta]

A couple of years ago I found a freeware app that would lock the keyboard - it would take a special keystroke combination to unlock it. I don't remember what it was called, though. You might want to google around for something like that.

[dneprrider]

This way my children could never get around the screen and would only have access to stuff within gbpvr and not Windows itself!

You could try the WATCHDOG application. It allows one to setup which apps can run and what apps cannot. Password protection on making changes. Time limits etc.

I think it can be tried out before buying.
http://www.watchdogpc.com/

[sub]

I read that article, and it pretty much confirms what I said above - its quite a bit of work, particularly for a feature I dont see much need for in GB-PVR.

I'm pretty sure if someone really wanted this sort of behaviour it could be implemented independently of GB-PVR, as some utility that the user runs on their machine.

[ydekmekji]

I got it. Pull keyboard out of the socket of the pc, and the pc will not respond to any keys. When you need the keyboard, plug it back in (that will be your magic password)... and voila, you can press all the keys

[rachnjake]

If this helps... i run my system using a wireless usb mouse and no keyboard or monitor (the case is inside a cabinet). In windows under accessories >> accessibility is an on-screen keyboard. Just make a desktop shortcut and whenever you need to do some short typing (like gbpvr.com to pull down a patch) use the on-screen keyboard instead. Then all you have to do is hide the mouse :-).

[UKGuest44]

Just a suggestion, but you could try making GBPVR the shell so that GBPVR runs instead of explorer (desktop, start menu etc.) - all they would see is GBPVR, no way to start programs. Then apply a registry policy to disable task manager (Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\DisableTaskMgr = 1) and they will have no way to start any other programs or access any files on the computer outside of GBPVR.

If you wanted to easily be able to escape this yourself, you could write a simple batch file and add it to the custom tasks that asks for a password, and runs explorer (like normal) allowing normal computer use, and then a second to kill explorer when you are done and want to go back to GBPVR only.

You could also use 2 seperate user accounts. A GBPVR user account with the GBPVR shell and locked down system, and a normal user, password protected. If its XP, you could even use fast user switching and switch between the accounts at the press of a button (and a password).

If I've misunderstood what you wanted, I apologise, just trying to help