Physical access to the boxen

[snct]

Most of you guys know that I'm a step-dad now. What this means is that my boxen are sharing the same room as her computer... So what I'd like to know is: How do I limit access to my computers? What's to stop her from popping in (name any) boot CD and exploiting my systems (1 laptop, 1 Shuttle, 1 iMac)?

She's pretty much a Windows captive, but I'm sure that (being 16) she's just a wink and a nudge away from someone at school giving her a Linux boot CD and "informing" her of what fun can be had :roll: . I know that a Windows machine can be prevented from a CD boot from a higher level than just the CMOS setting(s). What about Linux in particular? Any ideas? TIA .

[comtux]

Snct those systems should have a room of there own.
I cant give you any adive on the laptop or the imac but with the shuttle you can install eather a hotswap drive and take your hd with you to keep her from accessing it or you can install a key lock for the power supply as far as better security than password protecting the cmos i would just pull my harddrives and store them for safe keeping or move them systems to another room under lock and key plus an attack dog.


Or you can do what i do.

Just tell everyone this.

See these systems?
I hold a greater value on there wellness than your life!
If you touch them!
No one will ever find your body!
Get the hint?

That usely scares anyone wanting to touch your systems to second think.

[mcangeli]

Heh.

As long as you disable boot from cd in the bios, if there isn't an option in lilo or grub, she'd really have to know what she was doing to get it to boot from cd.

I would put a boot password on all of them (most of the bios' allow that these days) as that would keep anyone without the password from rebooting your boxen....

[Fatal Error]

Crazy glue! If you can't open the CD drive you can't run a linv CD.

[snct]

Typing from the Shuttle... Thanks guys :mrgreen: .

[postlogic]

CHAINS AND PADLOCKS! CHAINS AND PADLOCKS! And dress the keyboard in spikes. Keep some gloves only you have access to!

[jro]

Hmm, I usually go a more direct route. Auto guns that track movement. Kinda like the ones in Aliens, only smaller. After being peppered with a thousand rounds a minute, she'll think twice about using your computer again.
Wait, didn't you say both your computers are in the same room. Thats gonna be a problem...

[snct]

Yeah, well... AFAIK, she hasn't tried to use either of my boxes yet. She ain't doin' too good with her own though: She's surfing at a site that I've taken a look at and it looks like nothing more than a 'hook-up' joint :roll: . Definately NOT appropriate content for a 16 year old. She's been trying to snow us about it too, which I find quite a bit more disappointing than anything else.

If I take her box away (like I'm very close to doing, and at the advice of several other parents also), then I'll be more concerned about my systems after that. Juvy might not be too far around the corner, if her temper is any indication. Gotta make sure my backups are all current .

[maccorin]

send her to antartica, then your boxen will be free