Expert: Scottgem - 5/29/2003

Question
In the past I have very simply erased the games from Windows 95 and 3.1 and they were gone for good. Now we are using Windows XP Pro and I cannot permanently remove them. I can use add/remove to put them out of sight, but for the hardcore addict it takes less than a minute to retrieve them. Can you help me or suggest someone who can? I want to banish them permanently.

Answer
If you go into Add/Remove Programs and then Windows Components you can remove the games there. You probably have the install files stored on your hard drive (a good thing) so reinstalling them is easy.

What you need to do is give only user access to the people you don't want to install the games. This restricts them from installing apps. You can even lock it down so they can't access Control Panel. Go to Microsoft's site and look up Xsecurity for XP and you will find all sorts of info about locking down XP.

Hope this helps,
Scott<>

Please don't forget to provide feedback for this response (either by rating or followup). It helps me help people better if I know how my advice worked.