Recommended Laptop Configuration for a 13 year old?

[Phillip Dyson]

hey all,
I'm going to be handing my old HP Compaq nc6000 laptop to my 13 year old step daughter and I was wondering if there are any recommended configurations out there from the Thoughts family.

Here's what I know:

I haven't decided whether to go through the tedium of upgrading it to Vista. What is more probably is will have XP Home or Pro.
I will probaby give her a User level account and her Mom an admin account.
Virus scanner (nod32) is a definite.

I know that her mom wants to be able to periodically check the computer to see what kind of activity her daughter has been doing. I figure betweem the two accounts she should be covered there. However, with the introduction of the In-Private browsing in IE8 I'm not sure if that becomes a hole in the whole setup.

You thoughts?

[retireme]

hey all,
I'm going to be handing my old HP Compaq nc6000 laptop to my 13 year old step daughter and I was wondering if there are any recommended configurations out there from the Thoughts family.

Here's what I know:

I haven't decided whether to go through the tedium of upgrading it to Vista. What is more probably is will have XP Home or Pro.
I will probably give her a User level account and her Mom an admin account.
Virus scanner (nod32) is a definite.

I know that her mom wants to be able to periodically check the computer to see what kind of activity her daughter has been doing. I figure between the two accounts she should be covered there. However, with the introduction of the In-Private browsing in IE8 I'm not sure if that becomes a hole in the whole setup.

You thoughts?

Hi Phillip

I see not may replied to your request! :D

My recommendations are very simple: in the early stages make sure you have an auto backup or recovery happening. From memory, the Compaq came with recovery software anyway. The reason I say this is simple: it does not matter how clever you are or how inexperienced others are, they have this uncanny knack of trashing, BSOD'ing, deleting and basically rendering the PC/Laptop inoperable on a regular occurrence. This is FACT!

As for the age and gender of your loved one, I too would be worried and the answer is far more complex than just some flippant reply. You are caught between invoking a Big Brother (not TV version) scenario and feeding her to the wolves (and there are many). I am not informed enough about this to comment and call upon the readers who are, to assist with this topic. I was fortunate enough to have all my children grown up before the advent of Internet everywhere.

Good luck!

Nick

[Phillip Dyson]

I definitely not looking to go the "big brother" or lockdown route. But I do want to be able to see what's been going on if I decide to do a "random" inspection.

I know that with IE8 she can easily run in "In Private" mode to mask her history and with previous versions its easy enough to clear it out. So there may be no way around it.

I know that I will maintain an admin account on the laptop. I'm not sure whether I should give her a Power User account or a User account. I don't want to prevent her from day to day use.

Does anyone know if Windows Update will be able to successfully update the system if she's running as a User or Power User?