Looking for a PC lockdown software. Doesn't even need to be freeware.

[ZXsaurus]

Okay, this is going to be a little weird.

 

I have a family member that's really messing up in life, and the best punishment we can think of is taking video games away. Short of taking the desktop away, is there anything that I can do to block ALL forms of gaming/downloading on the PC?

 

Basically, I want to lock this PC down to the point you can't open a damn thing. Discord, steam, installed games, even the calculator. The only thing you get to look at is the desktop and start menu.

 

I'm sure I can get access to the PC for awhile to install whatever program I need to, but I need the program to be password protected

 

Super duper bonus points if I can lock/unlock remotely, but I guess that isn't entirely necessary.

 

Thank you in advance for your suggestions

[TheBean]

you can set up a kiosk mode in windows but Ive never used it so i dont really know how well it works or any limitations on that

[ZXsaurus]

16 minutes ago, TheBean said:

you can set up a kiosk mode in windows but Ive never used it so i dont really know how well it works or any limitations on that

I'm not sure if this is what I'm after. The person in question can have access to the PC again at some point, but this seems like it's deeper than what I'm looking for just by a quick reading of it. But thanks!

 

[TheBean]

there is a software called cold turkey which may or may not be what you are looking for. its $9 and will lock the computer and open basically a word document. its meant to stop distractions but may also work for this specific use case. never used it myself so I dont know how well it works or if you can turn it off (i think its timer based)

 

https://getcoldturkey.com/compare/

there are a couple different options for this

[maplepants]

It doesn't allow remote management, but one option could be creating a second non-admin user and switching the person over to that one.

 

So most of the time they're logged in as their game free, non admin user who lacks the rights to install any software at all. But, when gaming is permitted you or some other person can come over and log them into the gaming account.

 

It's not the cleanest work around ever, but this is a thorny problem to solve. The operating system generally doesn't have a way to tell games from non-game software so it's not easy to limit/grant access to one but not the other.

[ZXsaurus]

I think I found my answer.

 

Someone suggested a Google WiFi router with the "family wifi" enabled. Doing this I can remotely turn off wifi to specific devices.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

[TheBean]

they would still be able to play offline stuff