Windows 7 – Enforce User Time Restrictions to Log Out

parental-controlsuser-accountswindows 7

How can I limit the time spent on the computer or force a log out from a Windows 7 machine?

I used to use Windows Steady State to limit users (kids) from being on too long but SteadyState does not work with Windows 7 Home Premium and is discontinued.

Is there a way to set this up in Windows 7 where it will kick off a user after a set time? Or perhaps there's an alternative program that can help limit the time one user is at the computer.

Best Answer

From 5 alternatives to Windows SteadyState for Windows 7 :

Returnil Virtual System (free) is similar to Windows SteadyState. It caches all changes made to the system on a virtual storage disk instead of the actual partition, and then reverts back to the original states when the computer is rebooted.
Sandboxie (free) runs your programs in an isolated space which prevents them from making permanent changes to other programs and data in your computer.
Wondershare Time Freeze Free is a software that essentially freezes your computer in time by allowing you to install software, run application and surf the Internet, and then roll back any changes you made to the system after you are done.
Faronics Deep Freeze ($38) is available not only for Windows but also Mac OS X, and SUSE Linux operating systems which allows system administrators to protect the core operating system and configuration files by restoring a computer back to its original configuration each time the computer restarts.
Shadow Defender ($35) is another application that employs the virtual environment approach. It redirects each system change to a virtual environment keeping the actual system intact, and then discarding the changes on a reboot.
HDGUARD ($22) works exactly the same way all the software mentioned above works. HDGUARD memorizes all changes a user or Windows performs on the system and then forgets it when the computer is restarted.

Related Solutions

Windows – force user logoff script for Windows 7

You could automate the logoff command, using something like this batch file (adapted from here):

@echo off
query session > c:\temp\session.txt
for /f "skip=2 tokens=2,3,4" %%i in (c:\temp\session.txt) DO if not "%%i"=="Geoff" logoff %%j
del c:\temp\session.txt
pause

This uses the query session command to get a list of sessions, then the for command to parse the output, and finally the logoff command to log off other users. You'll want to run the query session command to check the output on your machine.

On my machine, I get:

C:\Users\Geoff\Desktop>query session
 SESSIONNAME       USERNAME                 ID  STATE   TYPE        DEVICE
 services                                    0  Disc
>console           Geoff                     1  Active

the first two lines are garbage, so the skip 2 part ignores those. The username, ID and State get put into the i, j, and k variables respectively. You'll want to test it, and if it won't run as a non-administrator user then you can either right-click the file on your desktop and 'Run as Administrator', or you can create a shortcut to the batch file, then select Properties | Shortcut | Advanced | Run as Administrator. Either way you'll get a UAC prompt. Finally, if you want to run the batch file without the UAC prompt, you can go the more obscure task scheduler route: see this post.

Windows – Can’t Log-in to My User Account (Windows 7)

Well, somehow you have managed to bork that user account, I would suggest just eliminating it after salvaging any user files you need (your administrative account can do that). I would also suggest refraining from messing with stuff on your computer just on the say-so of some web page, unless you have educated yourself fully on what you are doing. You can then create a new standard user account and transfer the saved files into that user profile.

Best Answer

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Windows – force user logoff script for Windows 7

Windows – Can’t Log-in to My User Account (Windows 7)

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