Earlier this week we asked you to share your tips and tricks for setting up a novice-proof computer; read on to see how your fellow readers ensure friends and relatives have a well protected computer.

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If you only listen to a single bit of advice from your fellow readers, let that advice be the importance of separate and non-administrative user accounts. Grant writes:

I have two boys, now 8 and 10, who have been using the computer since age 2. I set them up on Linux (Debian first, now Ubuntu) with a limited rights account. They can only make a mess of their own area. Worst case, empty their home directory and let them start over. I have to install software for them, but they can’t break the machine without causing physical damage (hammers, water, etc.)

My wife was on Windows, and I was on Debian, and before they had their own, they knew they could only use my computer, and only logged in as themselves. All accounts were password protected, so that was easy to enforce.

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