For friends using my beach house I would like them to be able to check their email, but not access anything else on the computer (in particular, the files stored in the My Documents folder for our user name). I have setup a guest account, but cannot get dial-up networking to work. I also tried pasting the dial-up connection icon onto the Guest desktop, but this did not work. Next, I tried to setup a new connection through the Guest account but Windows would not allow this operation. How can I configure the dial-up connection for the Guest account? The computer is running Windows XP.

Windows XP does not allow Guest users to access dial-up networking to connect to the internet, for various security reasons. That said, the Guest account can use an existing active connection, but it does not have access privileges to initiate a connection or disconnect the dial-up internet connection. So, if the computer was connected to a LAN or broadband connection, which is an ‘always on’ connection, the Guest account could use the connection without problem, but since the connection is a dial-up connection the Guest users cannot initiate the connection. There is a procedure for getting around the issue described at: www.andyrathbone.com/tips/guestdial.html . However, this solution is not practical for your situation, since it involves an administrator logging onto the computer, initiating the connection, and then switching users to the Guest account. Since you are not at the beach house when you want your friends to use the computer this procedure is not viable.

However, Limited accounts do not have this restriction. This type of account will also not allow the users to access your My Documents folder, since only an Administrator account can access other users profile directories. Therefore, perhaps your best option is to setup a Limited account for your friends. Limited accounts are able to use dial-up connections which have been configured on the computer, but does not allow the users to change critical system settings, and should also prevent the installation of software and hardware. This user type is not as tightly restricted as Guests, but should still provide a level of security acceptable for your purposes. To create a Limited user, login using your Administrator account and then go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Control Panel’. In the window that appears, open the ‘User Accounts’ control panel. Click ‘Create a new account’. Follow the prompts to name the new account, and then set the account type as ‘Limited’ and click ‘Create Account’. Login to the newly created Limited account, and you should be able to access the dial-up connections. Make sure you save the username and password for the dial-up connection, otherwise your users will be able to access the connection but will not have the saved details to logon!