I have a relative staying with me at my home who will be here for a while and wants to be able to use my computer to surf the internet or check her email. However this person KNOWS much less about computers than I do and I worry she will end up causing my computer to get a virus (she has accidentally downloaded STUFF while using another relatives computer and they got virused). Also, she's nosy and I don't want her sifting through my personal files in the document folder or on my separate partition. Currently my computer uses the admin account by default (yeah, I know you're not supposed to do that). I read that you can create a separate account with settings to restrict access so the user can not OPEN the documents folder or install programs etc. How do you do that?

My computer has Windows 2000 Pro installed.When you create a new account for her, she shouldn't be able to look through your files on your account(Unless of course you create her new account as an Administrator).

Here's how(Set for limited access):
Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Users and Passwords

On the Users and Passwords window, MAKE sure the "Users must enter a user NAME and password to use this computer" is checked, then hit "Add"

Fill in the "User Name"(You can fill in "Full Name" or "Description" if you want), hit Next.

Enter the password, hit Next.

Hit "Other" then under the drop down, select "Guest", hit Finish.






Considered getting rid of the relatives ? ?
Not a PC answer so sorry if it doesn't apply....Still the OP wants her to still have access, without screwing up his computer.