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toddler mode

like microsoft but worse
  (+9, -3)
(+9, -3)
  [vote for,
against]

I know that anybody who is handy with a computer detests microsoft and windows (which is most of you) but for me it is a blessing.

I can click on something the shape of an envelope to get to my mail. I click on the printer to print, the house for home etc.

What I like best is what you hate most. (or hate best?) When I try to do something complicated like deleting a file or creating a folder the computer invariably helps me by asking me such things as : Are you sure? Y/N Do you want to continue? Y/N. This gives me time to pause and think it over.

Enter the toddler. She uses the keyboard like a set of drums, bashing at it with the mouse. So before you know it the letters on the screen are to small to read, or internet is disabled, the computer is shutting down and telling me there will be a loss of important data and I am in despair.

Enter the toddler mode. WHATEVER happens, I can always go back to before. Like undo, step by step, untill everything is normal again.

zeno, May 23 2006

Giggles Computer Funtime for Baby http://www.giggles.net/home.php
As an alternative to changing all your stuff to allow for a toddler, how about just running some custom software that reacts to bashing keys in an age-appropriate way? [jutta, May 23 2006]

Apple OS X Time Machine http://www.apple.co...es/timemachine.html
Automatic backup every hour to external drive. [theGem, Oct 31 2008]

[link]






       Like most. Windows can roll back to its last functioning state, can it not?
harderthanjesus, May 23 2006
  

       Huh? What? sleep? Oh, ah! Yeah good link. She loves the computer, can never start to young.
zeno, May 23 2006
  

       Surely Windows lets you create a user profile with no privileges to change anything?
hippo, May 23 2006
  

       hehe
zeno, May 23 2006
  

       "Like most. Windows can roll back to its last functioning state, can it not?"   

       That would be just before Windows is installed, right?   

       And I know that you can create a "No Rights" logon. My company does that for our communications machines.
Galbinus_Caeli, May 23 2006
  

       //And I know that you can create a "No Rights" logon. // She is faster than lightning. Before you know it the mouse is grabbed and bashed on the keyboard or some keys (some of which have a function other then typing). And besides that would mean that Zeno has elaborate knowledge of how a computer really works, which he doesn't. I hold my finger close to the escape button which works fine, mostly.
Susan, May 23 2006
  

       [+]   

       I used to own a 'bloodthirsty' game called carmageddon, which essentially involved smashing up cars and running people down, hence an abundance of blood. The genius was that it had a 'fluffy bunny' mode which was activated upon a certain button press on the keyboard. All blood would disappear instantly, then return upon a further press.   

       I agree with [phlish], a key-combo could be used to block out all other key configurations. Would also annoy the hell out of co-workers if they didn't know the combo.
kuupuuluu, May 23 2006
  

       [win]+L? Works for me.
pn957hb9nc13,
stop that honey, daddy is working
qwoiurvhqnp3cn
aww, that's nice sweetie <presses power button and goes outside to play> <remembers to leave [+] behind, though>
methinksnot, May 23 2006
  

       Are the system restore points not sufficient for this then?
fridge duck, May 23 2006
  

       So /"A panic button that fixes my computer"/ essentially.   

       Also, how does it know when toddler mode ends?
Texticle, May 23 2006
  

       It ends in kindergartner mode of course.
zeno, May 24 2006
  

       I propose an extra precaution, input tripper: route your input devices through an "input tripper". A button on your watch "trips" the input devices.   

       It could also be put on "auto" mode: If you are farther than 1.5 metres from the tripper's antenna, the input trips. If you come back in range, it switches on. usefull if you frequently need to move away.
kamathln, Oct 31 2008
  

       Get a Mac. The latest OS has a thing called The Time Machine that does automatic backups to an external hard drive. The first one is a full backup and after that it backups only what's changed every hour. You can restore a file at any version saved by going to the date and time and dragging the file to your system. You can also restore the entire system or use the backup to do clean installs or when you upgrade to a later version of the OS.
theGem, Oct 31 2008
  

       I want it for me. I frequently find that i fall into a child like fung while doing tense design work. A completely child like, possibly psychedelic program that took the screen and desktop and made the icons and windows into toys. I imagine being able to ball up windows like pieces of paper or paint on them would be nice, if the icons on the desktop would start to wander around like protozoa, grow, eat one another, or have the little Dig-Dug character show up and start digging between the icons and gathering bonuses. A minimal level of interactivity and control should be possible to maximize the relaxation. A rotating scheme of ten or fifteen random themes; Dig-Dug desktop, Icon Compost, Windows a Go-Go (fold and paint windows), Desktop ecosystem, Desktop sandbox, Pointer symphony, Monitor Meteorologist (manipulate the weather with keys and mouse with some weird things thrown in) ..... then you pop back and everything is restored.
WcW, Oct 31 2008
  

       oh, and they should combine so one smoothly transitions into the other, snow would fall on the dig-dug character, you could paint the icon organisms, etc.
WcW, Oct 31 2008
  
      
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