Kid Friendly UI / Shell

Hello, this Christmas I am building my nephew a small lightweight PC for his homeschooling. He is 6 years old and great at his computer classes, however they don't operate under a normal windows environment and I want a solution that would help me control the UI/Shell allowing only a few basic things to be accessed.

Namely specific software I install for his use (his Disney games and whatnot) as well as a few select websites (NickJR.com, PlayhouseDinsey.com etc.) while also allowing me the ability to slowly introduce him into basic computer usage (what the start menu does, etc. VERY beginner Windows education)

I've tested a number of products from Stardock, including WindowsBlinds, DesktopX, IconPackager, CursorFX. A few have some promising capabilities (namely DesktopX) however I don't want to slap down $60+ bucks on a software suite that won't allow me, or at leaste cannot work in conjunction with; some type of software that will not only limit his ability to access potetnially harmful aspects of the OS (messing around with the hardmare manager or something) even right down to even custimizing the right click menu.

Surfing Deviantart, Wincustomize.com and a few other sites I found, don't really turn up any premade UI's that will really work for my needs with any of the aforementioned software. Basically I'm looking for a resource, a website or a forum community that might have solutions that would work for me in this capacity.

I own copies of Vista and XP x64 & x32, as I have not installed the OS on his new system yet I can install whichever I need to based on what software turns out to fit my needs.

Basically I need a kid friendly widnows theme, UI, or shell replacement that can allow me specific control over what the user can access, while sitll being customizable in an asteic sense, I would like it make it fun and appelaing for him, something that maybe I can even change the theme on from time to time to mix it up (e.g. Maybe a Spider-Man theme one week, and Disney/Pixar Cars theme the next)

If anyone has any idea where I can do some digging or testing with software I havn't found yet, please post it here, and any other comments or suggestions you may have, I appriciate your time, thanks, and a Happy Holiday!

 

Quick note, forgive my many spelling errors, I'm very tired

 

Question have you looked on the user accounts In XP and Vista???

Knowing that Xp has 2 account type 1 being the admin, the other being a limited account to where he can access programs and use them, noting that your nephew cannot change any Windows setting without permission from the admin user.. I'm thinking vista has something similar but I'm not sure since I don't run it often enough.

 

Hi,

DesktopX is the first application that comes to mind. I am not aware of anything that is a combination of UI replacement and parental control. Most UI/shell products are only going to do what they were built to do.

I would personally suggest restricting access via limited account, and if you are on Vista they have much more advanced parental controls.

You can use something like DesktopX (*disclaimer - I do work for Stardock) to build a UI with only links to the applications you want them to have access to.

 

This KidZui add-on seems to be a real nice add-on for kids if one has Firefox as a browser.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9689#reviews Read through the description and reviews. From what I read I believe one can "lock" it so that the kids cannot access anything else.

 

I would go for bblean.

Very customizable and flexible, might be tricky in the beginning, but when you get there you'll see that it really rocks.

For example, you can build desktop that will consist of several big image-based shortcuts, that might be usable for the kid (just the first thing that comes to mind). And all the other functions you can make accessible via hotkeys, for example, if you don't want the kid to access them.

Anyways, I think that modern kids will very quickly get into computers without our help and start to teach us, ancient people from the 20-th century =)

 

Thanks to everyone who gave me help! I settled on Object Desktop to build a custom UI and using the Vista parental controls. Windows SteadyState looks like EXACTLY what I wanted for the restriction application however it does not yet support x64 bit operating systems, and that's the only Vista I have unfortunately but thank you VERY much Halo for turning me on to it; and oma thanks for the KidZUI Firefox addon, it's perfect for his internet usage! Again thanks so much for everyones help, and I hope everyone had a greta holiday! :-D

 

Glad to have been of help to you.