I want to know if it’s possible to get a restraining order (or some other legal order) against someone who keeps using my computer without permission. Here’s the situation: when I am away at work, a certain family member will come to the house and use my computer, which they have been told numerous times not to use. The computer is kept in a room with a deadbolt lock, but this person has figured out how to break into the room anyway. This morning before I left for work, I took the power cord off the computer and locked it in another room; but after this person broke into the computer room, they broke into the other room and found the power cord. To complicate matters, I do not have the authority to keep this person out of the house, as I am not the owner. This person is also a minor. It will probably be about another year before I am in the financial shape to move elsewhere. I have called the police a couple of times and asked them about what to do, but they said that as long as the person has permission to be in the house, there’s not a whole lot the police can do about it. I have also spoken to the person’s parent numerous times with no results. What can I do? I am in Tampa, Florida, if that matters.
I don’t know about the restraining order (though it sounds possible, if not probable) but I’d take the box with me to work or something until they get the message. Or install a software lock on the system that’s password protected.
Put a password on your PC?
Do you pay any form of rent? If so you probably do have the authorty to forbid this relative from entering the house when you are away. Or at least your rooms.
It’s always a possibility that you can get a RO but it’s more likely a judge will roll their eyes and tell you both to get lost.
Use a password. Most or all computers can be set to ask for a password before even booting, windows uses passwords somehow (sorry, I’m a linux guy), and I’m sure there are probably a lot of programs that can do it too.
I agree with Amp, set up your user account to require a password, log out when you leave the computer unattended. Make the password random letters and numbers, do not write it down on anything that you keep in house, don’t make it your birthday, or pets name or the word “password”, or anything the kid would be able to guess. If you don’t know how to do it, have someone who knows how help you. Dont tell them the password.
That will solve all your problems. Or at least the computer using problem.
I have been using a password, but I also had a Guest Account set up. I just now disabled the Guest Account.
I’m actually more concerned about the physical safety of my computer, since the person in question has a habit of breaking things when she gets frustrated. She has smashed several portable phones and cell phones when she got angry with a caller. I suppose my next step is to look into more secure locks.
I am in agreement in that I doubt you could get a restraining order. In addition to the password protection you may want to look into some locking cabinets, although if she can break into a room with a deadbolt, a cabinet might not stop her.
Or you can sell the desktop and get a laptop and take it with you where ever you go or get a heavy duty safe to keep it in when you’re not home. It sounds like whatever you do to keep the brat away from your computer is going to cost you some money.
This was going to be my recommendation also, if financially feasible. It would drive me batty spending all day wondering if was going to come home to a smashed computer. With a laptop, you could just carry it with you and not have to worry about it.
Like dbuzman points out, I would also check on renter rights in your state. An owner can’t just let anyone they want have access to the renter’s house. Hell, the two states I’ve lived in limit the owner’s right to enter the premises.
If she’s smashing things, it’s probably a good idea to get an offsite backup.
Check if your BIOS have password option. If so, use it.
Seconded. Check out http://mozy.com/
Install spyware on your computer to trace everything they do. You maybe able to use that information to great effect. It’s your computer and they are not supposed to use your computer, so go for it. If you know they are going to certain sites you don’t use, I’d enter the sites on a hosts file. The person will get a browser response that the web site can’t be found. You may have no way to forbid this person from being in the house, but you can do something if they damage your property. You may wish to install a cam and have the computer send pictures somewhere.
I’m not sure how much this matters, but what with the discusion about renter’s rights and all we need to know:
Does the owner of the house live there?
Are you paying rent to live there?
You said this person is a “family member.” A member of whose family? Are all three of you related?
If you rent a room and lock it, I think the intrusion is criminal breaking and entering. I guess if it were, though, the police would have been more helpful.
What is the owner’s reaction to all this?
Depending on your set-up, it might be easy to pull the hard drive when you go to work. My son, wise-ass that he was, figured to get around a BIOS password by reseting the CMOS. Being 13 at the time, and thinking himself smarter and more dextrous than he was, he fried the mobo. Fortunately for his continued health, it was his “own” pc, not a shared PC. Earned him a year of NO home computer and he only got a third-gen hand-me-down afterwards. Hard drives were pulled on the other PCs when no one was home to prevent further unauthorized access.
All this talk of passwords and BIOS and all is great, but it skirts the real problem – Who is this kid, where are her parents, and why is she such a delinquent? How does she get access to the home in the first place? How old is she, and how many years will it be before she enters “the system”?
What tdn said, this scenario smacks of crazy all the way around. The notion of a restraining order is absurd. I can’t wrap my head around a parent letting an unrestrained minor enter a room that isn’t theirs and take possession of someone else’s PC.
Your picture of the situation is very incomplete. Until you flesh out the dynamics of the situation any advice we give you is close to useless. You can’t be both a paying tenant, and alos be utterly powerless to prevent access to your space by third parties. Virtually any lease will going to entitle you to some level of quiet enjoyment. But again, this all pointless without more details.
The owner lives there, it’s the grandmother of the kid, we are all related. I pay rent for three rooms, but there’s no written lease.
Her mother is depressed and takes no responsibility for anything. Her father has basically washed his hands of her and has minimal involvement. She is already in “the system”. She goes to a school for delinquent girls and comes to the house after school, to wait for her mom to pick her up after work.
I went through the same crap before with her older brother. The police were no help at all. They gave him a “stern lecture” a couple of times.
I’m curious how she gets into the rooms. You say it has a deadbolt, is she going in through a window? Is she busting the door down? Is she picking the lock? Is there just another way in?