The Desktop remains visible when starting Peanut Butter PC in Windows XP

SYMPTOMS
After selecting the child's picture, the screen disappears and the Desktop is showing. Where your icons are located you can see items from the Peanut Butter PC Backyard (like cut-outs in your desktop).
CAUSE
This is caused by the "Lock Desktop Items" checkbox in your Desktop Properties settings.
RESOLUTION
(1) Right-click on the Desktop and select "Properties"
(2) Select the "Desktop" tab.
(3) Click the [Customize Desktop...] button.
(4) Select the "Web" tab.
(5) Uncheck the "Lock Desktop Items" checkbox.
(6) Click [Ok] on each of the open dialogs.

When starting Peanut Butter PC, I get the error message “Application attempted to perform and operation not allowed by the security policy.”

SYMPTOMS
You receive the following error message when attempting to launch Peanut Butter PC, “Application attempted to perform and operation not allowed by the security policy. To grant this application the required permission, contact your system administrator or use the Microsoft .NET Framework configuration tool. If you click configure, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue. Click quit to exit.”
CAUSE
Peanut Butter PC requires administrative privileges in order to “lock-down” the operating environment.
RESOLUTION
(1) Attempt right-clicking on the short-cut and selecting, “Run as Administrator,” or
(2) Logout and login as the Administrator Account
(3) Search the Knowledge Base for “Will Peanut Butter PC run without Administrator privileges?”

Why does my app try to connect to the internet?

SUMMARY
Peanut Butter PC utilizes the Microsoft .Net Framework to ensure only one instance of the application can run at the same time. Certain older versions of McAfee Personal Firewall conflict with the Microsoft method causing an error with “system.net.sockets.socket”
RESOLUTION
Perform one of the following:
(1) Install a newer version of McAfee Personal Firewall, or
(2) allow Peanut Butter PC TCP/IP access in McAfee Personal Firewall, or
(3) uninstall McAfee Personal Firewall
MORE INFORMATION
The first instance listens on a local network port. Any subsequent instances will connect to the port, pass their command line parameters to the first instance, and then exit. A TCP socket is used because it's the only communication channel that would work on all the platforms supported by the runtime.

Will Peanut Butter PC run without Administrator privileges?

SUMMARY
Peanut Butter PC requires Administrative privileges in order to alter the operating environment “on the fly.” It was designed to allow users to toggle between a secured environment and an open environment. In order to lock-down the environment many registry changes are made (which are, in turn, reverted back when exiting the program).
WORKAROUND **Advanced**
You can use AutoIT (free) to run Peanut Butter PC as the Administrator in a Least-privilege User Account. AutoIT creates a new compiled exe with the Administrator password encrypted in it.
Web site: http://www.hiddensoft.com/autoit3/

How can I rename an application listed in Peanut Butter PC?

SUMMARY
Each application displayed in Peanut Butter PC has a Windows shortcut file stored on your hard drive. Just look in the "AppsAllowed" folder (usually C:\Program Files\Peanut Butter Software Co\Peanut Butter PC\AppsAllowed) for the application you wish to rename. Then simply rename it as you would any file. Take care though, blocked applications are referenced by name in Peanut Butter PC's data files. By changing an application's name, you may inadvertently make it available to other children. After making your changes, it is suggested you check each kid's allowed applications.
MORE INFORMATION
You can do the same thing for web sites by going to the "SitesAllowed" folder.

How can I rename a web site listed in Peanut Butter PC?

SUMMARY
Each web site displayed in Peanut Butter PC has a Windows shortcut file stored on your hard drive. Just look in the "SitesAllowed" folder (usually C:\Program Files\Peanut Butter Software Co\Peanut Butter PC\SitesAllowed) for the site you wish to rename. Then simply rename it as you would any file. Take care though, blocked web sites are referenced by name in Peanut Butter PC's data files. By changing a web site's name, you may inadvertently make it available to other children. After making your changes, it is suggested you check each kid's allowed web sites.
MORE INFORMATION
You can do the same thing for applications by going to the "AppsAllowed" folder.

What is the optimal size for kid's pictures?

SUMMARY
The pictures displayed on the welcome screen are 108 x 108 pixels. Peanut Butter PC will resize any picture to these dimensions. However, some pictures may appear distorted if their height and width are not equal.
RESOLUTION
(1) Use a photo editing program to resize your images to 108x108 pixels, or
(2) crop your image so that it becomes a square (equal height and width), or
(3) add white space to either the height or width to make it square.

Why am I asked to "Allow" PB_PC.exe to run?

SUMMARY
Windows Vista now requires applications such as Peanut Butter PC to request elevation to Administrative privileges every time you run the program. This is part of Vista's new security and is an unfortunate necessity.
WORKAROUND
To eliminate this prompting, you would need to disable Vista's UAC (User Account Control). This may leave your system vulnerable to malicious code and therefore we will not discuss how to do this here.

Can I password protect a single Child?

SUMMARY
In some cases, with children of different ages, you may wish to password protect one or more children's accounts. This can be particularly useful in a classroom environment.
RESOLUTION
Yes, you can password protect any child's Backyard. You wouldn't have seen this option during the set up wizard, but if you click the [Kid Options...] button, you'll see a place to enter a password.

How many children can be set up on Peanut Butter PC?

SUMMARY
In a large family or classroom environment, it can be useful to have a large number of accounts with different programs available. You can have as many accounts as you wish... there is no limit. Any number above six will cause Peanut Butter PC to show arrows to scroll the account pictures.
MORE INFORMATION
You can organize programs and web sites by grouping them under different accounts. Accounts don't have to represent children alone. They can be classes, age brackets, types of programs, etc.

Some software requires the CD to be in the CD-ROM drive. How can I avoid this?

SUMMARY
Many software companies (particularly those that offer children's titles), require the original CD to be in your CD-ROM drive when playing the game. This is a form of copy protection. Unfortunately, it becomes a point of aggravation for adults.
RESOLUTION
There are a few things you can do to overcome this issue:
(1) Attempt to copy the entire contents of the CD-ROM onto your hard drive (or if the installer gives you the option to copy everything, do so).
(2) If the program still wishes to check your CD-ROM drive, search for an .ini file in the program's directory. This may contain a path to the CD-ROM drive. Just change this to point to the program's location on your hard drive.
(3) If all else fails, you can use what is called a virtual drive. This basically makes part of your hard drive look and act like a CD-ROM. To ensure everything points to the virtual drive, try copying the CD's contents to your hard drive and then installing the software from the virtual drive.
MORE INFORMATION
Virtual Drive software is often free and can be easily downloaded. Make sure to use reputable sites such as www.download.com, or www.tucows.com.

Not all of the multimedia keys on my keyboard are disabled.

SUMMARY
Some multimedia buttons on your keyboard remain functional by design. These include the Volume controls, Play, Stop/Pause, FF and Rev buttons. Some newer keyboards have additional buttons that launch programs. These buttons cannot be disabled by Peanut Butter PC.
RESOLUTION
The newer multimedia keyboards have added buttons that launch programs. These are controlled by the keyboard driver and not the operating system. Because of this fact, you will need to disable the buttons through the program that came with your keyboard.
WORKAROUND
Although it may sound extreme, if switching the buttons on and off becomes too troublesome, just try swapping keyboards. They make great keyboards specifically for kids.

I would like Peanut Butter PC to put my computer into hibernate rather than sleep mode.

SUMMARY
Many computers running Windows XP are set up to sleep when you press the crescent moon/Zzz button on your keyboard. This shuts down the monitor and hard drives, and goes into an energy saving mode. Although you can quickly restore the computer from sleep mode, it is also not very safe. Power outages or kid's fingers on the power button can easily lose any unsaved work you have open.
RESOLUTION
An alternative to sleep mode is hibernation. Hibernation saves whatever you have open or running onto your hard drive before shutting down. When you restart your computer, everything reappears as you left it. The difference is that your computer is truly off in hibernation mode. To switch from sleep to hibernation you will want to change a setting in your computer's Control Panel. Open the Control Panel and navigate to the Power Settings. Then select the Hibernate tab and check "Enable Hibernation."
MORE INFORMATION
For a short cut to the Power Settings screen, click on the [Start] button, click "Run..." and type C:\WINDOWS\system32\powercfg.cpl

How do I remove access to applications for some children but not all?

SUMMARY
It is possible to allow programs/web sites for some children and not others.
RESOLUTION
The set up wizard only prompts you for what applications/web sites to allow for everyone. To restrict access for individual children, you will need to open the Settings window (using [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[P]) and navigate to the "Kids" tab. Click the picture of the child you wish to limit access. Then click the [Kid Options...] button. From this screen you will be able to check on or off which applications or web sites to allow for that child.
MORE INFORMATION
By default, a newly added program/web site is made available to everyone.

Peanut Butter Browser jumps to a pop-up window and I can't get back.

SUMMARY
Peanut Butter Browser is designed to only have one window open at a time (which reduces confusion for the children). When a web site attempts to launch another browser window, Peanut Butter Browser simply loads the new page in place of the old. In most cases, this works perfectly.
CAUSE
Web sites with advertisements or other pop-up windows can cause problems. And every time you attempt to go back to the original page, it loads the pop-up again (causing a frustrating loop).
WORKAROUND
Try to use another page of the web site as the "landing" page. Most sites only use pop-ups on their homepage.