MikeBrother Homepage

What is it all about?

MikeBrother is an easy-to-use Windows lock-up application. It is ment for those, who feel that Win95-family systems (Win95/98/98SE/ME) really should have some way of locking them up (without turning the computer off or hiding the mouse and keyboard, of course) implemented and those, for whom the basic lock-up abilities of WinNT family systems (WinNT/2000/XP) are not enough. Unfortunately, the most essential feature - Windows' shortcuts locking (Ctrl-Alt-Del, Alt-Tab, and so on) is now implemented only for Win95 family systems, due to differences between both families, but the support of this feature for WinNT/2000/XP will be added as soon as possible.

What does it do

(and what it does not)

MikeBrother has quite a lot features, full list of which can be found in the "Features" section of this webpage. Basically, it locks. And it can lock almost everything:

• restrict mouse's movement to the area of program's controls
• restrict all Windows' shortcuts (Ctrl-Alt-Delete, Alt-Tab, etc.) presently only on Win95/98/98SE/ME systems
• hide or disable the whole Taskbar
• hide or disable the Start Button
• disable the System Tray
• hide or disable only the taskbar's QuickLaunch icons and the programs area
• hide or disable Desktop Icons
• disable system shutdown

MikeBrother can be started manually everytime when it is needed, or can start (and optionally lock) automatically after the system has booted. When running, when the Protection is disengaged, it can be minimised to the System Tray and, if this option is set, after a specified amount of time of inactivity can auto-enable the Protection.

MikeBrother is a lock-up, not restrict-access application. It can lock the whole system, or parts of it, but it is unable to provide any means for locking indywidual directories, files or programs. If you are looking for such functionality, you should rather try FolderGuard.

MikeBrother is not able to guard your computer from hackers, viruses, malware and alike. It only locks access with mouse and keyboard. It also will not protect your harddrive if it will be removed physically from your machine, or if a second operating system boots.

What are the system requirements

Almost none. MikeBrother should run on every Windows system, although it hasn't been tested on most of them yet. Preferably the screen resolution should be 800x600 (ideally - 1024x768), but this only affects program's appearance. MikeBrother has already been run on a 640x400 system and worked fine.

If you encounter any problems with running MikeBrother on Your system - please mail me or post a Support Request.

Also, if MikeBrother runs smoothly and nicely - do drop me a line about it. Any information concerning the operating system would be very appreciated.

When to use

Anytime you wish! MikeBrother uses very little system recources (like RAM or CPU) and doesn't interfere with any applications, such as setup programs, downloaders, etc., therefore it can be safely used whenever your computer performs a time-consuming operation and you have to leave it for a while, but don't want to leave it unprotected.

How did it all start

Well, some time ago I have installed some software performing very long operations on my Windows 98SE, but felt rather uneasy to leave it all running while I'm at school simply because I have two sisters. Fortunately, I have found this article, and thought that this was it! There it was - almost every bit of code I need in one place... Of course, during development, I modified and enhanced some of those pieces, but most of Protection procedures are simply cut-and-pasted from delphi.about.com.

After some time someone suggested, that MikeBrother might be useful for more people. Deciding for SourceForge was simply a matter of time...

By the way: Thanks to all of you guys from SourceForge. You do a piece of a REALLY GOOD WORK.