iNAP said:
I have both OS's but only have one installed, can I have both running or loaded on the same hard drive? Or is this a nono? Not even sure why I'm asking but I think I could use it as a separate login for our kids That would keep them from my stuff right?
While you can have both Panther and Tiger installed and boot to either, for what you are describing you are better off setting up a separate account for each of your children. Dual booting will not keep them out of the files and adds an unecessary level of complication to your setup. In order to even fo it you would need to partition your drive I think. So let's discuss how you can set it up so you can control your childrens access to the system and files.
Go to the accounts pane in system preferences and create each of them an account. Make them standard accounts (i.e. can not administer the system) and set parental controls if you feel they are needed. The status as a standard account is enough to keep them from snooping though. (log in as them to confirm before setting them loose. See notes below.)
Next, still on the accounts pane, under account options turn off automatic login so your kids can't reboot and have the system automatically log in as you.
Finally make sure to get in the habit of logging off when you leave your computer. Your child does not have to hack anything if you leave yourself logged in.
That should do it for a cursory parental control. Just be very sure that anything you do not want them to access is in your home directory in a folder they can not access and you should be good to go. Some directories in home are public!!
There are more thorough ways you can lock what a particular account can and can not do but there are too many options for me to cover here.
EDIT: Yes folks, I really type this slow. There were no comments when I started this post.