Disabling your computer’s power button is very important if you have a little kid (or other animal) crawling around near the computer. I don’t mean, of course, disabling the button so that the computer cannot be turned on, but instead, disabling the button so that the computer won’t turn off when the kid pushes that big button, just as you are getting ready to finish that all-important paper, post, or project.

In Windows XP:

• Go (click on) the Start Menu
• Click on Settings and then on Control Panel (or just on Control Panel if that’s what you see)
• In the Control Panel double-click on Power Options
• The Power Options Properties window should open. Click on the Advanced tab.
• You should see a section of the window called “Power buttons”. In that section, click the on the drop-down box underneath the text “When I press the power button on my computer” and/or “When I press the sleep button on my computer” and select the action called “Do nothing” or the action called “Ask me what to do” (your pick).

In Windows Vista:

• Click on the Windows icon to open the Start Menu
• Select the Control Panel
• Open the option for Power Options
• You should see several power plans, one of which is selected. For that one, click on the associated link called Change plan settings
• Next, click on the link for Change advanced power settings
• You should see a whole list of various settings. In that list, click on the plus sign (+) next to Power buttons and lid and then also next to Power button action.
• Click on the Setting drop-down box, which will likely say Shut Down, and change it to Do Nothing. Now you’re covered!

In Max OS X, pressing the power button should just bring up a prompt asking what you want to do.

Note that on all three of the aforementioned operating systems, if someone presses the power button down and keeps the button depressed for 10+ seconds, that the computer will shut down. The only other way to guard against that is to put something over the power button, like a piece of paper. Do that and keep all of your cables secured where they cannot be reached and you should, and your kid, should be good to go.