Restrict access to portions of Start menu?

Infopackets Reader Joseph B. writes:

" Dear Dennis,

Is there a way in XP Home to remove access to programs from other users? For instance, I have Quicken that I use, but I do not want my 8 year old son to have access to the program. Can you give me any suggestions? "

My response:

As you may already be aware, user accounts can be assigned using WinXP (Control Panel -> Users). Noting this, some programs give you the option to specify that "All" or "Some" users have access to a program -- but only at the time of the install.

If this option is not available, you can also edit your Start Menu and remove the icon so it can't be launched intuitively (Start -> Programs -> Right Click over Programs icon -> Explore all users). From there, simply remove the Quicken icon under your son's account so he won't have access to it. Note, however, that the application may still be launch-able from the Program Files folder (or wherever you installed Quicken).

If all of this seems like a hassle and you still cannot reasonably restrict access to the program, you can use a third-party utility to lock access / password protect certain portions of your Start Menu. A little while back I did a review on a very cool utility called Invisible Secrets, which has the capability (among many other things) to lock access to files in the Start menu:

Digital Steganography -- the Art of Hiding files