First off, I'm new here and this is my first post, so hi.

Let me get right to the issue, though.

I'm building a computer for my girlfriend who lives several states away because until recently, her entire family has been using an antique Dell laptop with Windows 98 and about 10 GB of HDD space. The family only stopped using the computer after it finally gave up and died.

Needless to say, after months of attempting to constantly troubleshoot problems she and her family were having on the computer, I discovered that the main culprit seemed to be her younger brother, who believes somewhere in his mind that he knows how to operate a computer better than the entire Windows development team. He also likes to download a large amount of superfluous data and install programs that he, nor anyone else in the family, will ever need or use.

Needless to say, every user on this computer will have their own account, and they will all be password protected, but the main issue I'm having is with disk quotas. The computer is running a copy of Genuine Windows XP, for future reference.

I need to implement a 5 GB storage limit on his account while leaving the other 3 accounts unlimited. The problem here is the fact that I do not know how to do this because I've never worked with disk quotas in Windows XP (or anywhere else, for that matter). I would greatly appreciate any help I can get with this issue.

Thanks for your time,
-Kolby

tl;dr
I need help setting a 5 GB storage limit on a single account in Windows XP, and all the other accounts need to be unlimited.

Welcome to PC Help Forum

This is a good guide to get you started and help you achieve your goal. It's not something we've put into a Tutorial yet.

User quotas
Another neat feature exclusive to NTFS-formatted drives are Disk Quotas. These enable you to limit the amount of space each user gets for file storage. You can restrict everyone equally, or you can set up different limits for individual users (and exclude yourself at the same time).
Disk quotas are set for individual hard drives. To set up quotas for a particular drive first open My Computer, right-click the drive in question and select Properties. Switch to the Quota tab and tick the box marked Enable quota management. Tick the Deny disk space to users exceeding quota limit box. Now select the Limit disk space to radio button and set a reasonable limit for each user - you can also set a warning level so users know when they're close to their limit.
To restrict different users by different amounts, click the Quota Entries button for a list of users. If they're not listed select Quota > New Quota Entry to add them. Set individual entries by right-clicking the entry and choosing Properties.
There are some extra things worth considering here. First, when you come to set individual limits, Windows XP will take a little time to detect all the user accounts. If the user has only just set up his or her account, it might be missed, so if the account doesn't show up on the Quota Entries screen, don't panic. Just select New Quota Entry from the Quota menu and you can search your computer for any user accounts it missed - click the Advanced button followed by Find Now and they'll quickly reveal themselves.
Second, be realistic in setting quotas. Try to be as fair as possible, and remember to set quotas that ensure your drive won't run out of space. Finally, if the user has already exceeded their quota limit, they'll be unable to write further data to the drive until they delete enough of their own files to bring the amount of disk space used beneath their quota.
Setting up multiple user accounts for shared computers is a no-brainer - it enables everyone to personalise the PC for themselves without inflicting their preferences or tastes on anyone else. If your household is still sharing a single user account with difficulty, make the switch now - you won't regret it.


Source: supportpcs.co.uk

I'll look through this and see if it helps.

Thanks a lot for your timely reply.

EDIT: That contained all the information I needed. Thanks again.

No problem - marked as [Answered]