Some control of Windows XP Pro with GPEDIT.MSC

(Traditional format)

Tue Dec 7 11:41:19 2004 Some control of XP with GPEDIT.MSC
Posted by Tony Lawrence
Search Keys: security group policy
Referencing: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1633791,00.asp

Tom Heneghan sent me this link about using "gpedit.msc" in Windows XP to create group policies on a specific, stand-alone machine. Administrators in small shops who don't want to go to full-fledged lockdown might find some of this useful. This is the same tool that you'd use for a domain-wide group policy; this is just running it locally. This is on XP Pro only (but only fools run XP Home anyway).

As the article suggests, this would also be useful for tightening down a specific machine, such as one left unattended in a semi-public area.

A similar article with a bit more detail is at http://www.theeldergeek.com/group_policy_for_windows_xp_prof.htm.

I played around with this on my wife's XP machine (sorry, honey, but I have to use yours because I don't have Windows). I ran "gpupdate" to activate policies, but it just hung - nervously I logged out and back in, which is the other way to get XP to quickly notice a change. I was nervous because it's really not a good idea to break your wife's computer.

Hint: if you do something bad to your spouse's machine, it's probably best to drop it on the floor, jump on it hard and say nothing about your experiments. Clumsiness is easier to forgive than breakage by tinkering.

Fortunately all was well. The change I had made was to adjust her IE and Outlook title bars so that they now read "Microsoft Outlook provided by your husband for you". She probably won't even notice. Someone else might want "provided for business use only" or other text.

There are more useful abilities here - eliminating potential security problems like Windows Messenger, and more.

2 comments

More Articles by Tony Lawrence - Find me on Google+

Click here to add your comments

---January 6, 2005

...only fools run XP Home anyway (quoted from above)

Put me down as a 'fool' for having XP Home. So far as I know my computer runs just fine on it. At least I ain't fool enough to even think of busting my wife's puter!!

---January 6, 2005

"So far as I know..."

So said the patient to the doctor shortly before the onset of cardiac arrest.

What you don't know is what can and will hurt you with Windows. A fool and his computer are soon parted if XP Home is involved.

--BigDumbDinosaur

---January 7, 2005

Having XP Home at "home" is fine - well, as "fine" as any Windows OS is. It's when it is brought into a corporate network that its problems show up.

--TonyLawrence





Thu Nov 9 05:39:54 2006:   anonymous


Is there a way to enable limited users to install programs?



Thu Nov 9 13:28:07 2006:   TonyLawrence


A "limited user" who can install programs is no longer "limited" in any sense.



Don't miss responses! Subscribe to Comments by RSS or by Email

Click here to add your comments

If you want a picture to show with your comment, go get a Gravatar

Jump to Comments

Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them. I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. I also may own stock in companies mentioned here. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.

Specific links that take you to pages that allow you to purchase the item I reviewed are very likely to pay me a commission. Many of the books I review were given to me by the publishers specifically for the purpose of writing a review. These gifts and referral fees do not affect my opinions; I often give bad reviews anyway.

We use Google third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.