wildcardmy Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 The users in the computer lab has been very <---> . They made configureation changes and modify registry settings. Some of them stole the Admin passwords by booting from safemodes and did something to gain access to the administrator's account. Some of the less annoying problems are: they change the default webpage for mozilla, change the wallpaper, default folder... some of them installed softwares in accessible parts of the HDD (2 partations)... so is there any way for me to limit this? I'm quite busy (im a student) so it's a bit tough for me to go through too many articles and learn step by step... but then again, if there isnt any choice, i would. Here's a list of what I dont want them to do: - Install softwares, if I can I would like to bar them from executing exe files but this will limit them from opening other valid applications right? - Change the explorer settings - edit desktop settings such as the wallpaper, screen resolution, Icons placed on the desktop, tool bar size, them color.. if i can, i dont want them to access the 'display properties' at all... - change the settings of the start menu, and the programs listed there... in short... they should only able to: run valid applications and surf the web.. NOTHING ELSE.. is there a simple program for this? I heard the tweakXP can do it.. but is it free? the library is not willing to spend extra... is there any alternative to TweakXP? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TINNY Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 my friend, try googling or search at download.com . It helps a lot! This site seems to have a lot of info. Pardon me for not simplifying things for I am in a similar quandary to you.http://www.tweakxp.com/security_tweaks.aspx :- this is a list of interesting topics on windoze security. Taken from http://www.tweakxp.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcardmy Posted March 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 At the time of your writing, I was already reading a few how-tos there... thanks for pointing it out though.. hopefully other could make use of it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TINNY Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 poyo la ko! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcardmy Posted March 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 poyo la ko!Look at that, ure spamming.. Is that one of the many reasons why you could make more than 700 posts? Btw, what's "poyo la ko" ? In anycase, I found that I have a lot of work to do to protect the computers here from the 'inside'.... users, even guest users have enough capabilities to tweak them and make the computers their own... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TINNY Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 TINNY:poyo la ko!wildcardmy:Look at that, ure spamming..heheh. just testing. i thought you're a Malaysian coz of the 'my' at the end of your nick. I must be wrong if you don't understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcardmy Posted March 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 heheh. just testing. i thought you're a Malaysian coz of the 'my' at the end of your nick. I must be wrong if you don't understand.U assume too much.. u could have just asked me by PMs... As the wildcard name is quite popular, i had to put an extention to the nick, thus i chose my as in 'mine, or my-wildcardmy... by that would sound lame thus the my is in the back... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tormod Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Wildcardmy, welcome. You will need Windows XP Pro to get the kind of security you want. There is something called Group Policies (defined with the Group Policy Editor) which can be set up for different usergroups. But also in XP HOme you can make sure that your users are not admins so they at least get a little bit less access - but that gives little security, really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tormod Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 By the way, here is an interesting article on how to do it in XP Home without the Group Policy Editor. http://www.j79zlr.com/gphome.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleAl Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Windows should be installed into C: with nothing else. All programming should reside in D: or higher. That way you can reinstall the nightmare OS at will without disturbing everything else. One reinstalls Windows every year anyway - it accumulates trash that cannot be removed. You want to to turn off every "help" option - like the gigs of useless log files that pile up like the garbage they are as Windows "optimizes" your hard drive. The quick answer in a teaching environment is to abandon hopeless Windows and CD-boot from a Knoppix LIVE! CD. The new version comes out any day now. All machines will be identical, nobody can hack the OS, the new browser will be Firefox. You can install the CD onto the hard drive no problem . Linux runs much faster than Windows with much more modest machine resources, http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=knoppixhttp://www.applia.fr/contents/knoppix64.htmlhttp://www.knopper.net/knoppix-info/index-en.htmlhttp://www.knoppix.com/ (English)http://software.newsforge.com/software/05/03/01/1724256.shtmlhttp://www.linuxpickup.com/product_info.php/products_id/222 If you are stuck with BillGates' horror you are stuck but good. Get hold of ZTREE for the administrator to handle the hard drives, http://www.ztree.com/ A better color scheme install is http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/zt.zip after you get in in there. Nobody can make Windows work. ZTREE will get you into a Windows hard drive so you can fully appreciate the horror of it all. Nothing is invisible to ZTREE. It custom configures simply and effectively. You cannot do anything naughty without a confirm. Good luck, and remember... "The next release of Windows will work." That has been the promise since Win 3.0. Get ready for 64-bit promises. If you have AMD Athlon rather than Intel Pentium hardware, the future arrived years ago, e.g., http://www.applia.fr/contents/knoppix64.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcardmy Posted March 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 The installer for the Windows comes in a rollback software so i dont know how to configure it to intall in C only. Even with a normal windows XP installer, I do not know how to perform that task. Mind helping? Oh no, we have tried the linux and there was quite a lot of performance lag, besides, we did pay about... uhh.. well, the Win XP which came together with the NEC computer costed quite a lot so we will be using it. Very well, I will try ZTREE.. but.. uhh... hopefully it is free.. if it isnt is there any alternatives that you can recommend? Also, I need a free version of a rollback software... there are 2 partations in each hard drives so iut should be possible to use the rollback software... Thanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcardmy Posted March 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 Wildcardmy, welcome. You will need Windows XP Pro to get the kind of security you want. There is something called Group Policies (defined with the Group Policy Editor) which can be set up for different usergroups. But also in XP HOme you can make sure that your users are not admins so they at least get a little bit less access - but that gives little security, really. I have win XP Pro installed in all computers, but I'm having too much on my plate to learn the best settings for the group policies... ill do it ASAP yeah, i even set them to be run on Guest account, yet... I hate it when they install softwares and change the settings... the computers there arent theirs, yet... due to their actions, other innocent users are suffering from lags, privacy intrusion etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted March 23, 2005 Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 Ok, first the fact that you had lag on you linux box comes from large bloatiness and you not configuring it correctly. If you are talking about knoppix, then you have to realise that you were running it completely off of a cd, so lag is to be expected and shouldnt surprise you...UncleAl, liked your post, almost spoke my words, although instead of installing Knoppix to hard drive, i would install real linux using Knoppix (Gentoo or Slackware), especially on a well-performing box.As to windoze group policies, here's a good source: http://www.activedir.org/gp_faq.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.