Windows 95, NT, and upward have a number of policy keys that are
used by system administrators to govern what users can change on their
machines. These keys can be used to restrict access to control panel
pages, remove menus and icons in explorer, and shutoff helpful
"features" such as Active Desktop. Some of these keys will work
under the "HKEY LOCAL MACHINE" branch as well as under "HKEY CURRENT
USER". I think that most of the items here should be pretty self explanitory, but refer the the Windows Resource Kits for more information.
Note that changing values in the registry can be hazardous to
the health of your system. You can really make a mess in the registry
editor. Here is a list of keys (All
DWORD's set to 1 to activate, except where noted):
Under
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
- DisableTaskManager
- RestrictRun
- NoDispAppearancePage
- NoDispBackgroundPage
- NoDispCPL
- NoDispScrSavPage
- NoDispSettingPage
- NoAdminPage
- NoConfigPage
- NoDevMgrPage
- NoFileSysPage
- NoProfilePage
- NoPwdPage
- NoSecCPL
- NoVirtMemPage
Under
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
- NoAddPrinter
- NoClose
- NoDeletePrinter
- NoDesktop
- NoDrives
- NoDriverTypeAutoRun
- NoFind
- NoNetHood
- ClassicShell
- ClearRecentDocsOnExit
- EnforceShellExtensionSecurity
- LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo
- NoActiveDesktop
- NoCommonGroups
- NoFavoritesMenu
- NoFileMenu
- NoFolderOptions
- NoInternetIcon
- NoLogoff
- NoNetConnectDisconnect
- NoRecentDocsHistory
- NoRecentDocsMenu
- NoRun
- NoPrinterTabs
- NoSaveSettings
- NoSetFolders
- NoSetTaskbar
- NoTrayContextMenu
- NoViewContextMenu
- NoSetActiveDesktop
- NoStartMenuSubFolders
Under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\RestrictRun
- String values, names are a set of sequential numbers starting at
1, data contains the allowed programs.
Under
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Network
- NoEntireNetwork
- NoNetSetup
- NoNetSetupIDPage
- NoNetSetupSecurityPage
- NoWorkgroupContents
- NoFileSharingControl
- NoPrintSharingControl
Under
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop
- NoChangingWallpaper
- NoComponents
- NoAddingComponents
- NoDeletingComponents
- NoEditingComponents
- NoCloseDragDropBands
- NoMovingBands
On some corporate networks where group policies are used, registry
changes may be overwritten after you log in again. This is because
when you login to a network that has a set of group policies defined
on it, the keys defined in that policy may overwrite any changes you
have made. See Windows Group Policies for information about how
group policies work.