Bombproofing Win-NT / Win95

[BEARDEN_CHARLES]

Ulrich,

There are several things you can do.  I do recommend using Policy Editor, 
as it changes the Registry settings to disable much of what you want to 
disable.  I am writing from home, so I can't consult its menus directly, 
however.  

You can allow only certain Windows applications to be run.  You can also 
hide all Desktop icons, all drives in My Computer, you can disable Find, 
Run, and Settings on the Start button.  You can also hide Network 
Neighborhood altogether.  You can disable MSDOS (incl. shutting down to 
MSDOS).  

As for information about setting up user policies, get the Windows 95 
Resource Kit from the www.microsoft.com site.  It includes a fairly 
extensive help file that treats this topic.

We are running Win 95 workstations as OPAC/Internet clients on our 
Ethernet/LAN.  What we did to protect the LAN was to delete all the 
Novell protocols, leaving only TCP/IP and the driver for our Ethernet 
cards.  Network neighborhood then went away of its own accord.  I am 
totally unfamiliar with Windows NT.  

You might also consider using a 16-bit Netscape client that uses an INI 
file instead of the Registry to store its settings.  You can make this 
INI file Read-only to prevent changes from being saved.  

To ensure that Netscape loads first thing after Win95 startup:  edit the 
WIN.INI file to make the load= line read:

	load=c:\netscape\netscape.exe
(substitute the actual path if different)

This is an alternative to using the StartUp group under Start => Programs.

To prevent interruption of the boot up process, edit the MSDOS.SYS file 
and either add or edit the line

	BootKeys=0

This setting disables F8 and other keys that interrupt the boot process.

As I recall, CTRL+O remains a problem in newer Netscape releases.  The 
Win95 Open dialog box also allows patrons to delete, rename, etc. any 
files displayed there.  Hide Icons and Drives may mitigate this problem 
somewhat.  

I hope these tips help!

Mit freundlichen Gruessen aus Houston, Texas,

Chuck Bearden
Houston Public Library
cbearden at hpl.lib.tx.us
713/247-3499