[WEB4LIB] Hiding icons from Desktop

[TMGB]

I use the Policy Editor to create policies and have "Hide Network
Neighborhood"  enabled.  All of the Library's public PCs log into an NT
Alpha server which distributes the policy to each computer depending on
that computer's login name.  You can also run the policy on individual
machines.  If the Policy Editor is not on the local machine then you can
choose add/remove programs from the Control Panel and then choose
Windows Setup.  Next choose "Have Disk", on the Windows CD the path is
\admin\apptools\poledit and choose poledit.inf although I believe either
choice at this point always installs poledit and grouppol anyway.  If
you use an NT server you can also set up where to pick up the user
profile which allows you to set up a specific desktop for each different
login.  Policy editor also allows you to lock out control panel and
other settings and disable writing to the registry.  You should first
set up a profile that has access to everything that you can use to login
to the machine to edit the policies.  You can set up policies for many
different users in the profile editor and it invokes the policy based on
login name and default user is no login which I have set on our PCs
access to nothing if there is not a valid login.  

To this day, since my first post about two years ago requesting how to
get My Computer icon off the desktop, I have not seen any information
outside of maybe using third party software or "No icons on the desktop"
from the Policy Editor which means the only program choices are then
only under the start menu.  

I've just recently down loaded "Red Hand" which allows you to set it as
the desktop so that might hide the My Computer icon.  This is a security
program that logs keystrokes on the computer and can lock and hide
directories you tell it to.  It can be found at
http://www.harddrivesoftware.com  If you down load and decide to try
this program, be sure to READ the readme files.  If you try to uninstall
this outside of their built in uninstall program you might corrupt your
data, also make and use the keydisk.  I haven't loaded it anywhere yet
to evaluate its use in our library but here is the description from
their website:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Monitoring, visible or invisible, will show all activity that has taken
place on a network or computer. The log file is encrypted and accessible
only with the password from any workstation.

Security features include full control of Windows, up to replacing the
entire desktop; plus protected policy controls which can remove features
like ‘Run’ ‘Find’ and ‘Control Panel’ from the Start Menu and protect
many other sensitive areas.

Network control- update security settings easily in real time on any
single machine, group of machines or the entire network. Installation on
the server is not required and RedHand will work with any network
protocol.

Internet security prevents users accessing ‘Adult’ sites, monitors and
time-limits Internet activity.

Security Manager for safe and organised storage of multiple passwords.

Easy to use - even if the program is operating invisibly, an additional
'Keydisk’ facility saves typing the password while others are watching.

Help files included.

Safe - No program files required on the server. Simple uninstall 

Simple Installation - Run the downloaded file to install and click on it
in the 'Start Menu'. Once running, call up the password box from the
icon in the system tray and enter the password to view the log. It's as
simple as that!


RedHand also records the amount of time that every application is open
and can evaluate usage across the entire network giving a valuable
insight into a company's software requirements.
 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Thomas



Kim Lim wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> We hide most of the icons from our desktop (Windows 95); so that we can
> put our short-cut icons there for easy access to our database. But the "My
> Computer" and "Network Neighborhood" icons won't go away. What's annoying
> us is that sometimes they float around and become distracting. I wonder if
> anyone can help me solve this problem.
> 
> Kim Lim
> Skyline College
> San Mateo County Community College District

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Thomas McMillan Grant Bennett      Appalachian State University
Computer Consultant II             University Library
bennettt at am.appstate.edu          
http://www.library.appstate.edu/webmaster/
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operating system that was originally coded for a 4-bit microprocessor.
 - Chris Dunphy     Boot Magazine