NoToolsOptions registry hack enlightenment

[Julia Schult]

I figured out something important about the registry hack which is supposed
to prevent users from messing with toolbars in Internet Explorer.  Since
several web sites on the subject fail to clarify this, I'm sending this to
the list so others won't flounder the way I did:

When you create a DWORD in the registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Internet Explorer \
Toolbars \ Restrictions
called NoToolbarOptions, and set it to 1,
it does *not* prevent the user from adding and deleting buttons from the
toolbar.
It *does*, however, prevent the user from changing the checkmarks that cause
the standard buttons, address bar, links, and radio to show on the toolbar,
so no one can make the address bar disappear, for example.

(If anyone knows how to keep users from being able to Customize the
toolbars, please let me know!  Eventually I hope to go to Public Web Browser
so I won't have to worry about it...)

FYI, I'm using registry hacks to control the following:
Explorer tweaks:
  Remove the Find command from the Start Menu (NoFind = 1)
  Remove the Run command from the Start Menu (NoRun = 1)
  Remove the Taskbar from Settings on the Start Menu (NoSetTaskbar = 1)
  Don’t save settings on exit (NoSaveSettings = 1)
IE tweaks:
  Don’t allow access to Internet Options (NoBrowserOptions = 1)
  Don’t show the Favorites menu (NoFavorites = 1)
  Prevent some toolbar changes as discussed above (NoToolbarOptions = 1)
Outlook Express tweaks:
  User cannot set up email (No Modify Accts = 1)
  User cannot get to Hotmail etc. ("modify" or create HTTP Mail Enable = 0)
(Having set the Outlook Express folder's Security to deny everyone access to
everything, these additional tweaks I think make it unusable for our
patrons.)

Which Dwords are in which keys is an exercise left to the reader.  ;-)
They're pretty easy to find out on the web once you know what terms to look
under.

---Julia E. Schult
Access/Electronic Services Librarian
Elmira College
Jschult at elmira.edu