Locking down public computers

[Phillip Whitford]

Windows guru Mark Minasi offers a free product he calls Steadier State
as a replacement for Steadystate. I haven't used it but you can find it
here: http://www.steadierstate.com/

 

Here's what he said about it in Issue 87, February 2010, of his
Networking Tech Page: 

"My Free Replacement for Steady State... Steadier State

I know that a lot of you really miss Steady State, the tool that lets
you essentially create virtual machine "snapshots," but on a physical
copy of Windows like a classroom lab PC, public library workstation,
kiosk PC etc, and that lets you un-do all of the mess done to a Windows
box in under four minutes with no admin interaction needed. So I created
what I call Steadier State. Put it on a PC, get it the way you like it,
and snapshot the machine. Then turn it loose on the public for as long
as you like, and reboot it. One of the reboot options will be "Roll Back
Windows," and if you choose that, then in under four minutes everything
that the users did is completely un-done. Give it a try at
http://www.steadierstate.com."

 

Phillip B. Whitford

Associate Director for Support Services

Braswell Memorial Library

Rocky Mount, NC 27804

Opinions expressed may not be those of my organization

 

From: Carol Hassler [mailto:Carol.Hassler at WICOURTS.GOV] 
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2012 10:30 AM
To: WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Locking down public computers

 

Hello,

 

I didn't see much discussion of this in the archives. If I missed the
answer to my question, please let me know! I've been reading the
"Locking down IE" thread with great interest...

 

Our IT department is considering trying to replace our old
SteadyState/XP public computer security with just a Windows 7 software
solution. So they're planning on moving to Windows 7, but they are
looking to roll their own solution using the OS and avoid using a third
party product like DeepFreeze.

 

Has anyone locked down their public computers using only Windows 7 -
like using the Systems Restore function for example? If not, what are
you using?

 

We have a number of needs including saving browser passwords for one of
our online databases, providing multiple browsers, and providing access
to file-based and online databases. We also want to wipe any extra files
users may have placed on the computers upon logout and prevent too much
tampering with the installed programs or computer settings. It would
also be nice to be able to somewhat easily manage software updates.

 

We've found this somewhat recent Techsoup article on "Securing public
access computers: some alternatives to SteadyState" http://goo.gl/1xyOD

 

We don't have many computers, but our IT staff are off-site, so we are
looking for as robust a solution as we can find. And if you think the
best solution is a particular product, please feel free to respond with
suggestions.

 

Thanks, everyone!

 

 

Carol Hassler
Webmaster / Cataloger
Wisconsin State Law Library
(608) 261-7558

http://wilawlibrary.gov/


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2012-01-13
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