Locking down public computers

[Francis Kayiwa]

On 1/13/12 9:30 AM, Carol Hassler wrote:
> 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.

Windows Active Directory's Group Policy does all of these. While it is a 
tough animal to tame your needs will IMHO should be met by any company 
that does consulting of this sort.



>
> 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.

Most of the other solutions offered with the `easy` button tend to be 
over engineered and have a tendency to break when Windows Updates in a 
way that using GPO + Active Directory doesn't.

regards,
./fxk

-- 
TFMotD: Archive::Tar (3p) - module for manipulations of tar archives

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2012-01-13