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        Group Policy and Dual-Purpose Computers

Section(s): Admin
Published on May 31, 2005.
Last Modified on May 31, 2005.
Last Modified by Mitch Tulloch.
Rated 1 out of 5 based on 1 votes.

Use Group Policy to manage dual-use computers.

Say you have some computers that are used by employees during daytime work hours and for training classes during evenings and weekends. How should you secure this environment using Group Policy? The simplest way is to try to exclusively use user policy settings for this purpose and not machine policy settings. That way, you can configure a looser set of user policy settings for employees that allows them to do their work, and a tighter set of user policy settings for students to lock down what they can do. Since there’s actually quite a bit of overlap between user and machine policy settings (at least as far as registry settings under Administrative Templates are concerned) this approach is often workable.

About Mitch Tulloch

Mitch Tulloch is a widely recognized expert on Windows administration, networking, and security. He has been repeatedly awarded Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status by Microsoft for his outstanding contributions in supporting users who deploy and use Microsoft platforms, products and solutions. Mitch has published over two hundred articles on different IT websites and magazines, and he has written or contributed to almost two dozen books and is lead author for the Windows 7 Resource Kit from Microsoft Press. For more information, see www.mtit.com .