--- TIC-TECH message:
Some people have asked me to share this way of removing the Internet
Explorer Options so that students can not change them, so here goes.
First of all, this patch involves changing the Windows' Registry settings.
This is always dangerous. You should never change the Registry without
backing it up first.
How do you backup the Windows Registry? There are several ways, but the
best way is to use a program called "ERU" that should be on your Windows
CD-ROM Disc. Just find the "ERU" (Emergency Recovery Utility) folder on
your Windows, copy it to your Hard Drive and use it before making any
Registry Edit to your system and after adding any Hardware or Software to
your system. I do this on every computer at Ingraham and once a month or
so, I have to do an Emergency Restore when some kid downloads some old game
that over writes our Windows files and Windows won't start up.
To use ERU, just run the ERU.exe files, tell it to use an alternate
directory, (the backup will NOT fit on a floppy, and use all of the other
defaults. It puts all of the backup files in a folder called "ERD" and a
program called "ERD.exe" (Emergency Recovery Disk), that you run to recover
your last good setup.
And, as to making the patch. There are two ways to do it. There are a lot
of patches that you might want to make to your Windows computer that are
very easy with a program called "WinBoost" and one called "ITweak", which
has to NoInternetOptions patch. These two programs are ShareWear and have
a 10 day trial period, and cost around $25. I find them easy to use,
reliable, and very useful around our student computers.
If you want to patch Internet Explorer to not allow option changes, you can
type into your computer, in plain text, the following little program...
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Restrictions]
"NoBrowserOptions"=dword:00000001
Save this as plain test (best to do it in WordPad) with ".reg" as the
extension...like INNoOptions.reg. Then you doube-click on this file to run
it. You will be asked if you want to merge this into the Registry. Just
say Yes, and anytime someone tries to change the Internet Explorer Options,
they will be told that they can't due to Restrictions...Go see the System
Administrator.
CAUTION...It is very difficult to get the Internet Explorer Options back
unless you purchase and register the ITWEAK program mentioned above or use
the ERD recovery method mentioned above. I do a lot of registry editing
and haven't crashed the system yet, but it is always possible. Some other
patches that I do include removing the Documents, Favorites, and Find
options under the Start menu. These items can all violate security.
-Wes
<wfelty@gte.net>
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