Preventing system modification?

Hey,

I really know nothing about computers compared to most people here so I'm not even completely sure that this is posted in the right section of the forums, but here goes...

Say I have some computers networked together and they're going to be available to the public. However, I do not want people able to freely access and modify the settings of the computer as to not screw anything up.

I'd want to lock out My Computer, the Control Panel, the volume control and change the Start Menu so that only certain programs are accessible.

Is there a way to do this without a program? Or, what program is suggested?

 

Well, a lot depends on what flavour of Windows you're running. You can lock just about everything down in NT/2000/XP if you know how, but it's not the same for Win9x/ME. For them, I used a program in the past called "Winboost Gold" to do exactly what you want, but I believe TweakUI can also do what you're looking for.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention that all the computers would be running off of Windows XP (most likely Corporate version).

I'll look into those programs. Thanks for the help.

 

Assuming the computers are formatted as NTFS, you don't really need any extra programs for XP, it's all about permissions. You can set up 'guest' user accounts for anyone who wants to access the computers, and adjust their permissions to only have them able to do certain things. You can set their desktop, start menu, etc to have as much, or as little access as you wish. Of course, since you admittedly don't know much about computers, it may be well worth your while to have someone who knows more about these things to do it for you. But, if you feel like learning, here's a few links to get you started:

http://www.uwec.edu/help/WinXP/perm-estab.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308418
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/itpro/managing/filesharing.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=304040
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;308419
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?