Block downloading of applications

Is there some way to block downloads of free applications from the internet?

A friend runs a computer lab and wants to stop students from downloading apps from the internet - including executeable and zipped setup files.

 

Control Panel > Internet Options > Security tab. Click the Custom button, then scroll down to Downloads, File Downloads, and click Disable.

Then, to prevent anyone from having access to these settings, you will have to specify what OS they are using.

In general, adding this registry key will prevent anyone from changing IE settings:


hkey_current_user/software/policies/microsoft/internet explorer/restrictions/NoBrowserOptions

(REG_DWORD, value of 1).