Securing the Desktop on Windows 95

Hi, on our old Deskpros (horrible) which connect to a 2000 Server, is it possible to stop users adding things to the desktop? We want the desktop visible, but unwritable.

 

Hi,

I'm aware of policies as we use them on this network, for both our 2000/XP clients and our 9x clients.

Which policy for 9x prevents writing to the desktop?

 

If you mean someone across the network. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the folder C:\Windows\Desktop. Right click on the folder, and select Sharing, then click on Shared As, let it say Desktop. You will see where you can set it at Read Only. This will not stop someone at the computer itself.

For the computer user, you need Active Desktop enabled (this is the part I don't like).
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop
All the below are DWORD Values, with a Value Data of 1 to enforce.

NoAddingComponets
NoDeletingComponets
NoEditingComponets

Or you can try this at HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
NoActiveDesktopChanges

 

Active Desktop! Nasty... Don't really want to install IE extensions (due to speed). If I have to, I'll move them up to 98, but we're phasing the machines out soon anyway, they're awful... Most of our machines are fast Evo's or Optiplex's w/ 2000 or XP... but a few exceptions unfortunately.

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

 

Ok - Solved it. In the end, I used the policy editor on the network to redirect the desktop to a read-only network location, and put all important shortcuts in there.