Disabling IE on a PC

[TopDawg]

I have been given the task of disabling IE on a users machine. Can this be done through Policies?

Thanks:

 

[CoffeeBuzz]

I know you can disable IE (and any other application) with group policies by specifying the executable to not run, but I'm not sure where it's located. If you choose to go this route, look for a policy that states something like "Do not allow Windows applications to run." Also, I don't know if disabling IE will have any other adverse affects since it's so integrated into the OS. Test it first.

A simpler option might be to logon to that machine as administrator and change the permissions of iexplore.exe to allow only the administrator access (this assumes the operator is not an adminstrator). Locate iexplore.exe (c:\program files\internet explorer) Right click, properties, security tab, and remove all except adminstrators. They will be denied access when trying to launch Internet Explorer. Hope this helps.

 

[Zelandakh]

or use a GPO for them to set their proxy seetings incorrectly so that they can't go anywhere.

 

[pbxman]

Wow - good luck on that one! Post back with the results, but i'd think Win2K would fall on it's face if IE was truly "disabled". Anyway - to follow up with Zelandakh's suggestion, you should also get rid of the easy access to it

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

set or create the NoInternetIcon value name, a REG_DWORD data type, to 1

That will remove IE from the desktop and quick launch areas. Maybe the user wont know what he/she is missing!

Post back with results..im curious. pbxman
Systems Administrator

Please let Tek-Tips members know their posts were helpful.

 

[mis25]

If you want to, you can install SP3 for windows 2k and you can uninstall IE totally. I have done this on a few machines we have and it seems to work fine. I haven't had any problems so far with sp3 (cross my fingers) so i think that it is pretty safe to install on your machines and just remove IE that way you wouldn't have to worry with it.

 

[TopDawg]

Thanks to everyone for your response. I decided to take the easy route and just change permissions on IE. Since it's just a receptionist this method works for me. However if sucessful I feel that this will grow to a larger scale. So I will be testing all the suggestions.

Thanks: