Windows XP for Internet Cafe Terminals

Looking for info on how to lock down the machines

[davemarks]

Hi there...

I'm setting up a couple of PC's to go in the corner of an expresso bar.

The machines are running XP Home, and I'd like to lock them down to prevent abuse.

I have created a Limited User account for the users, but would like to limit it further.

IE prevent anything other than IE being run, and any personalisation changes to the OS. Also i would like to prevent IE from saving anything to disk (other than cookies etc used for browsing)

If anybody has any info on this, links etc... I would be much appreciated. I've been looking around on google, but just not coming up with the right info

Many Thanks

Dave

[bill]

Use a Drive Imaging type of software to make an image of a clean setup with all the software and features you want...then at the beginning of the business day just reload your perfect image. It then won't matter what your customers picked up or installed along the way...

[DrDoc]

Tweak-XP should work...

[davemarks]

Thanks for your comments.

Drive Image isn't really suitable for this situation, as there will only be a few machines (therefore a server wouldn't be appropriate) and no techie person on site.

Tweak Xp - I've used that before and not been very impressed. Would rather not go that route

I've actually be playing with Group Policy, which looks like it will enable me to look everything down, but it has been suggested to me that i won't be able to apply this to users and not administrators, which would effectively stop me from making changes to the machine at a later date...

[bcolflesh]

kiosks.org/software.html

SiteKiosk looks like a good bet:

sitekiosk.com

[bill]

[quote]Drive Image isn't really suitable for this situation, as there will only be a few machines (therefore a server wouldn't be appropriate) and no techie person on site.[/quite]No server necessary...store the image right on the PC, then schedule it to restore itself in the early hours...then no hassle on your part...

[JordanAutomations]

If you were willing to downgrade (some would call it upgrade, I won't get into that) to windows 98, there are several other options. You can boot Win98 or 95 from a cdrom. It would be slower, but that would guarantee that it will not be changed. search google for [boooting windows cdrom] for tutorials for setting up that.

Another thing I've done is to create a large ramdrive in the autoexec, and fill it from the a parition that it not visible from windows. This way, when you are in windows you get fast access, and a complete undo on every reboot.

[bill]

If going that far then there are some great Linux distros that will run off a CD ROM like Knoppix. It's quite speedy and can be customized.

[swizz]

Hi davemarks,

What about user policies? create a guest account, create a special policy and apply it to this account. As far as I know you can hide all icons on the desktop and leave just internet explorer on the programs menu, don't know about the saving files.

Open the MMC and insert the group or computer policies.

- Steven

[davemarks]

You can actually do the boot cd thing in XP actually, but i don't like that method - if i want to make a chnage i have to create a new disk etc. And if you consider 98 to be superior to XP you really need your head examining! Or you've been doing something wrong

I have been playing with the MMC and group policies - I like this method most, as it means i can make changes easily and remotly. Only problem is that in XP Pro/Home without a domain controller, the policy refelcts all users on the machine, not just one account :(

I may be wrong and if i am, please tell me what i'm doing wrong

Thanks for everyones comments