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User Account Security Switches may be used to lock down many aspects of a Windows PC. Important Note: 'Default New User' settings is the 'Minimum Security Level' of the PC and is the settings each new Windows logged in user will inherit. After logging in as Desktop Administrator simply select (click on) the user account at the left and edit that user's switches showing to the right of that user name on the Administrator Program.
Here is the list of switches (checkboxes and entries displayed on the right) after the Desktop Administrator has logged in (using the Administrator Button) for setting each user's levels of access to the desktop and the internet:
Settings function in all Window 32bit OS unless otherwise indicated with the following abbreviations shown below:
9x = works with Windows 95 and 98
Me = works with Windows ME
NT = works with Windows NT4
2K = works with Windows 2000
XP = works with Windows XP
None of Above = works with all Windows 32-bit operating systems
Boot Settings:
- Disable Boot Menu - Disables the boot text menu shown when Windows is loaded or booted.
- Disable F8 Boot Keys (9x,Me) - Disables boot function keys (F8) when Windows boots.
- Force User Logon (9x,Me) - Forces the user to login using a Windows user account when Windows boots.
- Load ActivatorDesk at StartUp - Forces ActivatorDesk main program to load when Windows starts.
- Require Network Validation (9x,Me) - Forces users to validate on a Windows network server.
Desktop Settings:
- Disable Desktop Icons - Disables (hides) Windows desktop icons. *Agent
- Disable Display Settings - Disables the Desktop settings 'right-click' dialog so user cannot change wallpaper, schemes, and all desktop settings. This may be used to lock desktop settings in place so they may not be tampered with.
- Disable Modify File Types(2K/XP) - Disables users ability to change program file type associations.
- Disable Start Button - Disables (hides) Windows Start button and menus. *Agent
- Disable Task Bar - Disables (hides) Windows Task Bar and its buttons and menus. *Agent
- Disable Tray Display - Disables (hides) from user the task bar tray and clock. *Agent
- Display Hi-Color Icons - Enables display of high-color desktop icons..(like in Win98 Plus)
- Enable ActivatorDesk Wallpaper - Switches the wallpaper displayed to 'actwall.bmp'
- Enable Task Switch - Turns on the ActivatorDesk TaskSwitch. The TaskSwitch is the ActivatorDesk Start Menu and Task Manager program or desktop. *Agent
- Lock size Position Taskbar (NT/2K/XP) - Locks the screen position of the Windows desktop taskbar.
- Hide All Disk Drives - Hides all diskdrives from user.
- Hide Disk Drive A: - Hides Only Drive letter A (usually floppy disk drive).
- Hide Network Neighborhood - Disables display of the Network Neighborhood icon in all applications and the desktop.
- Lock size Position Taskbar (NT/2K/XP) - Locks the screen position of the Windows desktop taskbar.
Internet Browser Settings:
- Disable Downloading(2K/XP) - disables file downloading in Internet Explorer and ActivatorDesk.
- Disable IESetup - Disables the Internet Options or Properties dialog so user may not tamper with Internet Browser security or default IE settings. *Agent
- Disable MS-Favorites - Disables Favorites in Internet Explorer (not ActivatorDesk).
- Disable Right Click - Disables the mouse right-click menu in the ActivatorDesk browser so user may not View Source or apply other right-click functions. *Agent
Personal Settings:
- Block Ad Directories - Blocks advertisements, like common banner ads, and corresponding cookies or 'web-bugs' when browsing the internet using a common directory string list.
- Block Ad Servers - Blocks advertisements, like common banner ads, and corresponding cookies or 'web-bugs' when browsing the internet using a common ad-server list.
- Kill Browser Popups - This switch turns off ALL those annoying internet browser window popups without exception including any cookies or 'web-bugs' they would deposit on your computer.
- Make Default Browser - Causes the main desktop browser program, when loaded, detect if it is the default internet browser and enables setting it to the default browser.
- Open Popups in New Tab - Causes web page popups to be opened in a newly generated browser-tab.
Program Settings:
- Disable Control Panel - disables use of Windows Control Panel. *Agent
- Disable MS-DOS Prompt - disables MS-DOS Prompt *Agent
- Disable Non-Secured Browsers - disables use of common browsers other than ActivatorDesk so that safe browsing with ActivatorDesk is enforced. *Agent
- Disable RegEdit - disables use of the Regedit.Exe and Regedit32.Exe registry editors to prevent tampering with the registry. *Agent
- Disable Task Manager - Disables use of Windows task manager. Note that nonresponding applications can now be closed from the ActivatorDesk TaskSwitch (desktop). *Agent
- Disable Windows Explorer - Disables use of Windows Explorer. *Agent
(Above switches issued with Beta 4 version Nov 2001.)
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Default New User Settings = Minimum PC Security Level:
If the Administrator has set the Default New User or Default Security switches, then the user will not be able to change or engage an over-ride of those switch settings and each new user logging in wil receive all these settings. If an ActivatorDesk user attempts to change a default setting that potentially violates a default security setting, that person will see a popup message asking that person to contact your desktop Administrator to change that setting.
Connect the Desktop to Your Portal or Web-Services:
Using the 'Control Page' an Administrator may assign each user the default load-up page of the desktop. This setting may only be changed by the desktop Administrator and not users. This may be any website on the internet, intranet, or actual pages within the ActivatorDesk local desktop portal, e.g. act:kidgrid.htm (loads KidGrid), act:news.htm (loads Infogrid News page), act:favorites.htm (loads Favorites from user), etc. This may be individualized in each user account. This is particularly useful if the user is restricted to 'KidGrid' links only, for example. The default button loads the main page, act:control.htm.
DDK (Digital Dynamic Key): If you wish to secure your web services by authenticating not only a user login and password but also the PC (location) click DDK Demonstration (requires Beta 4 or above) Patent pending DDK authentication utilizes a unique machine identifier which is dynamically passed to your login automatically. No expensive to install machine side static digital certificate is required.
Automatically Generate Favorites and Program Shortcuts:
With the above Administrator dialog (which appears only for 'Default New User') you may select an established database user from which to automatically copy Favorites and Program links from. Each New User logging in will automatically receive these links.
An Administrator may also import Windows User Profiles Names using the button at the bottom of the program for prebuilding a standard desktop security database for distribution network-wide for fast mass lockdown of corporate desktops.
Safe Sites Browsing:
- Disable Import Programs - Disables importing of Start button menus into ActivatorDesk. When combined with 'Disable Start Button' then provides the user with limited list of programs to be used.
- Favorites Only - New feature allows browsing to user selected 'favorites only' sites. Favorites may be imported from IE or Netscape and then this switch engaged as a safe-sites-only list. Note this also disables importing or adding of new favorites in ActivatorDesk. *Agent
- InfoGrid Links Only - Restricts internet browsing to safe links on adult InfoGrid ONLY (Note: Unrestricted Browsing switch must be unchecked or Off to function.) *Agent
- KidGrid Links Only - Restricts internet browsing to safe links on Children's KidGrid ONLY (Note: Unrestricted Browsing switch must be unchecked or Off to function.) *Agent
- PreSchool Links Only - Restricts internet browsing to safe links on Young Children's PreSchool ONLY (Note: Unrestricted Browsing switch must be unchecked or Off to function.) *Agent
- Unrestricted Browsing - Permits internet browsing to any website requested on the internet. (default mode)
For detailed information about Safe-Sites-Only internet browsing click Safe-Sites-Only
Shutdown Settings:
- AutoClose NonResponding(NT/2K/XP) - Automatically closes the 'Not Responding' popup dialogs when closing Windows.
- Clear Typed URL History - Clears (washes) AddressBox typed URL history upon closing ActivatorDesk.
- PowerOff After Shutdown(NT/2K/XP) - Enables BIOS power-down upon shutdown of Windows (note that this setting is dependent upon proper computer BIOS capabilities)
- Purge IE Cache 1 Day - Purges (washes) ActivatorDesk (IE) Browser Cache (history, cookies, and links) for 1 day on exiting ActivatorDesk.
- Purge IE Cache All - Purges (washes) all ActivatorDesk (IE) Browser Cache (history, cookies, and links) on exiting ActivatorDesk.
- Purge IE History 1 Day - Purges (washes) ActivatorDesk (IE) Browser Cache history for 1 day on exiting ActivatorDesk.
- Purge IE History All - Purges (washes) all ActivatorDesk (IE) Browser Cache history on exiting ActivatorDesk.
*Agent Caution: The administrative switches above, and at left, are used to lockdown a Windows PC. These switches will only function when the ActivatorDesk Agent program is loaded. (These features are not actively available in standard Microsoft Windows security or script settings.) Therefore, the switches indicated cause ActivatorDesk Agent to load at the boot-up or loading of Windows itself when you turn on your PC. If a switch is checked or turned-on, and Agent is not loaded, it will be loaded to activate the switch.
To remove Agent from loading at Windows startup, all of the above 'marked blue' switches must be unchecked for the related user account in the Administrator program and Agent then will not load at the loading of Windows startup for that user. Many of these switches require a reboot of Windows to be activated or to perform reliably.
Production Note: The above features are limited for the beta release of ActivatorDesk. Many features and desktop controls are planned and in production. If you have a particular feature you are looking for, please contact us and we may accelerate that feature to the front of our production efforts to deliver it to you sooner. To contact us click Contact Us
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