Windows 7 Group Policies
The Group Policy Editor is missing in Windows 7 Home, but in other versions of this version of the OS it is present and ready for use. Launching Group Policy Editor
Launching this editor is very simple. To do this, press on your keyboard hotkey combination Win + R, enter in the field gpedit.msc and click "OK».
The editor interface is identical to other administration tools: based on the left tree panel, you can obtain information on each section and make settings.
As you can see in the screenshot, on the left side all settings are divided into two parts:
• computer configuration;
• user configuration.
Each of these parts has three identical sections:
• program configuration;
• Windows configuration;
• administrative templates.
Program configuration is responsible for the settings of applications installed on the PC.
Windows Configuration is responsible for various system parameters: its settings, security settings, etc.
Administrative Templates contain configuration from system registry and are a more convenient editor than the registry itself.
Working with the editor
Configuring restrictions and various parameters here is quite simple. Let's look at an example setup: follow the path User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System, where there is no need to expand the last item - just click on the word with the left mouse button.
Here you can see several parameters for setting, among which there are settings such as:
• prohibit the use of the command line;
• deny access to registry editing tools;
• do not launch the specified Windows applications;
• run only specified Windows applications;
• automatic Windows updates.
To edit these and other parameters, you can double-click on each of them with the left mouse button. The screenshot shows that you can change the state of the parameter by setting it to the value "Included" or "Off».
How group policies work
Let's say you have disabled the use of the command line. Now, when the user decides to run it, he will receive the following error message:
The user will receive such messages whenever he tries to perform a prohibited action. If you decide to simplify the use of your PC, for example, disable "User Account Control: Administrator elevation prompt behavior", then the window about launching a program that makes changes to the system will no longer be displayed.
