Taken from Maximum PC
Microsoft has a penchant for hiding some of the strongest, most versatile
tools for managing their operating system in places you’d never find by
yourself. Given that the average computer user is pretty dumb, this makes sense
—some of
the tools can easily screw up your computer pretty badly. But you, Maximum PC
reader, are not one of the clueless masses, so we’re going to trust you with
this: The Local Group Policy Editor.
In this article, we’ll show you how to use the Local Group Policy Editor to
tweak every aspect of your PC. We’ll also show you how to use Multiple Local
Group Policy Objects on a Windows Vista or 7 computer to create different
policies for different user accounts, allowing you to create an account just for
guests, or for the kids.
Making a system restore point
The Local Group Policy Editor is a powerful tool, capable of putting a lock
on nearly any of your computer’s capabilities. Now, as long as you’re careful
and don’t go flipping virtual switches all willy-nilly, you should be able to
prevent doing catastrophic damage to your operating system. But just in case,
now would be a great time to create a system restore point.
Launching the Local Group Policy Editor
As a high-expertise tool, you won’t find the Local Group Policy Editor
anywhere in your system’s control panel. Instead, open the Run dialogue box from
the start menu, type gpedit.msc and hit enter. The Local Group Policy Editor
will open.
At first glance, the Group Policy Window looks like a standard file explorer,
with a tree view on the left side and folder view on the right. At the bottom of
the right-hand section of the window, there are two tabs. If this is the first
time you’ve opened the Group Policy Editor, the Standard tab should be selected.
Click on the Extended tab.
Now, you should see a third element in the middle of the window. This will
give you (semi) detailed information about any policy or folder that you click
on. Since there’s thousands of policy options in the editor, these explanations
are a must. Also, the information panel tells you for which versions of Windows
that policy has an effect.
Where to look
With thousands upon thousands of settings in the group policy editor, it can
be a little intimidating to try and look around. Some sections of the editor
have more meat to them than others, though. For instance, for most of the
Windows tweaks you might want to perform, User Configuration
has more useful setting than Computer Configuration. Also, In
either section, the Administrative Templates subsection is the
most useful. This section contains all the registry-based settings, which will
allow you to tweak aspects of how Windows looks and operates.
How to Change a Setting
To enable a policy setting, just double-click on it, and then select the
radial button labeled “Enabled” and click Ok. With some settings, before you
actually see any change, you’ll need to close the group policy editor, then log
out and log back in to Windows.
Here are a few ideas for how to use Group Policy to tweak your rig:
Customize Your Start Menu
In any version of Windows, one of the most frequently used parts of the GUI
is the start menu, where you can launch programs and access all the vital
locations in your PC’s file structure. You can customize the start menu, to an
extent, by editing the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties in the control panel,
but if you really want to get down to the nitty gritty you’ll need to use the
Group Policy Editor.
You can find all of the policies associated with the start Menu in User
Configuration > Administration Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar. There
are tons of options to look at here, and the info panel will help you figure out
what they all do, but here’s a few interesting ones, to get started:
Add Search Internet link to Start Menu
Enabling this setting will add a link to the start menu search bar which
opens your default browser and performs a search for your term. Requires Windows
7 or Server 2008.
Turn off user tracking
Don’t like that your PC keeps track of which programs you run and which
documents you open? Enable this policy setting to tell Windows not to keep track
of this information. Turning off tracking will disable features that use the
information, like the frequently used program lists.
Turn off
automatic promotion of notification icons to the taskbar
Are you the type that likes to keep your taskbar host to only the icons that
you specify? If so, turn this setting on to keep Windows from letting any icons
into the taskbar without your permission. This is only available in Windows
7.
Change Your Login Screen Background
Using the Group Policy Editor, you can change the image used as the
background of the login screen.To do so, simply go the Computer
Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Logon
folder, and enable the Always use custom logon background
setting.
Now, if you place and image called backgroundDefault.jpg in
C:\Windows\System32\oobe\info\backgrounds Windows will use that
image as the background of the logon screen.
Using Multiple Local Group Policy Objects
The group policy editor, as you’ve used it so far, is excellent for making
changes to an entire system. But what should you do if you want to have several
accounts on a single machine with different policies for each? For instance,
what if you want to have an account for your friends to use, but you don’t want
them installing stuff on your computer, or you’d like an account for your kids,
which can’t change settings or delete files? Windows has made this possible in
Windows Vista and later, with Multiple Local Group Policy Objects.
You are able to manage multiple policy objects by creating a custom control
console, using the Microsoft Management Console. This console will contain 4
group policy editor "snap-ins," each with a different domain. One will effect
the entire system, one will effect all administrator accounts, one will effect
all non-administrator accounts, and one will effect a specific user account that
you have created. When there are contradictions in group policy, the most
narrowly-defined group takes precedence. That is to say, if you define one
policy for the entire computer, and a conflicting policy for a single
account,the policy specified for the single account will be the one applied.
Here’s how to set up a custom control panel with the ability to assign group
policy to individual accounts:
1. If you don’t already have a secondary account on your computer, create a
new one. This can be done by right clicking on My Computer and
selecting Manage, then navigating to the Local Users
and Groups > Users tab, and right-clicking. Make sure that the new
account you create is not an administrator.
2. From your computer’s administrator account, open the Run dialogue, and
type mmc.exe.
3. In the window labeled Console1, click on File
> Add/Remove Snap-in.
4. From the Available Snap-ins list in the dialogue box that opens up, select
Group Policy Object Editor, then click
Add.
5. Another dialogue box, labeled Select Group Policy Object
will open up. Under “Group Policy Object,” the Local Computer
option should be selected. Click Finish.
6. Repeat steps 4-5, but when you get to the Select Group Policy
Object dialogue box, click Browse and select the group
called Administrators. Repeat this process two more times, once
selecting the group called Non-Administrators and once
selecting the individual account you want to be able to create policies for.
7. Finally, in the Console1 window, click File >
Save, and choose a name and a location to save your custom console to.
You’ll run this console whenever you want to edit group policy settings.
Now, you've got a single control console with policy editors that will allow
you to specify exactly which policies apply to which users. Stricly speaking,
you don't need the consoles for Administrator and non-Administrator Users if you
just want to make one account with different policies, but it doesn't hurt to
include them in the console, and including them illustrates how you can apply
group policy to user groups, as well as individual users.
