I'm a network administrator and I've been tasked with keeping our users from
being able to play games in Excel such as PacMan, Astroids........

Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can do this?

The only sure way is against the law. <g>

"Brian" wrote:

> I'm a network administrator and I've been tasked with keeping our users from
> being able to play games in Excel such as PacMan, Astroids........
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can do this?

Threaten them with disciplinary action when they're caught?



Brian wrote:
>
> I'm a network administrator and I've been tasked with keeping our users from
> being able to play games in Excel such as PacMan, Astroids........
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can do this?

--

Dave Peterson

If i remember correctly, when i was still working, our techs went around and
uninstalled the programs. With todays technology, you should be able to do
that with code on the LAN.

"Brian" wrote:

> I'm a network administrator and I've been tasked with keeping our users from
> being able to play games in Excel such as PacMan, Astroids........
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can do this?

Brian,

If I rename a file from "PacMan.xls" to "Financial Returns 2007.xls" then you would never be able to
tell what I am doing....and besides, I may just be trying to learn advanced Excel programming
techniques from using that file.

Bernie
MS Excel MVP


"Brian" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:A652E5DB-2583-4DC2-A23A-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm a network administrator and I've been tasked with keeping our users from
> being able to play games in Excel such as PacMan, Astroids........
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can do this?

Here is more:

http://manageengine.adventnet.com/pr...-policies.html

"Brian" wrote:

> I'm a network administrator and I've been tasked with keeping our users from
> being able to play games in Excel such as PacMan, Astroids........
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can do this?

I wouldn't mind setting a policy, but like others said if they rename a
game.xls file the game will still work. That and there are hundreds of games
written. There would be no way to keep up. I assume if I blocked all VBA
code from running in Excel, that would work, but I can't do that because
there are business reasons for VBA code.

I'm wondering if there is any commonality between the games that
distinguishes them from.....macros or other business legit code?

"JLGWhiz" wrote:

> Here is more:
>
> http://manageengine.adventnet.com/pr...-policies.html
>
> "Brian" wrote:
>
> > I'm a network administrator and I've been tasked with keeping our users from
> > being able to play games in Excel such as PacMan, Astroids........
> >
> > Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can do this?

i'm no guru, but...... i'd say it depends on how sophisticated your
users are. if they're the ones learning VBA & writing macros, then
it's going to be a lot harder. but for others......
for instance, my secretary loves the macros that **i** write, & uses a
lot of VBA, but knows nothing about how to get into them, get into the
VBA editor, or anything like that. for that person i'd simply insert
a hidden worksheet in the game workbook named UNAUTHORIZED & have an
auto-open macro in personal.xls that checks for the existence of that
sheet. if found, they get a message saying "this is a spreadsheet not
authorized for use during business hours." & have it close itself.

but that's assuming you know where all these game workbooks are, what
their names are, and that the users won't know how to get around that.
just my ideas.

susan




On Feb 6, 2:37*pm, Brian <Br...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> I wouldn't mind setting a policy, but like others said if they rename a
> game.xls file the game will still work. *That and there are hundreds of games
> written. *There would be no way to keep up. *I assume if I blocked allVBA
> code from running in Excel, that would work, but I can't do that because
> there are business reasons for VBA code. *
>
> I'm wondering if there is any commonality between the games that
> distinguishes them from.....macros or other business legit code?
>
>
>
> "JLGWhiz" wrote:
> > Here is more:
>
> >http://manageengine.adventnet.com/pr...ral/windows-se...
>
> > "Brian" wrote:
>
> > > I'm a network administrator and I've been tasked with keeping our users from
> > > being able to play games in Excel such as PacMan, Astroids........
>
> > > Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can do this? *- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Nobody works 8 hours a day every single day. That is just the way it is. Some
people play games and some people answer questions on newsgroups (at least
that's what the smart ones do). If you block people from playing games that
will not necessarily make them any more productive. They will just stand
around the water cooler and complain about how much of a tyrant their boss is.

If you want people to stop playing games then motivate them to do their
work. That of course is an infinitly more difficult task than removing the
games.
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Brian" wrote:

> I'm a network administrator and I've been tasked with keeping our users from
> being able to play games in Excel such as PacMan, Astroids........
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can do this?

Thanks for the reply. I'm not worried about blocking this functionality from
VBA programmers, just the normal secretaries, and HR and.......

When you say add a hidden worksheet in the game workbook are you talking
about doing that per game per PC?

About adding an auto-open macro in personal.xls that checks for the
Unauthorized sheet, once again is that per game per PC?

"Susan" wrote:

> i'm no guru, but...... i'd say it depends on how sophisticated your
> users are. if they're the ones learning VBA & writing macros, then
> it's going to be a lot harder. but for others......
> for instance, my secretary loves the macros that **i** write, & uses a
> lot of VBA, but knows nothing about how to get into them, get into the
> VBA editor, or anything like that. for that person i'd simply insert
> a hidden worksheet in the game workbook named UNAUTHORIZED & have an
> auto-open macro in personal.xls that checks for the existence of that
> sheet. if found, they get a message saying "this is a spreadsheet not
> authorized for use during business hours." & have it close itself.
>
> but that's assuming you know where all these game workbooks are, what
> their names are, and that the users won't know how to get around that.
> just my ideas.
>
> susan
>
>
>
>
> On Feb 6, 2:37 pm, Brian <Br...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> > I wouldn't mind setting a policy, but like others said if they rename a
> > game.xls file the game will still work. That and there are hundreds of games
> > written. There would be no way to keep up. I assume if I blocked all VBA
> > code from running in Excel, that would work, but I can't do that because
> > there are business reasons for VBA code.
> >
> > I'm wondering if there is any commonality between the games that
> > distinguishes them from.....macros or other business legit code?
> >
> >
> >
> > "JLGWhiz" wrote:
> > > Here is more:
> >
> > >http://manageengine.adventnet.com/pr...ral/windows-se...
> >
> > > "Brian" wrote:
> >
> > > > I'm a network administrator and I've been tasked with keeping our users from
> > > > being able to play games in Excel such as PacMan, Astroids........
> >
> > > > Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can do this? - Hide quoted text -
> >
> > - Show quoted text -
>
>