domain/non-domain setup for "conference room computer"

[Joseph O'Brien]

Our small business has about 30 XP Pro computers on a domain. Settings
and user folders are stored locally on each machine.

I'm trying to decide the best way to set up the computer in our
conference room:

1) Keep it on the domain, and have users log on with a generic account
and password. The account would only have access to this one computer,
and all other accounts would be forbidden (except for domain admins).

2) Keep it on the domain, but have each user log in with their own
account. Files would be stored in a shared folder.

3) Take it off the domain, and have it automatically log in to a
limited local account. When users access network resources, they would
have to enter their domain username and password.

I'm inclined towards #1. It would prevent multiple user folders and
files being stored/lost in a specific user's documents folder. This
computer has a small hard drive, so I don't want a bunch of garbage
building up on it. I know there is a security issue with having a
generic domain account, but if it's limited to that computer, and its
permissions are set carefully, I don't see why not. However, I wanted
to check to see what others think. Maybe there are some better options
that I'm not thinking of.

Thanks,
joseph

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Our small business has about 30 XP Pro computers on a domain. Settings
and user folders are stored locally on each machine.

I'm trying to decide the best way to set up the computer in our
conference room:

1) Keep it on the domain, and have users log on with a generic account
and password. The account would only have access to this one computer,
and all other accounts would be forbidden (except for domain admins).

2) Keep it on the domain, but have each user log in with their own
account. Files would be stored in a shared folder.

3) Take it off the domain, and have it automatically log in to a
limited local account. When users access network resources, they would
have to enter their domain username and password.

I'm inclined towards #1. It would prevent multiple user folders and
files being stored/lost in a specific user's documents folder. This
computer has a small hard drive, so I don't want a bunch of garbage
building up on it. I know there is a security issue with having a
generic domain account, but if it's limited to that computer, and its
permissions are set carefully, I don't see why not. However, I wanted
to check to see what others think. Maybe there are some better options
that I'm not thinking of.

Thanks,
joseph

I favour option 2. Option 1 has an obvious drawback: Users
wouldn't b able to access their own files.

 

[Joseph O'Brien]

I need to clarify something: the PC in question is used only to play
back presentations in our conference room. Typically, users create a
Power Point file (or other presentation materials) at their
workstations and transfer it to the conference room computer for a
meeting. So they really don't need their own workspace on it.

Joseph