Admin desktop problem with Picture and Fax Viewer

[School Admin]

As a school admin I provide Win XP systems with some
obvious restrictions on USERS. Policies are set locally
(the school LAN is too fragmented to deliver policies with
an AD server). Unfortunately the "Windows Picture and Fax
Viewer" does not follow local Group Policies for Desktop
or IE. I don't think Picture and Fax Viewer follows AD
policies either. This app runs by it's own rules. I
hesitate to call it an app because there's no simple way
to change FILE TYPES in Explorer, and no simple way to
create a shortcut for "Send To".

The Problem:
By right clicking on an image in Picture and Fax Viewer,
USERS can "Set As Desktop Background". This would not be
so bad if the change was discarded during logout, but the
change is saved in the Student account.

Extra Info: An error appears in the file wiadebug.log
each time the image is set to desktop background.
CWiaDevMgr::CreateDevice Failed to find device -- It's
pretty irrelevent information, but it's the only file
modified.

So what files and reg entries are changed?

Does "Picture and Fax Viewer" change the Registry without
considering Group Policy?

Thanks
-Ann Nonomis

 

[John Inzer]

Would it help to disable the Windows
Picture and Fax Viewer?

Disable the Default Image
Viewer in Windows XP
http://tinyurl.com/k2ss

How do I turn off the Windows
Picture and Fax Viewer as
my default image viewer?
http://tinyurl.com/rbkc
--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
return e-mail disabled

Picture It! Support Center
http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=pic