Blocking Access to Games

[Matt]

Is there a way to block user access to Start>Programs>Games on Windows XP
Pro PC's running in a SBS 2000 environment?

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Alexander Suhovey]

Is there a way to block user access to Start>Programs>Games on
Windows XP Pro PC's running in a SBS 2000 environment?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Hi Matt,
You can:

1. Delete C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Games
folder. Note that you can't just delete executables itself (freecel.exe,
mshearts.exe etc) since they are in %systemroot%\system32 folder and are
protected by Windows File Protection service.
2. Set NTFS permissions on executables so users will have no acces to them
3. Uninstall Games with Windows Components Wizard (Control Panel>Add/Remove
Programs>Add/Remove Windows Components). Can't remember if Games are
available to uninstall by default. If not, do following:
- open %windir%\inf\sysoc.inf file (backup %windir%\inf\sysoc.inf before
editing!)
- find follwing lines:
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,HIDE,7
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
- remove HIDE word from lines so they will look like:
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,,7
- save and close sysoc.inf file
- Open Windows Components Wizard and see if new category "Accessories
and Utilities" appear. Games are inside it.

First two options can be easily automated with startup scripts/GPO.


hth,
Al

 

[Sean B]

You could also set a GPO to not run certain executables.
i.e. pinball.exe

Sean