Situation: Lab environment with multiple XP computers. Users logon to
various workstations all the time with their own user account and over time
this creates many profiles on each of the lab computers which fills up hard
drive space and causes the anti-virus scan to take longer.
Any ideas on what the best way to manage this situation?
That is SSSUUUUCH a good question!
The hassle of managing multiple user accounts is such a pig (having to
log into each one to apply settings or scan for malware) that I don't
use user accounts. If I have to effectively work on "3 computers"
(the same PC 3 times) because each person wants a different wallpaper,
I tend to bill accordingly.
It may be theoretically possible to work on all accounts from a single
login that has admin rights, but I'm not sure that all user hives show
up in Regedit (Roaming profiles? Profile on server? Don't know the
account password?).
It may also be theoretically possible to do something particularly
crucial: Set up the Default User account (which cannot be logged into)
from which new accounts are spawned. Without this ability, every time
some jerk spawns a new account, all settinfs duhfault back to MS and
you have to set the whole mess up again.
Things to control:
- data locations (e.g. get all the "My,.." ghettos off C
- absurdly bloated IE web cache (1G per account? Sheesh!)
- UI, such as not hiding file name extensions etc.
- risks, such as NoDriveTypeAutoRun = 91 (!) -> 9D
OTOH, if you have users spawning their own accounts, then you've
relinquished a high degree of control. An unbounded set of folks with
admin rights? Welcome to the malware fest.
MS keeps bleating "don't run as admin", while the most trivial
kiddieware won't run as anything else, but even if "new" apps "written
for XP" actually worked as non-admin, multiple user accounts are such
a PITA in present form that I can't use them.
What MS is really saying is "give up trying to control the PC and
trust our defaults and our user account limit system". No thanks,
don't let the door kick your ass on the way out.
-- Risk Management is the clue that asks:
"Why do I keep open buckets of petrol next to all the
ashtrays in the lounge, when I don't even have a car?"
