Restricting software install

[JP]

Is there a way to restrict end users from installing
software on their windows 2000 professional desktops?
I've tried not giving them administrative rights, but some
applications seem to still install, and if I set them up
as a "user", some applications they run won't work.

Any help is appreciated

 

[Philip Nunn]

I setup my users as ONLY members of the local "Users" group. This is very
restrictive but helps manageability. If some programs do not work I
suggest using Regmon and Filemon from
http://www.sysinternals.com/win9x/98utilities.shtml run the program on a pc
logged on as a reqular user and see what happens when the program is
crashing. It should give you an indication of what the program is having
trouble accessing, either something in the file system or the registry. I
had the same problem with my users not being able to run some programs when
they were just local users, but these utilities found the problems, and then
i just simply set the NTFS and registry permissions using group policy.

Philip Nunn