disabling explorer.exe for a given account

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Hello,

I want to disable explorer.exe (the taskbar process) for an account i
have created for a windows professional xp machine.

This account will be used to operate a specific and single application,
and I dont want the user to mess around.

Any idea?

Thank you,
BTG

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

before.the.gods@gmail.com wrote in news:1126053833.684910.307690
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

> Hello,
>
> I want to disable explorer.exe (the taskbar process) for an account i
> have created for a windows professional xp machine.
>
> This account will be used to operate a specific and single application,
> and I dont want the user to mess around.
>
> Any idea?
>
> Thank you,
> BTG
>

I would first look at policies.

The other reply mentioned changing the shell line in the registry. This
may or may not be useful to you. Not sure about XP, but in earlier
version of Windows you could change the shell to an application, such as
AutoCAD, and that application will start up at boot time as the shell.
Note that it will not provide some functions that the shell does, and
your application may depend on the shell as well.

Also, there are many different ways to run a program in Windows. You can
bring up the task manager and go to the 'Applications Tab', 'New Task'
button. So the task manager would need to be disabled. You can start any
program by double-clicking an associated file. Most dialog boxes where
you browse for files will allow you to open/run any program as well.

And yes, knowing the program may help yo uget an answer.

Regards,

DanS

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

BTG,

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE is for the machine.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER is for the logged on user.

IMHO, you'd be better off looking for Group Policy/registry settings for
hiding and disabling the Taskbar, Start Menu, Start Button, etc.

Some ideas...

Hide and disable all items on the desktop
http://www.boyce.us/gp/gpcontent.asp?ID=393

Prevent changes to Taskbar and Start Menu Settings
http://www.boyce.us/gp/gpcontent.asp?ID=354

This includes policy settings and reg settings.
Windows 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 Group Policies by policy name
http://www.boyce.us/gp/gplistall.asp

Lots of tweaks here...
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
364. Right hand side
Disable Menu Bars and the Start Button

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In news:1126099294.492283.182550@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com,
steven <stevenshawk@gmail.com> hunted and pecked:
> It's a POS application I developped for a retailer client. The POS
> starts automaticallt after logon (with a logon script) and Windows
> shuts down automatically when the operator closes the POS.
>
> The idea of disabling explorer.exe is (1) to avoid the user accessing
> the taskbar and other applications on the machine and (2) to save
> memory (the POS can runs on old 300mhz)
>
> if I change
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mi­crosoft\Windows
> NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
>
> will that affect all accounts?
>
> I need the Administrator account to be able to operate normally.
>
> thank you
> BTG