Explorer View Defaults

[Teq]

I've run into a bit of weirdness in win 2000/sp3/ie6 that I'm hoping someone might be able to help me with...

I was asked to remove the "Favorites" menu from the windows file explorer for security reasons (only certain employees are allowed web access). This would normally be simple enough, just go into the registry and turn off the "Shell Extensions" in Internet Explorer.

But, when I did that all the pre-set explorer views were lost and everything reverted back to "Large Icons". Now this person wants the views to default to "Detail". The button on folder properties to make "all windows like this window" only goes across top level directories without the shell extenstions turned on. I can get it to do what they want on a directory by directory basis by enabling the "Save Explorer Settings" and going into each directory in turn and setting the view state... except ths machine have something like 5 or 6 <i>thousand</i> directories in it. Could take weeks to do that and I'm pretty sure they will want it done before then...

So, I'm left with a some questions...

1) Is there a way to remove the "Favorites" menu from file explorer without disabling the IE shell extensions?

2) Failing #1 is there a way to default the file explorer's view to "Details" without the IE shell extensions running?

3) And if 1 and 2 aren't possible... is there utility that will mass-set the file explorer's view settings according to what I specify?


This is for a shared workstation on a small network but we are only concerned with local settings.

Any help with this would be appreciated...


--->It ain't better if it don't work<---

 

[Toejam31]

Just out of curiosity, have you tried this Registry edit?

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions. NoFavorites=1 (DWORD VALUE).

If this doesn't work, a typical tweaking program like <A HREF="http://www.tweakingtoolbox.com/ttw/" target="_new">this</A> has the ability to remove individual shell folders like the Favorites menu.

Toey

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[Teq]

Thanks for the suggestions... but that didn't get it.

Actually it took the favorites off IE not the local Explorer.

I already have the tweak tool you suggested and it doesn't seem to get it either.


--->It ain't better if it don't work<---

 

[HardWareBoss]

Have you found out who was messen with the system. Could someone have hacked in? I'm using mine on one computer. With 2000 Pro sp3 IE6 I have not run into any problems. Any new virus out there. That might have got in. I got hit with sircam 32.exe. What a pain in the butt that was.

 

[Toejam31]

I was afraid that this wouldn't work.

I wonder if placing the same Registry edit in this area would have the desired effect?

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.

I'd export the key before I tried it, just in case. And if it doesn't work, I can't think of anything else to do besides taking ownership of the folder and setting an admin password so the contents aren't accessible, or using something like <A HREF="http://www.winability.com/folderguard/" target="_new">Folder Guard</A> to set the security permissions. I looked around for two hours this morning, and couldn't find anything on removing the Favorites menu list from Explorer. Nearly everything else, including the File menu ... but not a single reference to the Favorites.

That's very irritating, if you think about it.

Toey

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[Teq]

Yep, I was up all night trying to get a way around this. Your second suggestion was the one I tried second .

The computer is packed with HIV related files and will be used for "guest" access in a local clinic, so people can keep up to speed on the latest. I've created a folder with internet links so their clients can visit a small list of "trusted" websites... but the clinic management do not want their clients sitting there cruising the internet.

Stopping open access to the net was easy I just created a "CGuest" group that has no access to those programs... but they can still click favorites and open any old webpage in windows explorer, they can also type a URL into the explorer path bar and open a page.

What I've done as an interim step is to disable the IE "Shell Extensions" in that group's policies, turn off the "Remember View Settings" in Explorer and set the thing to default to "Details". I also set up an icon to start them at the top of the document tree when they click it. It works... but nowhere near like it should.

I do appreciate your efforts on this, thank you very much...







--->It ain't better if it don't work<---