Managing startup programs

[mikewheatie]

Hi folks,

I have a small Windows 2000 domain with 15 lab computers. They function more like kiosks than anything else, however the existing structure used local profiles which were in disarray.

I just finished standardizing a mandatory roaming profile which all kiosks use.

Unfortunately, various TSR's are starting up upon logon and each of these vary between the 15 machines.

My question to everyone is: Do you have any suggestions, programs or methods that will allow me to standardize what programs are run upon login? (This pertains more to registry settings than the Startup folder in a user profile) Something that may allow me to specify exceptions or exclusions pertaining to a particular key in the registry?

It is possible for me to set permissions on a particular registry key in Group Policy, however that is an all or nothing type solution.

I can write or find a script that parses through all the particular startup entries and determines which to keep and which to delete.

Whatever I do, I'd rather not do this manually, because I'm lazy. And to prepare me for 2 or 300 lab computers.

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.

_Mike

[silkshadow]

Humm, easy answer is to lock down the kiosks so that new programs can't be installed. Do your users have to install things? Because you can have one set image with all the programs installed and roll 'em out to however many boxes you want. This can be automated. To lock down the kiosks, there are a bunch of programs, but I have never had a need for that so don't lnow. Try searching "internet cafe software" on google. Or you can just have daily wipes/re image roll outs at the end of every day. This, again, is easy to automate.