Group Policy or Setting -- Prevent Install Software

[Nickason]

I am having a network of 50 pc connected to Windows Server 2003. All the workstations in the network has Windows XP installed on it. Now the users here have rights to install applications. I want some help to disable that. I want them to use only those software that I had installed. I had seen people installing additional browser with proxy add-ons to access blocked website. I want some help to prevent the same. How can I do this.

[ekanthika]

You can do that through group policy. You will need a client side extension for the same. You can simply install and configure the same and then you can move ahead with configuration. It will be lot more easier I think. Group policy restrictions are one of the best way to block unwanted access to certain settings in the system. This is easy also.

[tynana]

This is easy through Group Policy. I will give you complete steps here how to do that. For this you will need to work on software restriction policies. First you have to create a policy. Once the element is created you can then apply the same to domain controller and move ahead. Go in Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy > Security Settings > Software Restriction Policies. Here you can create the policy and apply the settings.