My Windows XP Customizer

Here's something I developed in Visual Studio 2008 to customize/tweak my Windows XP Professional OS.
p.s : The App requires that the dot net framework to be installed first.

you can download it here

How to restrict the guest account

Step 1:
Log into a local administrative account.
Choose Manage from the My Computer Context Menu.
From the Computer Management window browse to
System Tools > Users and Groups > Users
Double click on Guest to access the Guest Properties window
Click the Member Of tab
Click the Add button
From the Select Groups window click the Advanced... button
Click on the Find Now button
Select Administrators from the list
Keep clicking on all the OK buttons till it exits the Guest Properties window

This step just gave the guest account administrative privileges to run tools such as regedit, GPedit.msc, Services.msc, MMC, DOC, etc.

Close all the open windows and log off from the administrative account.

Step 2:
Log into the local Guest account.

Apply whatever restrictions you wanted to add to the guest user using regedit, MMC, or other tools.

Log off from the Guest Account.

Step 3:
Log back into the Administrative account.

Go back into Local Users and Groups>Users>Guest

Open the Guest Properties and click the Member Of tab. Select Administrators and click the Remove button.
Click OK.

Thats it. You now have a guest account with whatever restrictions you wanted to apply to it.

Prohibit a user from changing LAN settings using the registry

To provide restrictions even for administrator accounts merge the following in the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Network Connections]
"NC_EnableAdminProhibits"=dword:00000001

To prohibit access to properties of a LAN connection:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Network Connections]
"NC_LanProperties"=dword:00000000

To disable the Ability to enable/disable a LAN connection:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Network Connections]
"NC_LanConnect"=dword:00000000

To prohibit TCP/IP advanced configuration:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Network Connections]
"NC_AllowAdvancedTCPIPConfig"=dword:00000000

To Prohibit access to the advanced settings item on the advanced menu:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Network Connections]
"NC_AdvancedSettings"=dword:00000000

To Prohibit access to the new connection wizard:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Network Connections]
"NC_NewConnectionWizard"=dword:00000000

Prohibit a user from changing LAN settings using Group Policies

One way is to give a limited account to the user. But what about accounts that need other administrative privileges? Well here how you can restrict network settings for the administrative user account:

Run GPEdit.msc

Go to User Configuration> Administrative Templates > Network > Network Connections.

Here you’ll find many network restrictions.

The ones I find useful are:
Prohibit access to properties of a LAN connection
Ability to enable/disable a LAN connection
Prohibit TCP/IP advanced configuration
Prohibit access to the advanced settings item on the advanced menu
Prohibit access to the new connection wizard

None of the above seemed to be working for an administrative account. Later on I learned that for it all to work in an administrative account I had to enable this:

Enable Windows 2000 Network Connections settings for Administrators.

How to edit the windows registry: Video tutorial for beginners

Well here’s a simple video tutorial to edit the registry. It lacks audio though.

Hope it helps somebody:)

Prevent changing file associations using the Folder Options

To prevent users from changing file associations using the File Types tab in Folder Options, merge the following in the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] "NoFileAssociate"=dword:00000001

Delete the key to allow changing the associations.

Remove options to Shutdown using the Start menu and the task manager

Merge the following into the registry to remove access to shutdown using the Start menu and the task manager.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] "NoClose"=dword:00000001

You can shutdown using the command prompt or by first logging off. to get it back change the value of NoClose to 0 or delete the key.

Make Explore/Open the first option when you right-click a folder

To make Explore the first option in the right-click, merge the following to the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell] @="explore"

To make Open the first option in the right-click, merge the following to the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell] @="open"

Reset User Password without knowing the previous password

Manage local groups using the command prompt