You’ve seen in many places throughout this book that
you can perform some pretty amazing things by using a tool that’s about
as hidden as any Windows power tool can be: the Local Group Policy
Editor. That Microsoft has buried this program in a mostly untraveled
section of the Windows landscape isn’t the least bit surprising,
because in the wrong hands, the Local Group Policy Editor can wreak all
kinds of havoc on a system. It’s a kind of electronic Pandora’s box
that, if opened by careless or inexperienced hands, can loose all kinds
of evil upon the Windows world.
Of
course, none of this doom-and-gloom applies to you, dear reader,
because you’re a cautious and prudent wielder of all the Windows power
tools. This means that you’ll use the Local Group Policy Editor in a
safe, prudent manner, and that you’ll create a system restore point if
you plan to make any major changes. I knew I could count on you.
As
you see in this chapter, the Local Group Policy Editor isn’t even
remotely hard to use. However, it’s such a powerful tool that it’s
important for you to know exactly how it works, which will help ensure
that nothing goes awry when you’re making your changes.
Understanding Group Policies
Put simply, group policies
are settings that control how Windows works. You can use them to
customize the Windows 7 interface, restrict access to certain areas,
specify security settings, and much more.
Group
policies are mostly used by system administrators who want to make sure
that novice users don’t have access to dangerous tools (such as the
Registry Editor) or who want to ensure a consistent computing
experience across multiple machines. Group policies are also ideally
suited to situations in which multiple users share a single computer.
However, group policies are also useful on single-user standalone
machines.
Local Group Policy Editor and Windows Versions
The
power of the Local Group Policy Editor is aptly illustrated not only by
the fact that Microsoft hides the program deep in the bowels of the
system, but most tellingly by the fact that Microsoft doesn’t even
offer Local Group Policy Editor in the following Windows versions:
Windows 7 Home Basic
Windows 7 Home Premium
In
earlier versions of Windows, this tool was also removed from Windows XP
Home, Windows Vista Home Basic, and Windows Vista Home Premium. In
other words, those Windows versions that Microsoft expects novices to
be using are the same Windows versions where Microsoft doesn’t even
include the Local Group Policy Editor, just to be safe.
Of
course, plenty of experienced users use these Windows versions, mostly
because they’re cheaper than high-end versions such as Windows 7
Ultimate. So what’s a would-be policy editor to do when faced with
having no Local Group Policy Editor?
The
short answer is: Don’t sweat it. That is, although the Local Group
Policy Editor does provide an easy-to-use interface for many powerful
settings, it’s not the only way to put those settings into effect. Most
group policies correspond to settings in the Windows Registry, so you
can get the identical tweak on any Windows 7 Home system by modifying
the appropriate Registry setting, instead. Throughout this book, I’ve
tried to augment group policy tweaks with the corresponding Registry
tweak, just in case you don’t have access to the Local Group Policy
Editor.
Tip
Understanding
that most group policies have parallel settings in the Registry is all
fine and dandy, but how on earth are you supposed to know which of the
Registry’s thousands upon thousands of settings is the one you want?
The old method was to export the Registry to a REG file, make the
change in the Local Group Policy Editor, export the Registry again, and
then compare the two files. Way
too much work (and impossible if all you have to work with is a Windows
Home version)! You can also try filtering the policies as described
later .
Fortunately, Microsoft has an Excel workbook that lists every single
group policy value and gives the corresponding Registry setting. You
can download the Group Policy Settings Reference, which covers both
Windows Vista and XP (no sign of a Windows 7 version as I write this),
here:
www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=41DC179B-3328-4350-ADE1-C0D9289F09EF
Note
Given
a setting that you can tweak using either the Local Group Policy Editor
or the Registry Editor (and assuming you’re running a version of
Windows that comes with the Local Group Policy Editor), which tool
should you choose? I highly recommend using the Local Group Policy
Editor, because (as you’ll see) it offers a simpler and more
straightforward user interface, which means it saves time and you’ll be
much less likely to make an error.
Launching the Local Group Policy Editor
As
I’ve said, you make changes to group policies using the Local Group
Policy Editor, a Microsoft Management Console snap-in. To start the
Local Group Policy Editor, follow these steps:
1. | Press Start.
|
2. | Type gpedit.msc.
|
3. | Press Enter.
|
Figure 1 shows the Local Group Policy Editor window that appears. (The word Local refers to the fact that you’re editing group policies on your own computer, not on some remote computer.)
