Can you stop MSN Messenger with logon scripts or group policy 1

[ftoddt]

I have seen other threads about using group policy to do this. In my win-2k pro server, I open the policy I wish to edit, and I cannot find anything that would allow me to limit appications that run on a client computer that allows me to be specific as to what programs not to run.
I am very weak at scripting and found a script that supposedly worked a few years back on older versions of MSN messenger but did not work for me now even when I tweaked it to fit the newer folder and file names.
Perhaps there is a script that I can add to my client logon scripts that deletes the folder or startup file.
As I said, I am not near as good at this as I would like to be. Thanks in advance for any advice or help
Todd

 

[meastaugh1]

I think this will only work on XP clients, not sure what clients you have, so don't know how helpful this is...

What you're looking for is 'Software Restrictions' and can be found under the Computer node\Windows Settings\Security Settings of group policy. It allows you to choose between two security levels Disallowed or Unrestricted. Using disallowed will disallow everything by default, and unrestricted vice versa. You can then specify file or path exceptions to these security levels.

For a better introduction, see

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prdd_sec_ghxn.asp

Note, you can only edit software restrictions on XP or 2003, not 2000.

 

[ftoddt]

meastaugh1,
Thanks for confirming my fears about the group policy. My clients are all win-2k. I appreciate your time. Perhaps their is a script that I can use but have not figured out.
Todd

 

[meastaugh1]

Ahh, shame.

You could always try incorporating this reg fix into group policy, or a login script:

http://www.updatexp.com/disable-messenger-msn.html

 

[ftoddt]

meastaugh1,
Well it looks like at the very least that I may be able to add keys to the windows 2000 registry just like you can to the XP and then modify each computer one by one. Time consuming for 150+ computers but I may be able to make a script that does the same thing. I'll keep researching.
Thanks again for that link.
Todd

 

[meastaugh1]

You could create an administrative template based around that registry entry then create a group policy and import the admin template. You can look at the default ADMs in Windows and can probably copy one and modify to suit this purpose. You'd probably need to do a bit of looking around (on the net) to get this to work, but it's not majorly complicated. I suppose it's a bit long-winded for a relatively small change but could be useful if you wanted to do similar registry editing on your 2k clients in the future.

Or you could create a batch file login script which uses the reg import command...

I'm sure the tidiest login script would be VBScript, but I don't know VBS at all.

 

[ftoddt]

I just finished trying the registry change on my work computer the it would not reboot. Panic city then I realized I had a floppy disk in. Soon as I took that out, it booted right up but did not stop msn messenger? Rats.
I am weak at VBS but have done some simple stuff.
As far as importing an administrative template, I will try that but I would think it would work like when you import an administrative template from XP so you can add more mods to xp clients. It only works on XP clients. I am thinking that anything newly created will not work unless it is there already but it is worth the try..
Thanks again..

 

[meastaugh1]

Oh right, to be honest I didn't test it myself.

Instead try creating two DWORD keys under: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client

PreventRun
PreventAutoRun

and give each entry a value of 1

---

I think creating your own admin template and importing it should work on 2k. I'm pretty sure there should be some ADM files on your 2k server by default (to look at).

Good luck

 

[meastaugh1]

Btw, that'll only work on V4 of msn messenger, V5 has had the ability to restrict removed.

Other options are to use a script to run the uninstall command to remove msn messenger.

 

[ftoddt]

Thanks again,
Will be a few days befor I get to the server and look at those adm files. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Todd