How to disable Internet Access or remove Favorite menu and address bar from Windows Explorer

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lisa
  • Start date Start date
L

Lisa

I tried to disable Internet Access by limiting IE folder security and remove
IE from desktop. However I noticed that, opening My Computer, you can still
surf the net by clicking Favorites or type in the address directly in the
Windows Explorer.

Are there anyways, I can remove "Favorites" from the Windows Explorer and
remove the address bar from Windows Explorer thru Group Policy or simply
disable Internet Access completely?

Thanks

Lisa
 
Hi Chris,

Seems to work well, however except the site www.ibm.com. Can you try and see
if you can access that site,

I have about:blank in there and nothing else, most other sites will display
the password content rating. BUT ibm go straight in.

Strange.

Thanks for you help.

Lisa
 
Lisa said:
Hi Chris,

Seems to work well, however except the site www.ibm.com. Can you try and
see if you can access that site,

I have about:blank in there and nothing else, most other sites will
display the password content rating. BUT ibm go straight in.

Strange.
Click to expand...

Lisa,
There are a couple of options you could try.
One is to set an IPSec policy, droppping all outbound packets from
workstations where the destination is on port 80 or port 443. This will
prevent 99% of web access.

The other option (and nowhere near as elegant) is to set a group policy for
IE that forces all traffic through a non-existent proxy server. IE will try
to contact the proxy (which doesn't exist) and return an error to the user.
If the users need access to an intranet site, just add this to the list of
sites that IE will bypass the proxy for.

Regards
Andy.
 
Thanks Andy,

I like your Proxy idea, but the risk is that some users can disable it. As
for IPSec, it will work but then it will be for everyone.

I don't understand when clicking on My Computer, the Windows Explorer can
actually surf the net as long as you type in the www in the address bar or
click my favorite. If so then why need IE, despite disabling the IE user can
still access thru Windows Explorer.
 
Lisa said:
Thanks Andy,

I like your Proxy idea, but the risk is that some users can disable it.
Click to expand...

Not if you disable the property page using a group policy.
If you open your group policy editor, then browse to 'User
Configuration/Admin Templates/Windows Components/Internet Explorer' you will
see a setting named 'Disable changing proxy settings'
Enable this policy and your users are stuck with what you give them. Use
permissions to filter the users that this is applied to.
As for IPSec, it will work but then it will be for everyone.
Click to expand...

That's sort of correct. It will be for everyone who logs into the computers
you specify to have the policy applied. You can filter which computers will
have the restrictions by only applying the Read and Apply Group Policy
permissions to the computers you want restricted.


Andy
 
Andy,

You are very smart. I didn't know that you can disable Proxy settings.
EXCELLENT. This would be the best solution.

Many Many Thanks.

Lisa
 
I've found an even easier way to disable IE browsing for a user or group of
users. You can apply it via the local policy by running gpedit.msc from the
Start/Run dialog or as a Group Policy in an active directory domain by
applying to selected users.

Expand the User Configuration item in the Policy window, then expand Windows
Settings\Internet Explorer Maintenance\Connection. Double-click the Proxy
Settings item and enable Proxy Settings. For all the items, set the proxy to
127.0.0.1 and port 80. This will force IE to try and find a proxy server on
the local host, which it won't (unless the person is running a proxy server
on their workstation.) Without a proxy, they will be unable to browse.

The beauty of doing this in Group Policy is, the user cannot change the
proxy back from the Internet Settings dialog. Setting it in GP disables user
control.
 
What about disabling Internet Explorer for specific time frame?

I have a daughter that stays up all night while her mother and I sleep for work the next day. While we don't mind her being on the PC at night, we do mind her downloading videos all night long. Our internet provider will cut the speed we receive data over our internet connection in half if we go over a certain amount of downloaded data within a specific timeframe.

I don't know anything about using it, but I have been looking at using the Group Policy Editor for this. Is there a way to restrict access to a specific web site or disable Internet Explorer from being used for a certain time frame?

Barry
Austin, TX
 
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