Group Policies

This policy setting allows you to prevent changes to Taskbar and Start Menu Settings. If you enable this policy setting The user will be prevented from opening the Taskbar Properties dialog box. If the user right-clicks the taskbar and then clicks Properties a message appears explaining that a setting prevents the action. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting the Taskbar and Start Menu items are available from Settings on the Start menu.

This policy setting allows you to remove programs on Settings menu. If you enable this policy setting the Control Panel Printers and Network and Connection folders are removed from Settings on the Start menu and from Computer and File Explorer. It also prevents the programs represented by these folders (such as Control. exe) from running. However users can still start Control Panel items by using other methods such as right-clicking the desktop to start Display or right-clicking Computer to start System. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting the Control Panel Printers and Network and Connection folders from Settings are available on the Start menu and from Computer and File Explorer. Also see the “Disable Control Panel” “Disable Display in Control Panel” and “Remove Network Connections from Start Menu” policy settings.

Allows you to remove the Run command from the Start menu Internet Explorer and Task Manager. If you enable this setting the following changes occur:(1) The Run command is removed from the Start menu. (2) The New Task (Run) command is removed from Task Manager. (3) The user will be blocked from entering the following into the Internet Explorer Address Bar:— A UNC path: -> -> -> —Accessing local drives: e. g. C:— Accessing local folders: e. g. -> temp>Also users with extended keyboards will no longer be able to display the Run dialog box by pressing the Application key (the key with the Windows logo) + R. If you disable or do not configure this setting users will be able to access the Run command in the Start menu and in Task Manager and use the Internet Explorer Address Bar. Note:This setting affects the specified interface only. It does not prevent users from using other methods to run programs. Note: It is a requirement for third-party applications with Windows 2000 or later certification to adhere to this setting.

This policy setting prevents the system from using NTFS tracking features to resolve a shortcut. If you enable this policy setting the system does not try to locate the file by using its file ID. It skips this step and begins a comprehensive search of the drive specified in the target path. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting by default when the system cannot find the target file for a shortcut (. lnk) it searches all paths associated with the shortcut. If the target file is located on an NTFS partition the system then uses the target’s file ID to find a path. If the resulting path is not correct it conducts a comprehensive search of the target drive in an attempt to find the file. Note: This policy setting only applies to target files on NTFS partitions. FAT partitions do not have this ID tracking and search capability. Also see the “Do not track Shell shortcuts during roaming” and the “Do not use the search-based method when resolving shell shortcuts” policy settings.

This policy setting prevents the system from conducting a comprehensive search of the target drive to resolve a shortcut. If you enable this policy setting the system does not conduct the final drive search. It just displays a message explaining that the file is not found. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting by default when the system cannot find the target file for a shortcut (. lnk) it searches all paths associated with the shortcut. If the target file is located on an NTFS partition the system then uses the target’s file ID to find a path. If the resulting path is not correct it conducts a comprehensive search of the target drive in an attempt to find the file. Note: This policy setting only applies to target files on NTFS partitions. FAT partitions do not have this ID tracking and search capability. Also see the “Do not track Shell shortcuts during roaming” and the “Do not use the tracking-based method when resolving shell shortcuts” policy settings.

Prevents the operating system and installed programs from creating and displaying shortcuts to recently opened documents. If you enable this setting the system and Windows programs do not create shortcuts to documents opened while the setting is in effect. Also they retain but do not display existing document shortcuts. The system empties the Recent Items menu on the Start menu and Windows programs do not display shortcuts at the bottom of the File menu. In addition the Jump Lists off of programs in the Start Menu and Taskbar do not show lists of recently or frequently used files folders or websites. If you disable or do not configure this setting the system will store and display shortcuts to recently and frequently used files folders and websites. Note: The system saves document shortcuts in the user profile in the System-drive -> Users -> User-name -> Recent folder. Also see the “Remove Recent Items menu from Start Menu” and “Clear history of recently opened documents on exit” policies in this folder. If you enable this setting but do not enable the “Remove Recent Items menu from Start Menu” setting the Recent Items menu appears on the Start menu but it is empty. If you enable this setting but then later disable it or set it to Not Configured the document shortcuts saved before the setting was enabled reappear in the Recent Items menu and program File menus and Jump Lists. This setting does not hide or prevent the user from pinning files folders or websites to the Jump Lists. See the “Do not allow pinning items in Jump Lists” setting. This policy also does not hide Tasks that the application has provided for their Jump List. This setting does not hide document shortcuts displayed in the Open dialog box. See the “Hide the dropdown list of recent files” setting. Note: It is a requirement for third-party applications with Windows 2000 or later certification to adhere to this setting.