Category: Windows XP Professional only
Windows Automatic Updates
This setting controls automatic updates to a user’s computer. Whenever a user connects to the Internet Windows searches for updates available for the software and hardware on their computer and automatically downloads them. This happens in the background and the user is prompted when downloaded components are ready to be installed or prior to downloading depending on their configuration. If you enable this setting it prohibits Windows from searching for updates. If you disable or do not configure it Windows searches for updates and automatically downloads them. Note: Windows Update is an online catalog customized for your computer that consists of items such as drivers critical updates Help files and Internet products that you can download to keep your computer up to date. Also see the “Remove links and access to Windows Update” setting. If the “Remove links and access to Windows Update” setting is enabled the links to Windows Update on the Start menu are also removed. Note: If you have installed Windows XP Service Pack 1 or the update to Automatic Updates that was released after Windows XP was originally shipped then you should use the new Automatic Updates settings located at: ‘Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Update’
Remove Shared Documents from My Computer
This policy setting allows you to remove the Shared Documents folder from My Computer. When a Windows client is in a workgroup a Shared Documents icon appears in the File Explorer Web view under “Other Places” and also under “Files Stored on This Computer” in My Computer. Using this policy setting you can choose not to have these items displayed. If you enable this policy setting the Shared Documents folder is not displayed in the Web view or in My Computer. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting the Shared Documents folder is displayed in Web view and also in My Computer when the client is part of a workgroup. Note: The ability to remove the Shared Documents folder via Group Policy is only available on Windows XP Professional.
Configure Slow link speed
Configures the threshold value at which Offline Files considers a network connection to be “slow”. Any network speed below this value is considered to be slow. When a connection is considered slow Offline Files automatically adjust its behavior to avoid excessive synchronization traffic and will not automatically reconnect to a server when the presence of a server is detected. If you enable this setting you can configure the threshold value that will be used to determine a slow network connection. If this setting is disabled or not configured the default threshold value of 64000 bps is used to determine if a network connection is considered to be slow. Note: Use the following formula when entering the slow link value: [ bps / 100]. For example if you want to set a threshold value of 128000 bps enter a value of 1280.
Replace addresses in conflicts
Specifies whether dynamic updates should overwrite existing resource records that contain conflicting IP addresses. This policy setting is designed for computers that register address (A) resource records in DNS zones that do not use Secure Dynamic Updates. Secure Dynamic Update preserves ownership of resource records and does not allow a DNS client to overwrite records that are registered by other computers. During dynamic update of resource records in a zone that does not use Secure Dynamic Updates an A resource record might exist that associates the client’s host name with an IP address different than the one currently in use by the client. By default the DNS client attempts to replace the existing A resource record with an A resource record that has the client’s current IP address. If you enable this policy setting or if you do not configure this policy setting DNS clients maintain their default behavior and will attempt to replace conflicting A resource records during dynamic update. If you disable this policy setting existing A resource records that contain conflicting IP addresses will not be replaced during a dynamic update and an error will be recorded in Event Viewer.
DNS servers
Defines the DNS servers to which a computer sends queries when it attempts to resolve names. This policy setting supersedes the list of DNS servers configured locally and those configured using DHCP. To use this policy setting click Enabled and then enter a space-delimited list of IP addresses in the available field. To use this policy setting you must enter at least one IP address. If you enable this policy setting the list of DNS servers is applied to all network connections used by computers that receive this policy setting. If you disable this policy setting or if you do not configure this policy setting computers will use the local or DHCP supplied list of DNS servers if configured.
Connection-specific DNS suffix
Specifies a connection-specific DNS suffix. This policy setting supersedes local connection-specific DNS suffixes and those configured using DHCP. To use this policy setting click Enabled and then enter a string value representing the DNS suffix. If you enable this policy setting the DNS suffix that you enter will be applied to all network connections used by computers that receive this policy setting. If you disable this policy setting or if you do not configure this policy setting computers will use the local or DHCP supplied connection specific DNS suffix if configured.