setting up guest accounts

Luis Ortega wrote:

> If I set up a guest account in xp, will the user be able to install
> software, either from an internet download or a software disk? Is there
> anything special to set besides activating the guest account?
> Thanks for any advice.

Do not use the Guest account you see in the User Accounts applet in Control
Panel. The Guest account is a special system account, not one meant for
when you are feeling hospitable. It is disabled by default in Windows XP,
Vista, Linux, Unix, and OS X for a reason.

From TechNet:

"The Guest account is intended for users who require temporary access to the
system. However, if this account is enabled, a security risk may exist
because an unauthorized user could gain anonymous access to the system
through this account."

[URL="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb418978"]http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb418978[/URL](TechNet.10).aspx

So if you enabled Guest, disable it now and create a Standard/Limited
(Vista, XP Pro/XP Home) for your visitors. Call the new user account
something like "Visitor".

If you have XP Home or Vista Home Basic/Premium, you don't have the built-in
ability to create fine-grained limitations if you want them on this
account, so use either MVP Doug Knox's Security Console for XP or the MS
SteadyState program to set the restrictions the way you want. SteadyState
supports Vista now.

[URL="http://www.dougknox.com"]http://www.dougknox.com[/URL]
[URL="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sharedaccess/default.mspx"]http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sharedaccess/default.mspx[/URL]
More on SteadyState: [URL="http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=27570"]http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=27570[/URL]

If you have XP Pro, Media Center, Vista Business or Vista Ultimate, you can
use Group Policy to set restrictions (gpedit.msc). Be very careful using
the Group Policy editor; it is completely possible to lock yourself out.
Questions about group policy should be posted here:

microsoft.public.windows.group_policy

Malke
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