Maintaining control over what users can do to a public access computer's operating system is one of the primary goals of a library computer administrator. For instance, patrons must not be able to use certain desktop icons such as Network Neighborhood or My Computer. They should have only limited access to Start Menu items, including applets in the Control Panel and Taskbar features. They should have heavily restricted access to the C drive. One of the primary ways to secure these features and others is by modifying the registry.

These pages on library computer and network security are designed to assist you and your library in this process. Because of the prevalence of Windows-based computers in libraries, these pages focus on security for computers and networks using the Windows family operating desktop and server operating systems. The underlying principles, however, can be applied to all operating systems.

workshop sponsored by the Gates Foundation. Students will learn to configure a standard Windows computer ...and will focus on techniques for saving the configuration so that it can be replicated on other PCs and can be used to restore the system.