Microsoft have just announced they will allow small business with less that 10 seats to use Microsoft Security Essentials for free. But even having to configured 10 copies of Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) can be a pain so below is a quick tutorial on how you can Group Policy Enable Microsoft Security Essentials.
Update: Microsoft have now updated their Microsoft Security Essentials web site to say small business can now “officially” use MSE.
Before we begin I want to be clear that MSE does NOT natively support group policy this is simply a way to configure the registry keys of the application using the Group Policy Preferences Registry key setting.
Note: If the below instructions to create the registry keys seems like to much work you will be glad to know that I have put a link at the bottom to an XML Group Policy Preferences Registry file. You can use this file to import the all the Policy Registry setting I talk about below automatically.
Before we begin we first need to know how to create a Group Policy Preferences Registry Key setting that we will use to control each of the registry keys we need to configured MSE. The following steps will need to be repeated for each registry key below.
Step 1. Edit a Group Policy Object that is applied to the computers you want this setting applied.
Step 2. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Registry
Step 3. In the Menu click on Action > New > Registry Item
Now you know how to configure a registry key setting using Group Policy Preferences you can create a new Registry Item for each registry key listed below.
On my recent trip to New Zealand to speak a TechEd 2010 I managed to record a podcast with Richard Campbell for the RunAs Radio podcast.
The conversation explores how group policy can now be used to map drives, printers and other features, leading to the virtual elimination of login scripts.
Here is another one of my TechEd 2010 Australia sessions…
Description: Managing Desktop Security is more than just installing scanning software, it’s about managing the applications, the data and ensuring the environment is monitored. In this session we look at AppLocker for to help you decide which ones to allow and which ones to squelch. Then at securing data both on the machine and in transit using Bitlocker and Bitlocker To Go. Finally capping it off with Forefront Endpoint Protection to let us know when all is not what it seems…
The video of my Australian TechEd Group Policy Preferences session is now online and its in h264 so you will should be able to play it back you iPad, iPhone or any other HTML5 browser without the need for a plugin.
Description: This demo-heavy session illustrates how to use new features in Group Policy to do things that will make you and your management happy: compare settings across all domains, reduce complexity of your Group Policy environment, manage power for Windows 7 clients, and use GP Preferences to reduce logon scripts…
Last week I talked about the “Remove Homegroup link from the Start Menu” option that removed removed the links from the start menu to the Homegroup option without it being disabled. However the setting by itself does not stop a computer from joining a homegroup. So this weeks setting is of course called “Prevent the computer from joining a Homegroup” and is a per computer setting that can be found under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Homegroup.
Note: Unlike the name suggests if you enable this setting and the computer is already joined then the next time it is reboot it will not connect the homegroup it is already a member (See image below). Therefore I recommend you implement this in conjunction with the “Remove Homegroup link form the Start Menu” setting so as to not confuse the users by allow them access to something that will not work.
Also note that if you were to then remove of disable the “Disable Homegroup” policy then that computer would also no longer be a member of that homegroup anymore.
Microsoft have just announced they will allow small business with less that 10 seats to use Microsoft Security Essentials for free. But even having to configured 10 copies of Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) can be a pain so below is a quick tutorial on how you can Group Policy Enable Microsoft Security Essentials.
