Posted in Tutorials

AGPM Part 1: Introduction to Advanced Group Policy Management (a.k.a AGPM) v4

In this series of post I will show you how to install and user Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) v4 tool which part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimisation Pack  (MDOP). You qualify to use AGPM (and all the MDOP) tools if you have a subscription advantage (SA) licence agreement with Microsoft. The whole suite of MDOP tools are very handy…

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Posted in Tutorials

Updated: How to make Adobe Reader more secure using Group Policy

Update 2: Adobe has now published an official Group Policy Administrative template that has a pre-configured setting to disable Java Script. Check out my ne blog post How to configure Group Policy for Adobe Reader XI for instructions. Update: This article is a re-publish of a post I have previously posted. This time I have updated the “Configuring Automatic Update for…

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Posted in Best Practice Tutorials

How to use Group Policy to turn off Backup Notification in the Windows 7 Action Center – The Easier Way

In this article I have will show you how to turn off the Backup Notification message in eh Windows 7 Action Center. I have previously blogged about how to do this using Group Policy Preferences here (How to use Group Policy to turn off the Backup Notification in the Windows 7 Actions Center) however since writing this post Microsoft has…

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Posted in KB Focus

KB274274 Focus: The Cross-Forest program deployment problem using Group Policy

I have decided to start posting about some specific group policy related KB’s that I have found useful in my time. I will make these posting whenever I come across them so they I will only post them on a semi regular basis. This KB Focus is KB274274 which talks about a problem you will encounter if you are trying…

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Posted in Best Practice Tutorials

How to configure AppLocker Group Policy in Windows 7 to block third-party browsers

One of the problem that face IT Administrators today is keeping up with all the security updates you need to deploy to your computers to keep them secure. This is even more exacerbated by the very large number of security updates associate with running multiple browsers. Also having multiple browsers on network could mean that you have totally patched one…

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Posted in Setting of the Week

Group Policy Setting of the Week 22 – Enable Transparent Caching (Offline Files)

This week is another setting that controls a new offline files settings that was introduced in Windows 7 and this setting seems to be nothing short of AMAZING!!! This setting is used to “Enabled Transparent Caching” and can be found under Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Networks > Offline Files. Unfortunately I have not had a chance…

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Posted in Tutorials

How to prevent x86 (32bit) applications installing via Group Policy on Windows x64

One of the powerful feature of Group Policy that have been around since its inception has been the ability to deploy and manage MSI based applications. Once senario you might find yourself in due to increasing popularity of Windows x64 is how do you deploy the right version of an application to your SOE however you are still running a…

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Posted in Best Practice Tutorials

How to use Group Policy to black/white list wireless networks in Vista & Windows 7

I have seen an number of posts form IT Administrators on the Microsoft Group Policy forums asking how prevent their users from connecting to a wireless network. Maybe it is because they have an open WIFI network on the floor above that users keep connecting to so they can by pass the proxy server URL restrictions or they don’t want…

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