Here are the two issues when you pre-bake settings into applications and images: Issue 1: Different teams need different settings When you “pre-bake” settings into your application, everyone gets those initial settings. And that’s the problem: those settings must be perfect to everyone, or, you then have to deal with it later, manually. If you […]
Go ahead and run WinZip, Acrobat Reader, Internet Explorer, Chrome or just about any other desktop application as a standard user (that is, with no admin rights.) And, as that standard user can they go to “Tools | Options” or “Edit | Preferences” and manipulate the settings that are on the machine? With PolicyPak working […]
Read More… from We have everyone set up as “Standard User”; no users have Admin Rights.
You might have a lot of areas of Windows locked down. The 3000+ Group Policy settings (within the Admin Templates section) that Microsoft ships is great at locking things down such as preventing users from accessing control panel, or running Regedit, or running a command prompt. However, let’s focus our attention to your applications that […]
Group Policy is made up of 39 categories of “functions” called CSEs or “Client Side Extensions.” You know them and love them: areas like Admin Templates, Software Deployment, Security Settings, Firewall Settings, Folder Redirection, the Group Policy Preferences (which are 21 categories by themselves.) And lots more. These functions are why you love Group Policy. […]
PolicyPak is a true Group Policy extension, and not an agent. It is true that you do need to have our “client piece” installed on all machines you want to manage using PolicyPak. However, the PolicyPak moving part is not an “agent.” It’s a “Client Side Extension”, just like the other 39 in-the-box Client Side […]
If an application does ship with an ADM or ADMX file, and you’re happy with it, then, yes, you should keep using it. However, let’s examine three common applications which do ship with ADM(x) files: Office, Chrome, and Acrobat Reader. In the case of Office, there are a lot of missing items in their ADMX […]
Read More… from My applications already ship with an ADM or ADMX file.
ADMX files are great for applications that have them. But there are three main challenges with ADM and ADMX files. Let’s make sure you understand exactly what they are. Challenge 1: Not every application uses (or can ever use) ADM or ADMX files Do you use Java, Flash, Firefox, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Autocad or FileZilla? Sure […]
Read More… from I can just make my own ADM or ADMX files to manage my applications.
GPPreferences does a great job with delivering drive maps, shortcuts, printers and more. But when it comes to managing applications themselves, the GPPrefs Registry extension doesn’t go far enough. Here’s a handful of problems if you try to use the GPPrefs Registry extension to manage applications: It cannot deliver settings to non-registry based applications (Java, […]
Read More… from I can use Group Policy Preferences for that!
Ah yes. Login scripts. They work great until: You need to modify them, and then you’re troubleshooting them for hours on end. Or, you need any kind of flexibility like (e.g. “When the Sales team has Acrobat Reader, then deliver these settings.”) Or, you’re not a programmer (or the original guy or gal who created […]
Read More… from I already have login scripts which deliver various settings at login time.
SCCM is great at deploying applications themselves. But it doesn’t really do such a hot job to manage applications’ settings. We have a whitepaper specifically designed to express the truths of SCCM – what it does great, and where it needs a boost. Please download the free paper here: https://www.policypak.com/solutions/why-sccm-admins-need-policypak.html In summary though: PolicyPak and […]
Read More… from I use SCCM, which can deploy software and has DCM capabilities.
