Block Access to C drive (W98)

[tmcdermo]

Within A Microsoft Office Application when you goto file open and type in c:\ It gives you full access to the c: drive even though I have Blocked access thru windows. I need to block that

[jdharm]

I had the same problem, Win95, Office97. The problem was that the default start folder for Office was a folder on the C: drive. Once you clicked on anything outside of the C: drive it disappeared from the list. So the solution was to add a *.reg file to the user logon that changed any strings under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0 that pointed to any local paths. Things like DefaultPath and OutputDir, being careful not to change paths to needed executables or plugins.

Josh

"A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on."

[tmcdermo]

The C drive does not come up on the list. My problem is when someone manually puts "c:\" in the file open box and then presses enter all the files on the C: drive show up to be deleted or whatever. I have removed access to the C: drive thru explorer.

[jdharm]

You've discovered the biggest problem with Win9X. Little to no security. You can hide the drive, but if a person knows what to look for they can get in. Win9X isn't a secure system, you can't designate only certain people accessing certain things. This is why NT/2k/XP is the way to go when security is an issue.

Josh

"A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on."

[tmcdermo]

This problem also happens on Windows NT Workstations with an NT server

[jdharm]

Viewing the contents of C:, and even opening files in Office apps, can't be helped. You have to give the user the ability to "Read and Execute" in order to be able to run applications. A natural consequence of this the ability to see the contents of the drive. However, restricting users to Read and Execute will allow them to open things, but not save any changes to them. Everything that is opened is opened as "Read-Only".

Tried this on a WinNT 4.0 SP6 machine.

A word of caution though. This level of restriction may/will prevent the writing of info to Profiles and changes made in your applications' settings. If you give SYSTEM full control of C: drive and all subdirectories you may avoid a lot of this. I can't say with any assurance what the exact inpact of this restriction may be, not knowing what software you are using or how it works. It will have to be a trial and error type thing.

Josh

"A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on."