Understanding Group Policy

A standout among books on this complex topic.

"What?," you say, "a book on System Policy Editor? I need a book on group policy!" While that may be true I'm willing to bet you need this book too. Unless you have been able to immediately and irrevocably move your network to 100 percent Window 2000 clients and servers you still have legacy systems to manage, and users that are sometimes challenged in the area of what they should do. In addition, if your companies like mine, all the increased brouhaha about the ability of group policy to secure and lockdown the desktop has brought about increased demand for locking down all desktops. So who ya gonna call?

Check out this little gem. Not only are there clear descriptions of how system policies work and how to plan, implement and maintain them; not only does the book encompass policy control of Windows 9x and NT as well as the use of more than the basic templates; as a special bonus it includes a 300+ page catalog of information on every policy from 47 policy templates. A key feature of this guide is the listing of the registry keys implemented by each policy—a must if you are trying to troubleshoot policy conflicts.

Quick Review

Pro: Detailed information on registry changes
Con: Not needed for purely Windows 2000 networks
Verdict: Essential for locking down desktops of networks including older Windows clients.

About the Author

Roberta Bragg, MCSE: Security, CISSP, Security+, and Microsoft MVP is a Redmond contributing editor and the owner of Have Computer Will Travel Inc., an independent firm specializing in information security and operating systems. She's series editor for Osborne/McGraw-Hill's Hardening series, books that instruct you on how to secure your networks before you are hacked, and author of the first book in the series, Hardening Windows Systems.

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