Book Reviews
Understanding Group Policy
A standout among books on this complex topic.
- By Roberta Bragg
- 10/01/2001
"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 |
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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.
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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.