Hi Scott,

I'm afraid you won't get any support here to hide the VNC icon. Check the 
vnc-list archives at http://www.uk.research.att.com/search.html and the FAQ 
at http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/faq.html to learn why. However at the 
very least you should read the excellent recent reply on the same subject 
(written by yours truly) at 
http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/archives/2001-11/0461.html.

As for ensuring that students can not change the password, simply lock down 
the registry using the security settings if you are using Windows NT, 2000 
or XP.

If you are using something in the Windows 9x family including ME, you will 
have a tougher job locking down the system. That being said, you could do 
something like resetting the registry key where the password is stored each 
time the machine boots up or possibly do it several times a day using the 
scheduler.

If you are not too worried about your students hacking the registry to 
reset the password, you can prevent them from accessing the configuration 
options in VNC by running it in restricted mode. See WinVNC Documentation - 
Advanced Settings on the http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/winvnc.html 
page for the details. Look specifically for the AllowProperties setting.

By the way, if you budget is tight and you want to lock down Win9x 
machines, check out the following:

Lock Down Your PC - Keep unauthorized eyes and fingers away from your 
precious files, folders, and settings. Article by PC World.com available at:
         http://www.pcworld.com/hereshow/article/0,aid,10907,00.asp

Lock Your Desktop - Another article on locking down your Windows 9x 
desktop. This one is from PC Magazine and available at:
         http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/pctech/content/18/14/ut1814.001.html

IconLock - A free PC Magazine utility. IconLock was designed to provide a 
layer of protection without sacrificing performance or system usability. 
The download link in the above article doesn't work but you can download 
the latest version from the following page:
         http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,77408,.html

Before you consider TridiaVNC (commercial product) or TightVNC, both which 
support the hiding of the icon though a change in the registry, you might 
consider the fact that if you leave the icon there, the kids may be a 
little more careful about what they are doing if they know that somebody 
could be watching them. I have even heard about people who like the icon so 
much, they are looking for a program to have it turn black randomly so that 
they think they are being monitored.

If you are using an operating system other than Windows, please disregard 
this message altogether.

         Hope some of this helps...

                                 Michael Milette


At 01:13 PM 2001-12-13, you wrote:
>Hello,
>  I would like to deploy VNC on the computers in the school district. I
>need to hide the application and make it so students can not change the
>password.
>Does anyone know how to do this.
>Plus, what is the best method to deploy this to many computers at once
>or rapidly.
>
>Thanks
>
>Scott Van Singel
>IT Director
>Sturgis Public Schools
>Phone: 616-659-1512
>Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>To unsubscribe, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the line:
>'unsubscribe vnc-list' in the message BODY
>See also: http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/intouch.html
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the line:
'unsubscribe vnc-list' in the message BODY
See also: http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/intouch.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Reply via email to