Re: W2k Workstation: Removable media

From: Galen (galennews_at_gmail.com)
Date: 03/08/05 

Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 20:44:37 -0500

In news:21AD9E0E-7D4E-461C-983B-01E321A397DE@microsoft.com,
Matt Rollinson <Matt Rollinson@discussions.microsoft.com> had this to say:

> Trivia question for the minute:
> Any idea how I can, elegantly, lockdown access to the USB ports and CD
> drives on a W2k workstation? Preferably such that Administrator
> can still get to the media.

Your question got me to thinking and I started digging through my bookmarks
to see what I'd find because I knew that I'd read something about this in
the past. Unfortunately Group Policy in 2k doesn't allow you to disable USB.
It doesn't in 2k either and I suspect that it probably doesn't in 2k3 but
I've not looked into that. Anyhow, to get to the point here, there's no way
to do this native to the OS as far as I know. SecureNT does this though.
I've been unable to rapidly find a freeware alternative for this and figured
you'd rather a speedy response than one that took a couple of days of
searching.

The information is here:

http://labmice.techtarget.com/articles/usbflashdrives.htm

The link on the page to SecureNT is no longer valid from the looks of things
but they've a chance for you to go to the downloads section where you can
request evaluation software.

Galen 

-- 
"My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me
the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am
in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial
stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for
mental exaltation." -- Sherlock Holmes