Windows Vista® Inside Out Deluxe Edition

Restricting Access to Registry Editor

On a shared computer running Windows Vista, you might decide that certain users should be denied all access to registry editing tools. To enforce the ban, you can use Group Policy, which is available only in Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions. To make a local Group Policy setting, open the Local Group Policy Editor console by typing gpedit.msc at a command prompt. In the console tree, open User Configuration\Administrative Templates\System. Double-click the Prevent Access To Registry Editing Tools setting, and change it to Enabled.

Caution!

These tricks for locking down Registry Editor do only that: prevent the use of Registry Editor (and its command-line sidekick, Reg.exe). Although this practice can ...