Windows Vista Security For Dummies®

Chapter 16. Working with Vista Security Policies

In This Chapter

• Understanding local security policies

• Computer policies, user policies, and administrative templates

• Applying local security policies via the Group Policy Object Editor

• Applying local security policies by using templates

The term policy in Microsoft‐speak represents the interfaces that Microsoft provides for managing settings on a computer. Vista offers more than 2,600 different policy settings that cover how your desktop looks, how your firewall is configured, and practically everything in between. However, more policy setting options besides just those that come with the operating system (OS) are available. Microsoft has traditionally released new policy setting options with each Service Pack or new OS release, and you can even create custom templates to manage any Registry key or value that you want.

Microsoft allows you to manage almost any security‐related setting through some kind of policy setting. Even if you're managing the security of only your own computer — not a whole network — the policy interfaces strive to provide you with a single place to define all your security settings.

In this chapter, I explain the different interfaces that you can use to manage policy settings, the different types of policy settings that are available, and how to choose the right policy settings for your security needs.

Managing your computer through policy is not possible on all versions of Vista. Local group policy is not available ...