By Mark Burnett
There is an interesting webcast on TechNet called Improving Desktop Security and Deployment (Part 6 of 7): Group Policy in Windows Vista that covers some of the new features that Vista brings to Group Policy. While there are about 1300 new settings in Vista, this webcast covers some of the most important and most interesting.
The webcast starts out explaining some of the new Group Policy infrastructure features, including improved processing and the use of the Network Location Awareness service to improve connectivity.
One new feature I found particularly interesting is the ability to now have multiple local GPO’s, which allows for some interesting configurations.
TIP: Use multiple local GPO's to apply different policy settings for different users. This allows for more secure configurations for shared computers.
The webcast has good coverage of some of the new security-related settings in Group Policy.
Group Policy now allows you to configure the Windows shell, printers, and power settings.
Another interesting feature is the ability to limit which USB devices users can install. You can set these restrictions based on the device identification string or device class. This can be very helpful if you have problems with users connecting cameras or MP3 players or if you want to prevent sensitive data from leaving your network.
And like all webcasts, this one has plenty of live demos. The presenter walks you through the entire process of managing and configuring GPO’s, with plenty of comments and tips that will certainly help you along the way.
If you manage a number of Vista machines, it would be worth your time to get to know the new Group Policy features. I think you will find the Improving Desktop Security and Deployment (Part 6 of 7): Group Policy in Windows Vista webcast very informative and interesting.