Chapter 21. Managing Workstations Through Group Policy

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Why Manage Workstations?

• Folder Redirection and Offline Files

• Managing Workstation Access

• Other Group Policy Uses

• Troubleshooting Group Policy Issues

Managing any group of computers can be a daunting task. Even a small network with just five workstations can quickly become complicated to manage whenever you have to make individual changes to each computer.

Group policy is a powerful administration tool that will help you apply a vast array of settings across dozens of computers with just a few mouse clicks. Basically, that's what group policy is all about: allowing you to work more efficiently by centralizing the way settings and policies are established. It also brings a certain degree of standardization to your workstations and servers because you can exert a great of control on what's allowed.

In this chapter you learn the basics of using group policy to manage workstations from the comfort of your server. Suggestions also are provided on how to implement policies that increase the security of your network by blocking users from unnecessary meddling with their computers.