I would like some tips on ID10t proofing a computer as I am almost always having to fix it what are some local group policy you would recommend implementing or other ideas. as they have bad downloading habits and what not.
I am gonna make a ghost image of the computer once its back to default but any other ideas.
I tried them using Linux but they need iTunes and they don't trust Linux
Do it XBone-style: minimal linux with kvm, blacklisted domains, netfiltering, the whole shebang, set virt-manager to automatically start Windows at bootup and automatically shut down when Windows is shut down, and disable the restart button in Windows, so that they can only shut down and not restart. They won't even know that they're running linux. You can even do a PCI passthrough, X doesn't need a display adapter for that.
Group policies are no longer in Windows, Windows is structurally infected with a lot of spyware, there is just no way to save it to be honest. Also, you can ssh into the linux host and make a snapshot of the Windows container, so that if something breaks, you can restore easily.
Zoltan's way of basically sand-boxing windows is the way to do idiot-proof.
However it requires considerably less effort to convince people to use Linux instead
they don't trust Linux , Oh the irony :)
People on the internet say that running itunes in wine works, so maybe try that.
Also they always have the option to buy a mac, however i don't know how trustworthy apple is.
But forget about hardening windows with on-board tools, that's a fool's arrant, windows has design flaws that prevents any secure usage. Unless you want to babysit the computer like sys-admins in offices, who use 3rd party management software as well as patching the system manually. Which on it's own should keep you busy for 1-2 hours daily.
I have migrated most people who depend on me for "computer-aid" to linux, that reduced my workload by about 90 %.
Deep freeze? Help me alot... Just start the window image instaled to normal after boot.
Some people can't be convinced. Some members of my own family work at places that are still ruled by an old-fashioned ignorant "IT God" that keeps repeating to them that Windows is the only safe operating system because they don't want to learn about computers and are not liable to be fired by the equally ignorant management. That's just the way it is, that's why armies still suffer casualties, why humanity still fights, why states still have politicians, why the rich still abuse the poor, why politicians find it normal that the companies that pay for their election campaigns massively kill innocent people by starving them or denying them medicine over patents, and I could go on forever about the fundamental stupidity of mankind.
Also don't forget sponsored YouTube channels that keep boycotting Windows. Those that have the power to influence the market by guiding users, are lured by corporations into underestimating that power, into doubting their abilities, and into using it to plug Asus sound cards and intel k-CPU's and other gear that only makes sense in Windows, thus blocking users onto the good old Windows platform, where consumers spend a lot and stay ignorant.
My parents use linux, I know quite a lot of people that are not computer specialists, but have started enjoying using a computer with linux, because it's fucking easy to use, safe, timesaving like you fucking wouldn't believe (I did the math on this before on the forum, be prepared to be shocked at how of your life you lose on Windows). My mom has never used Windows, she immediately went from pencil and paper to linux, my dad used Windows at work for a long time at work, but is a happy linux user retiree, and a Fedora fanatic.
Everyone can use linux on smartphones, TV's, parking meters, cars, refrigerators, voting booths, vendors, etc... fact is that it IS easy to use, but there is a big difference between the limited software console Windows PC experience, which is using maybe 1 % of the capabilities of a PC, and still never runs quite right, to a full-blown linux operating system, which opens up so many possibilities that it can be overwhelming. People tend to start to discover computing when they start to use linux, discover things they didn't know, and never thought possible. For a lot of people, ignorance is bliss, it's where they want to stay, they want to go to their mindless job, sit mindless in church, sit mindless at McDonalds, give everyone money that sends some marketing materials in their direction, pay companies and institutions to raise their children and brainwash them into cannon fodder, cultists and ideal consumers that never question the powers that be... everyone like to be right and be convinced that he/she masters the ultimate truth, especially those that have no clue about it, in computers, especially those that buy into commercial consumer platforms that keep them dumb and undernourished intellectually, i.e. Windows software console users.
The whole "PC master race" thing makes me laugh, as it's such a Windows thing... tstststststs... if they only knew... I prefer a Wii over a Windows PC to be honest, it's a much safer to use console, there, I said it!
Microsoft Windows started out as a good experiment, Microsoft ran behind Apple, Microsoft offered the cheap version of the Apple operating system, because in the old days of Windows 3.11, you only needed 640 kB of RAM to make it work, whereas to make MacOS work as fast, you needed 4 MB of RAM, which was a hell of a lot of money in those days, like literally thousands of dollars. Anything over 640 kB was extended memory in Windows, it was optional. But it got out of hand. Microsoft got greedy, they started to cannibalize the US hardware manufacturer's markets in a wet dream to rule the world, and their ambition attracted flies and parasites, that clung onto them and infected their products, with marketing bugs, political bugs, military bugs, anti-human rights bugs, etc... (basically bugs from all those that had been using linux since it became available and were using UNIX before that), and before they knew, they suffered a complete technology blockade, and they started failing with everything, and making consumers pay for it. They are still shelling out enough money to some powers that be to be allowed to brainwash children in schools to using Windows consoles, to brainwash civil servants into using windows, etc... They had a good run, but now they need to pay the piper for all of the wrong they did.
For those that are concerned with the entire political aspect: the NSA has contributed a great full-blown MAC to the linux world with SELinux, it's open source, all the profiles are completely transparent and customizable/creatable by users... at the same time, the NSA has also secured backdoors and structural spyware and malware infections in all closed source platforms. This is not open for debate, this is a fact that has been proven many times over since 1997. At this very moment, the NSA has contributed in the development of the linux kernel in such a way as to undo the random generator bug they have placed into Intel CPUs themselves, and this patch is merged with linux kernel 3.13... because they bloody well use linux and don't want their bug to be exploited against themselves, but be serious for a second... do you think they want people to use linux, or Windows? You have the option to choose the platform you want to be on...
BUT, why I myself use linux, has nothing to do with all of that. I switched to linux as a student, in 1996, because it allowed me to do things I didn't have money for with commercial software (which was extremely expensive back in the day), and even if I did, there was no software that could do the things I wanted to do, because I'm such a nitpicking diva, you know, "I can't work like that" and all... I want software to adapt to my life, not steal my life away from me, and the only option was to go with open source and allocate my resources in an intelligent way that would work for me. Open source for me was never about politics or spyware, because frankly, as long as I know what's going on, I couldn't care less, let them spy, my entire life in an open book, and I'm not an activist, in fact, I would be the worst activist ever, because I always try to see the other side of things. Open source for me was about economics, about maximizing returns, about spending less money and less time, about having time for other things, about ease of use of very powerful tools, about having tools that are exactly fit for the job that I need them to do for my personal benefit, about not having to dick around with bad or substandard generic tools that just won't do what I need them to do to add value. The big benefit that I had was that I'm more a hardware guy than a software guy, I made my first supercomputer by soldering Motorola CPU's together when I was 11 years old, just because, not that I could do anything with it besides calculating fractals and julias thousands of times faster than my Commodore-using friends, but I want to connect stuff up, I want to shift a few cards or chips from one system to the next and make it work better, and with closed platforms, you can't do these things, and therefore, closed platform have never interested me. I just want things to work and be logical, because I get frustrated with illogical stuff. I can't use Windows, really I can't, it's just such a fucking illogical buggy mess, I can't understand that people can spend hours per day using such a retarded broken software console that has absolutely no capabilities at all. There, I said it, that's what I really think of Windows.
But since Windows is just a software console, it can still be used as such in a safe linux environment, even Microsoft does that on their main commercial platform, the XBone, which runs on a linux-like hypervisor, and virtualizes a very thin basic Windows client (for Skype and other applications Microsoft can't port without injuring license agreements), and the XBoxOS, which runs the games specific to the platform, which are developed with APIs that target the specific hardware. Not everyone has the same needs, a whole lot of people are perfectly happy using Windows, and don't want to have switching operating systems on their mind. I can understand that. Not everyone is a computer enthusiast. And everyone should be entitled to use what they want to use, even if it's Windows. You have to understand that a lot of people are very insecure about using computers, and Windows takes away some of that insecurity. Fact is that they can do a lot more wrong with a linux system if they don't know what they are doing, because linux is more powerful, and if misused, the damage is far greater. Especially on company networks, you don't want the "I don't know what I've done, I've done nothing, it's all someone else's fault"-type people (and those are everywhere, it's very strange, there are so many of these everywhere, sometimes I think half of the world's population consists of holograms) breaking stuff, so you don't give them administrative rights on a linux system. And that's just the thing, a lot of people will never be able to use linux without assistance, and they've become used to using Windows without assistance. They will shell out 100 USD every two years on the Microsoft tax, they will buy thousands of dollars on useless hardware because Windows needs it, but they will not pay a student 50 bucks to install linux for them on their PC, which would save them a couple of grant in the long run... hey, I don't judge, there are people that take their kids to McDonalds instead of cooking healthy food for them, believing in the intelligence of humanity is very naive, so I don't.
Now for a pro tip: if you want people to migrate to linux, you have to grab them when they need to change hardware. If they need a new laptop, you can save them money by not buying a laptop with windows pre-installed. Most people just need laptops of about the 400-500 USD range, and that's about their budget. They can save 20-25% of the price by not using Windows. That's money that you can have, by offering them service, because that's what open source is, it's not about sell-and-ignore, but about haul-in-with-free-software-and-sell-honest-service. The Windows support term is now 2 years, so every two years, people have to invest 100 USD in Microsoft Tax. That's 50 USD per year that you can have per person, just by doing periodic upgrades.