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atkfrg56

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Group Policy to remove "Take a tour of windows xp" when user logs in

When a user logs into the machine on our domain, the "take a tour of windows xp" balloon pops up and its very annoying. How can I use a Group Policy to fix this. This link had solution in theory, but it doesnt work on Windows 2003 server for some reason.

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21148677/Disable-Windows-XP-Tour-for-new-users.html
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orphicfireball

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atkfrg56

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Wow, this new one did the trick for me. Thanks! This is a keeper, very useful...should be standard issue with Windows.
Well...I added in some new machines with a new XP image and they pick up every aspect of my group policy except the windows anti-tour policy. I checked, and it is enabled...I also did a gpupdate /force and some reboots.

When I origionally tested this it worked fine, and I checked again and it still works fine on those machines. I log in with a user that has never been on the system before...old machines=works and new machines=not works.

Any ideas?
thx
This will happen due to Fast Logon Optimization in Windows XP.  By default the first time a user logs in, most of their group policy isn't applied to speed up the login process.  It's a terrible idea, and means users might have to login three times before their GP applies.

Except... if you turn of Fast Logon Optimization

The following is from (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/policy/policy/logon_optimization.asp)

"Note that Windows XP clients support Fast Logon Optimization in any domain environment.

To turn off Fast Logon Optimization, you can use the following policy setting:

Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ System \ Logon \
Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon

When this policy is enabled, a Windows XP client behaves in the same manner as a Windows 2000 client at both system startup and at user logon."
I had delete the account folder from "documents and settings" and then it works fine. Thanks for the fix with fast response!
I should add upon my last comment... I turned off fast logon optimization, then deleted their account folder in "documents and settings" and it worked. Users without their own folder in "documents and settings" worked automatically. :)