Installing applications in profile of member of USERS group
The OS is Windows 2000 professional and the question below refers to just local users profiles.
WHAT IS THE PROPER WAY TO INSTALL APPLICATIONS IN THE USER PROFILE OF A MEMBER OF THE USERS GROUP???
I can't find an answer to this anywhere. One of the first things I learnt after installing Windows 2000 from the doocumentation was that they strongly advise you not to access the Internet while logged in as administrator in order to protection against attack on the system. Based on that advise then I set up another (local) user account and made this user a member of the USERS group. My intent is to use this (safe) account for normal operation of the computer and then logging in as administrator only when I need to do administration. But immediately I found myself faced with the question I am asking: how do I install an application in that safe profile? Members of the USERS group cannot install applications.
The method I came up with was to install the application while logged in as administrator and then copying the program group (or program shortcut) that was created in "..\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Sta
WHAT IS THE PROPER WAY TO INSTALL APPLICATIONS IN THE USER PROFILE OF A MEMBER OF THE USERS GROUP???
I can't find an answer to this anywhere. One of the first things I learnt after installing Windows 2000 from the doocumentation was that they strongly advise you not to access the Internet while logged in as administrator in order to protection against attack on the system. Based on that advise then I set up another (local) user account and made this user a member of the USERS group. My intent is to use this (safe) account for normal operation of the computer and then logging in as administrator only when I need to do administration. But immediately I found myself faced with the question I am asking: how do I install an application in that safe profile? Members of the USERS group cannot install applications.
The method I came up with was to install the application while logged in as administrator and then copying the program group (or program shortcut) that was created in "..\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Sta
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Thank you very much dew_associates, your comment was quite helpful. But special thanks to you AvonWyss, your hint to temporarily make the "safe" profile part of the administrator group while installing troublesome applications solved my trickiest problem. Believe it or not, Microsoft's own MSN Messenger is the application that gave the most trouble with Microsoft's Windows 2000 Professional OS. It just refused to run except by an administrator. [And for others who might read this, the problem with MSN Messenger was also causing Outlook Express to take forever to launch since it automatically launches MSN Messenger, or attempts to.] But that was fixed by installing Messenger again from the "safe" profile while it was temporarily part of the Administrator group (despite that it was already installed in the administrator profile).
But this just tells me how much I don't know about this subject. For instance here is a question that comes to mind immediately. IF YOU NO LONGER NEED TO RUN AN APPLICATION FROM A PARTICULAR PROFILE, DO YOU NEED TO UNINSTALL IT FROM THAT PROFILE, OR IS JUST REMOVING SHORTCUTS TO THE APPLICATION FROM THE PROFILE ENOUGH? IF UNINSTALL IS NECESSARY, HOW DO I DO IT? Just as importantly as this question though, CAN YOU SUGGEST SOME READING MATERIAL ON THIS SUBJECT? I ask for the reference because before posting this question yesterday, I actually went through 25 books in the book store, 5 from Microsoft Press, and found nothing on how applications interact with profiles. The subject of profiles just discussed their benefits and how to create them.
But this just tells me how much I don't know about this subject. For instance here is a question that comes to mind immediately. IF YOU NO LONGER NEED TO RUN AN APPLICATION FROM A PARTICULAR PROFILE, DO YOU NEED TO UNINSTALL IT FROM THAT PROFILE, OR IS JUST REMOVING SHORTCUTS TO THE APPLICATION FROM THE PROFILE ENOUGH? IF UNINSTALL IS NECESSARY, HOW DO I DO IT? Just as importantly as this question though, CAN YOU SUGGEST SOME READING MATERIAL ON THIS SUBJECT? I ask for the reference because before posting this question yesterday, I actually went through 25 books in the book store, 5 from Microsoft Press, and found nothing on how applications interact with profiles. The subject of profiles just discussed their benefits and how to create them.
ASP_Ray, I'm glad I was able to help you with your ptoblem. Note that good practice here at EE would be not to ask different questions in one - this is not only a points issue but posting a new question would also enable other Experts to see it (top of the list, and correct subject) and therefore give you better chances of receiving a satisfacturing answer.
That said, your new question cannot be answered without additional information. First, if there are multiple users using the computer and this application, you should maybe not uninstall it. In this case, removing the shortcuts is a possibility to render an application "invisible" to a certain extent in a profile. However, if the application should be removed completely, it's best to remove it using the same user as was used to install it. Some setup program will tell you when they were not able to delete all files.
That said, your new question cannot be answered without additional information. First, if there are multiple users using the computer and this application, you should maybe not uninstall it. In this case, removing the shortcuts is a possibility to render an application "invisible" to a certain extent in a profile. However, if the application should be removed completely, it's best to remove it using the same user as was used to install it. Some setup program will tell you when they were not able to delete all files.
ASKER
Thanks for the help AvonWyss, and sorry for the lapse in etiquette. I was unaware of it. Your misunderstand my second question but I'll just now oficiallly accept your first answer and try my luck again in the bookstore. Thanks again, you've been great.
You may want to create a power users group and a specific power user that has permissions to install apps. This will still enable you to control security issues.
You may want to visit Microsoft's web site and search on power user issues.
Dennis