IE: Disable User Access to Privacy Settings in Internet Explorer

Contributed by AlexTheBeast May 19, 2005  
Tagged: Windows networking

Prevent users from altering the IE privacy settings on a system.

In our public computer work room (aka “the closet”) people are always changing stuff, installing spyware, etc. It drives me crazy. I use gpedit.msc all the time to try to slow them down. If you don’t have XP pro, I’ve included the registry hack for you as well.

XP Pro using the Group Policy Editor:

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. In the run box type gpedit.msc and click OK
4. Open the Group Policy Tree
5. Browse to the following:
USER CONFIGURATION\ADMINISTRATIVE TEMPLATES\WINDOWS COMPONENTS\INTERNET EXPLORER\INTERNET CONTROL PANEL

6. Double-click the Disable The Privacy Page policy
7. Select the Enabled button
8. Click OK
9. Close out the Group Policy Editor

If you don’t mind playing in the registry, this hack will do the same thing with any version of XP. If you are not a registry expert, don’t play with this stuff before backing up your registry and system.

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type regedit in the runbox and click OK
4. In the left column navigate to the following:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\

5. If the Internet Explorer subkey is not there, create it:
[list] – click edit
– select New
– select Key
– type Internet Explorer

6. Navigate to the Internet Explorer subkey
7. If the Control Panel subkey is not there, create it:

– click edit
– select New
– select Key
– type Control Panel

8. Navigate to the Control Panel subkey
9. If the PrivacyTab DWORD is not there, create it:

– Click the edit menu
– Select New
– Select DWORD value
– type PrivacyTab

10. Double click the PrivacyTab DWORD and set the value to 1 to disable it
11. Close the registry editor
If you ever want to re-enable it, just change the DWORD value to 0.