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ENVIRONMENT: This has been tested for Windows XP, but I'm sure it will work on Windows 2K and Windows 98, although the keys might be different. I used ZENworks 4 and above to push it out.

PROBLEM: Some users in my environment do not like to or forget to change the the Drop Down Menu option to "Shutdown" when they go to leave for the day. This is especially true for computer labs in schools. If the setting is not automatically set to Shutdown and set to, say, Restart and the users do not realize it, they Restart the machine instead of shutting it down.

SOLUTION: To remedy this and to ensure that the Shutdown option is always the default choice I created a simple application to push the setting down for the current user.

This application will push the following registry setting down:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

DWORD: Shutdown Setting

Value: 2 (for shutdown) 1 (for log off) 4 (for restart)

Just create an application and use the Registry tab, insert these keys, and push it out as a Force Run, Do Not Show Progress, Unsecure System User, and Distribute Always checked.

This works well in a Deep Freeze environment as well. Although the setting isn't permanent, if you have it set to always run, it will get set every time the user logs in.

If you have any questions you may contact Ryan at ryank@ancgroup.com