Disabling the Send Message Option in the Client
Novell Cool Solutions: Feature
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Posted: 25 Oct 2001 |
Well, school must be back in session. We've started getting questions about how to foil the students in the computer labs again. Here's one from Chris, who says: "Lately the students have been accessing the Novell Send Message program. I would like to know how to disable this function."
Here's the scoop:
By default the SEND MESSAGE option is enabled when the Client is installed. To disable the settings go to the Advanced Menu Settings Tab of the Novell NetWare Client properties, select the desired Send Message setting(s), and set to Off. This is done on a workstation basis.
This change can be automatically set in the Registry by running a text file in the login script with the .REG extension that contains the text as follows:
Win95/98
REGEDIT
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Network\ Novell\System Config\ Network Provider\Menu Items\Send Message]
"Enable Send Message Dialog"="NO"
"Enable Send Message to Server Dialog"="NO"
"Enable Send Message to User Dialog"="NO"
NT/2000
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ Novell\Network Provider\ Menu Items\Send Message]
"Enable Send Message Dialog"="NO"
"Enable Send Message to Server Dialog"="NO"
"Enable Send Message to User Dialog"="NO"
- Highlight the Menu Items directory. Go to Registry | Export Registry File, save the .REG file to a mapped network directory.
- Within Notepad, edit the saved .REG file. Keep only the settings to be changed. Save and exit Notepad.
- Edit the login script:
Example:
@regedit /s [path to saved .REG file] - When users login they will silently receive the update to their Registry.
Other Suggestions
Jim Trotter -- NEW
The above solution would work whether the site uses ZENworks or not. Personally, I don't like making registry changes via the login script. If the site is using ZENworks, a more elegant solution would be to set up an application object to push the registry hack (and create another to allow send for the admin).
The optimal solution would be to turn it off via workstation policies. There is a section under the workstation policy for the Novell client. I did this for a group of workstations and it worked like a champ. Although the Send Message appears under the "big red N", when selected a message states that this function has been disabled by the system administrator.
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