How to prevent installation of programs from removable media and on boot up

General Topics
1

I was wondering if there any system administrators or expert home users here that can answer this question.

Basically, I am trying to prevent installation or running of any program by anyone else during bootup using removable media (i.e. DVD or USB drive). I want to prevent the installation of malware or files that would corrupt Windows 7.

Is there a way I can set this up using Windows 7 or the Windows 7 registry?

Ideally, I would like it that whoever would attempt to install would need a password. But if there is only a way to block this access for everyone, including me, I would like to know.

Are there any safe, easy to use programs that could also do this?

How do the system administrators at companies block installation of programs during bootup from removable media.

I am not wanting to block installation of programs when actually logged onto Windows 7. Just during bootup.

Thank you.

2

Unless you’ve made changes to your bios, usb drives aren’t recognized till after the system has booted.
I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to accomplish.

3

I read somewhere that if you had a CD or removable media already attached, then boot up would bypass Windows loading and instead first start reading from the CD or removable media. Then whatever was on that media would be able to start running. I read somewhere that this is how people can load malware that can break Windows passwords. I am trying to prevent this kind of scenario.

4

Hi pleades15 :slight_smile:

As Bob has already pointed out, that depends on the boot order you have set in the BIOS.

Greetz, Red.