14 DAY TRIAL // Getting to know your operating system is a very tricky thing. Looking in its "help file" is never enough as there is too vast an area to be contained by the now famous Help and Support provided in Windows. As the knowledge base becomes larger and larger, some things are simply not mentioned and others are dedicated strictly to advanced users.
Take for example the Run option in Start menu. I bet that you know a few people that have never heard of it, do not know what it is good for or why it is present on their computer. Searching it in Help and Support will not enlighten them too much and they will not get any straight answers.
You should know that a computer is running according to some parameters imposed by the developer for our own safety. In our case these are called policies and can be found for both computer and user configuration. You can think of them as a set of rules guiding and protecting whatever settings you make. Policies help you better protect the computer and configure the way your operating system behaves in certain situations (permissions and restrictions to certain actions for certain users). Most of the activity takes place in the background and it is not visible (like system restore gathering the data for creating a restore point).
Configuring all the policies is not a difficult task if you know where to look for the managing console. If you want an easy way to kick it off every time you want, WinSetter makes available for $19.95 an application that enables your access to the list of policies available in Windows. The 30 days trial period is more than enough to fully test the application, especially that there are absolutely no restrictions in what concerns its use.
The interface is user friendly and the explorer-like maneuverability makes it easy to handle. Despite the fact that configuring the policies the wrong way can lead to disastrous results, the application gives absolutely no warning. Instead, while changing the parameters of a policy you can view what that policy is all about.
However, WinSetter Ultimate does not contain all the items available in Windows Group Policy Object Editor. The developer appended the majority of policies available in Windows Group Policy Object Editor. Of course, these are the most important, too.
In the left hand side there are the policy folders, grouped in two main categories (Computer Configuration and User Configuration) which contain sub-folders and sub-categories. As I said before, the two main categories are not complete and all they contain are the Administrative Templates, which are the most accessible for most of the users (Software and Windows Settings are not available).
The list of options available in the software can customize your Windows from applying the same logon picture to all users or prevent the access to 16-bit applications, to configuring Internet Explorer's set of options (disabling the various pages in Internet Options dialog). Internet is not avoided by the policies and you can turn on or off script debugging and script scrolling or you can control the browser menus available (from disabling "Tip of the Day" menu options to disabling Open menu option).
This policy editor from WinSetter supports Windows Vista, Server 2003, XP and 2000. For each option you select, at the bottom of the window there will be displayed the minimum requirements for that policy and a brief description. This way you will have the explanation for this or that policy and can take a better decision.
Generally all you can do with WinSetter Ultimate is enable, disable or leave the policies un-configured. Changing the policy state is extremely easy: double click on the desired item and the Change Policy dialog will pop up in an instant. The two options available there allow modifying the policy and benefit from a description a bit more (it tells what happens if it is enabled/disabled and shows the least of the requirements).
The search function included in the application makes finding the right policy a child's play. The search criteria let the user choose where the search should be performed: policy name, policy state, information or policy folder. A history of the searches is preserved right under the search criteria.
The software also makes available taking a pervasive look at all the settings by means of the logs it can create (see Create Policies Report function under Tasks menu). These can be saved as HTML or TXT documents or saved in Clipboard, and contain all the policies, their state and the folder they are located in. The unusual thing is that you can customize the colors used in creating the report and choose your background color, item background color and text color. Additionally, the user can select what type of policies the report should include.
Further options in Tasks permit you to see what changes have been effected to the original state of the policies. The information can be exported to a report under the same extensions mentioned before. The mischief is that you cannot change the state of the policy from here. You will have to search for the policy (search function deals well with the task, no matter the query elements) and operate the change.
Privacy and security go hand in hand when it comes to this application and WinSetter Ultimate lets apply a master password so that only authorized persons can make the policy changes. In the same Options menu there is a policy filter that can help reduce the number of options available. Depending on your operating system you can disable a great part of the filters available.
The Good
All 870 policies can be browsed and modified the way they intervene in the daily computer activity in a snap. You can easily peruse them and learn what they do and how they do it.
The interface can be customized in just a few clicks. Simply choose the required colors (background, primary text and secondary text) and that is it. If you want to return to the default skin settings all you have to do is press "reset to Default".
The Bad
The user does not have the chance to return to the default configuration. There isn't any button to bring the entire configuration to the initial state. You will have to consult the change log and revert the settings manually.
The Truth
Although all these policies can be accessed for free directly from Windows (type "gpedit.msc" in Start>Run and you will gain access to all the policies in Windows), I have to admit that WinSetter is a very good alternative as it also provides you protection for the settings you make. It seems that the settings you make in WinSetter Ultimate are not reflected in the Group Policy Object Editor in Windows.
However, you cannot but take into consideration that the same options are available for free in the operating system and the only additions brought by WinSetter are the search function, report capabilities and the fact that it is all wrapped in a very good looking interface.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
