I initially looked at Microsoft Steadystate as a method for preventing employees from visiting websites on single purpose computers. Though it did not satisfy that need directly, I was intrigued by the promise of the software.
Steadystate is available via Microsoft’s download site, and it is free for users of Microsoft Windows XP and Vista. As is required for much of Microsoft’s add-on software, you will be required to validate your installation of Windows. Protected disk drives will need to use the NTFS file system.
First a word of warning. Microsoft lists the minimum requirements to be a measly 300 Megahertz processor and 128 megabytes of RAM memory. This is a gross misrepresentation. First it would be painful to run just Windows XP with those minimum requirements. Adding Steadystate would take the experience to beyond painful. I installed it on a AMD 1.6 gigahertz, 512 megabyte memory test computer and the extra load on the system could be felt significantly.
The first lesson that I learned during my testing is that you want to install Steadystate on a fresh copy of Windows. This means either a new machine or one that recently been refreshed. You are unable to convert current users into Steadystate managed users easily. It is recommended that you also setup any software or features that you want available on the computer. This is mentioned in the Steadystate documentation, but first-hand experience really makes the point.
Once you have to-be-shared computer ready installation is straightforward. You download the software from Microsoft and then proceed through the standard installation.
During your initial use of Steadystate you are immediately given options. You can setup overall computer security as well as settings for individual users. You can also setup disk protection and scheduled software updates.
- Computer Restrictions – Set computer wide protection settings.
- Schedule Software Updates – Be sure that your antivirus software is setup to automatically update and scan.
- User Profiles – Now is the time to decide what your users will be able to do with the computer.
- Add a New User – This is where you finally add your user or users.
To simplify user control you can set access on the user level or on the profile level assigned to each user. This could be convenient if you have a shop foreman whom you would like more access to system options than line workers.
There are many options in what can be limited in SteadyState. You can limit the access to web sites in Internet Explorer. You can also limit access to certain disk drives, programs, and system settings. The computer can also limit the amount time that it used or left idle before it will log off the user. For the security sake of data, you can also disable the ability to save files on USB drives.
Be sure to test any profiles and users by logging in as a user and ensuring that they can perform any functions that you might consider them using day-to-day.
If you have taken a great amount of time to carefully setup and test your profiles be sure to back them up using the export function. This will also allow you to copy the same settings to other workstations with SteadyState installed.
Try it out. SteadyState is free to users of genuine Windows XP and Vista. Just be sure to test it on a non-production environment computer.