Force Logoff After idle time period

[nuttygeek]

Hello everyone,

 

My problem i currently have is teachers leaving there computers logged on and walking away to do something and forgeting to log off. So my question is simply, Can i force a logoff after 20 minutes of inactivity using AD GP. If so how

 

Cheers in advance

 

Nuttygeek

[wesleyw]

Have a look here?

 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;314999&

 

http://www.secadministrator.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=21299&pg=1&show=516

 

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=4541&pg=1&show=641

 

http://www.winxp-manager.com/#4.%20Custom%20Settings

 

You could try looking at this site which has quite a lot of information about Windows in general:

 

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/

 

 

I'll see what else I can find!

[indie]

Yes, MS have a Screensaver called winexit.scr that can be applied via group policy, have a look here.

 

HTH

[indie]

Damn, you beat me to it!

 

Via group policy you can also set an EXE to be the screensaver if you rename it to .scr, i'm guessing you could use the shutdown.exe program, although there would be no way for the user to stop the pending shutdown once it's been started.

[wesleyw]

Woohoo! I win! I win!

 

Wes

[indie]

Found this too, worth a try.

[nuttygeek]

Cheers For that guys, will play with the winexit.scr, Your both winners.

 

Nuttygeek

[Michael]

winexit.scr is Microsoft's solution but in my experience it didn't work very well on XP machines. In the end I just set computers to lock after 3 mins of inactivity. Teachers wanting to use specific machines can enter their credentials and the user is logged off - however any work open and unsaved is lost. This is the only catch!

[Gatt]

winexit.scr is Microsoft's solution but in my experience it didn't work very well on XP machines. In the end I just set computers to lock after 3 mins of inactivity. Teachers wanting to use specific machines can enter their credentials and the user is logged off - however any work open and unsaved is lost. This is the only catch!

 

Does that mean your teachers have ADMIN rights :O8O

[Michael]

Yes local to the machine, of course not domain administrators. Why you may ask - well because there are many educational software titles which require admin rights. The teachers require these applications so I have little choice but to support their needs.

 

Staff have controlled or centrally managed Desktops and Start Menus. All other aspects of Windows are controlled via network policies and NTFS permissions. Everything works just fine. It works for them and it works for me.

[john]

Another way of curing that problem is just to grant them full control over the folder the programs are installed in, and over the registry if needed, and that can stop full admin rights needed locally on the PC

[apeo]

Over here Ive found that most of the time setting appropriate permissions on the folders did the trick but if you have to assign users to local groups maybe Power Users is the most you would want to give them.