Do i need to stop uusers right clicking still

[pablo007]

Hi all we have for years stopped users right clicking in explorer, there were a nuber of valid reasons for this (all of which i seem to have forgotten), can someone help my memory? why do i still need to block this if at all? does it pose any security risks? do you block it if so why?

 

as always thanks in advance.

[Dos_Box]

Moving to Windows forum as it is a general question and not really security related.

[pablo007]

Is it not ? so it poses no security risk then ?

[Steve21]

Hi do you block it if so why?

 

Generally we don't bother, with Win7 majority of the problems with right clicks can be stopped nowadays. Things like creating BATs/Shortcuts should be locked down without the need to remove rightclicking anyway.

 

Same with things like open location etc etc, shouldn't be anything they can actually do their that would matter that much.

 

Steve

[pablo007]

Cheers steve we are still xp here on staff machines (they are laptops and we can't replace yet), helpful comments.

[m25man]

I cant see how you can nowadays as so many applications have a right click context menu, just try it yourself for a day and look at how many times you use it and how difficult it is not to!

There are bound to be a few people here defending the "security" aspect but just doing an email in outlook I was using the right click all the time during formatting etc must be an absolute pain for those that have it removed.

Sage accounts has all of its shortcuts in an RC context and nearly every app I just tested has a customised use of the Right Click button.

Gotta say, no right click seems to be a real productivity stopper nowadays.

[witch]

Our students have never had right-click and it has never been an issue. I inherited the network like that and there has never been a convincing argument to change for us.

[Steve21]

Our students have never had right-click and it has never been an issue. I inherited the network like that and there has never been a convincing argument to change for us.

 

Devils advocate and all, What's it benefiting you for though? Would you have added it if it wasn't already in place?

 

Steve

[pablo007]

Thanks Witch, fair comment Steve. there will have been valid reasons for sure but what?

[PiqueABoo]

Disabling Explorer context menu is easy and that's a virtue.

 

Keeping it and getting rid of the stuff you might want gone is the hard part... previous versions, share with, briefcases, include in library, properties security tab and so on. Then there's 3rd party extensions - do you ban them all or permit some e.g. Intel's Graphics Options->Output To is usually needed on the desktop context menu on staff laptops for IWBs.

 

This is another area I think got nastier (than XP) with Win7.

[Steve21]

Disabling Explorer context menu is easy and that's a virtue.

 

Keeping it and getting rid of the stuff you might want gone is the hard part... previous versions, share with, briefcases, include in library, properties security tab and so on. Then there's 3rd party extensions - do you ban them all or permit some e.g. Intel's Graphics Options->Output To is usually needed on the desktop context menu on staff laptops for IWBs.

 

This is another area I think got nastier (than XP) with Win7.

 

But why can they access those areas in the first place if you don't want them to? Just removing it from context menu, won't stop them running any of that via shortcuts etc etc if you leave it enabled. Security tab etc etc shouldn't be changable by students anyway due to permissions.

 

Or the other option is just remove the bits you don't want from the context menu, end of day it's just a set of shortcuts to other areas. No need to disable whole menu imo.

 

But guess it's personal preference overall.

 

Steve

[mavhc]

If you have to remove a link to something that's insecure, you should have made it secure instead

[Michael]

Disabling the context menu achieves nothing in my experience. Log on as an admin and take a look yourself.

 

If your GPOs are configured correctly, users will be unable to change the wallpaper for example as access would/should be denied.

 

It's important users learn about the context menu as well as shortcut keys. It also makes creating folders and managing data easier too.

[DrCheese]

If anyone is blocking this, then you are an evil person.

 

Think about it from a users point of view, how enraging would it be to have a muscle memory of right clicking for a lot of things (eg copy/paste) only to find it disabled. It would drive me absolutely insane & anyone that thinks this is a good idea should be forced to have it disabled themselves and see how long they last.

 

If I came across a network setup like this, I would just assume that the network team are power tripping and disabling random stuff simply because they can. There's sod all justification for doing so.

 

We exist to serve users and if you provide them with a decent user experience it will go along way to keeping them happy.

Edited July 1, 2012 by DrCheese

[Blue_Cookeh]

If anyone is blocking this, then you are an evil person.

 

Think about it from a users point of view, how enraging would it be to have a muscle memory of right clicking for a lot of things (eg copy/paste) only to find it disabled. It would drive me absolutely insane & anyone that thinks this is a good idea should be forced to have it disabled themselves and see how long they last.

 

If I came across a network setup like this, I would just assume that the network team are power tripping and disabling random stuff simply because they can. There's sod all justification for doing so.

 

We exist to serve users and if you provide them with a decent user experience it will go along way to keeping them happy.

 

I totally agree with you. We've given our users, both staff and students, right click on every version of Windows we've deployed that I've seen at our school (i.e. Win 2000+). I always look at features as if I'd be the user. Would I be annoyed it was disabled? Is the feature a nice to have, or is it pretty much core functionality? If I can do something to keep a feature in place whilst also maintaining security I will.

 

Heck the only reason I don't give every user their own profile and let them customise Windows to their heart's content is because I know some of them would abuse it and set the wallpapers etc to inappropriate images for a school environment.

Edited July 1, 2012 by Blue_Cookeh

[mrbios]

Same as Witch, it was blocked when i started here 6 years ago, no one's ever asked for it to be unblocked so I'm reluctant to spend the time testing it until it's requested.

 

Next year I might completely redo our policies though, at the moment I have everything locked down so kids can barely sneeze without us knowing about it, but that all stems from windows XP days, a lot more control over windows 7 so I really need to go through them thoroughly......when i have time HA!

[SYNACK]

First thing I did was re-enable it, right click is available everywhere else why not a school. Also more and more of the ui is moving to the right click, just try using office 2007/2010 without it, its like using horses to pull a Ferrari about rather than switching on the engine. I'd re-enable it for the good of your users.

[zag]

Annoys the hell out of me not having right click, so we give all users it now.

 

I don't see any reason why not to anymore.

[DrCheese]

I'm reluctant to spend the time testing it until it's requested.

There's nothing that needs testing, stop being evil

[ricki]

Hi

 

I disabled right click and the teachers went into melt down.

 

Richard

[pablo007]

Some interesting view points thank you to everyone i now have enough info to make neccassary changes.

[beagle]

we have shadow copy on our servers so by removing the right click students do not get the "restore previous versions"

Mind you staff now have this and luckily have never noticed it :-)

[SYNACK]

we have shadow copy on our servers so by removing the right click students do not get the "restore previous versions"

Mind you staff now have this and luckily have never noticed it :-)

 

I love previous versions, it means the staff can self restore docments that have been accidentally edited or deleted without me having to do it. It makes them more self sufficient and saves me messing about with backups.

[DrCheese]

we have shadow copy on our servers so by removing the right click students do not get the "restore previous versions"

Mind you staff now have this and luckily have never noticed it :-)

 

As above, disabling this for students is not a good thing. You're only shooting yourself in the foot as they'll just come to you instead. The *only* issue you could have with it is that students could restore stuff you deleted for a reason, but that's still not a reason to disable right click.

[PiqueABoo]

What do you folk do about this for multi-user shares e.g. some share you might have for all staff? Is or isn't it possible for someone to accidently revert entire folders etc? Or do you ensure they're not somewhere with shadow copy turned on?