[ms office - 2010] Disable videos/audio in Powerpoint

[MordyT]

Hi there,

I am currently working on a project for a high school.

 

The goal is to restrict the Lab PCs to only use approved software. While we have had great success in blocking WMP with a GPO, there is still a possibility to play videos on the PCs.

Here is what you do: Open powerpoint, insert video, hit play.

 

It appears powerpoint (and even other MS office 2010 applications) use their own playback methods for embedded media.

 

What I am looking for is a way to prevent media playback (music, videos, etc) inside of MS Office (2010 fwiw) applications.

 

--

Yes, it would be simple to just block powerpoint, but there are legit uses for it, so we can't. And while we could block access to thumb drives, we need to allow students to move files from their home PCs. That leave kicking students who use powerpoint this way out of the lab, but we rather prevent it from happening in the first place.

 

Ideas?

Thanks!

[Arthur]

The easiest way to do this would be to disable the buttons/menus/shortcuts via Group Policy for each Office program (using the relevant control IDs). To find the correct IDs to use, either download this spreadsheet from Microsoft and/or a free app called Built-in Controls Scanner.

 

User Configuration » Administrative Templates » [color="#FF0000"]Microsoft Word 2010[/color] » Disable Items In User Interface » Custom » Disable Commands

User Configuration » Administrative Templates » [color="#FF0000"]Microsoft Excel 2010[/color] » Disable Items In User Interface » Custom » Disable Commands

User Configuration » Administrative Templates » [color="#FF0000"]Microsoft PowerPoint 2010[/color] » Disable Items In User Interface » Custom » Disable Commands

etc.

 

For example, if you enter the control IDs 11922 and 11923 in the PowerPoint GPO above, the video and audio buttons on the Insert ribbon menu will be disabled.

 

Before

http://i.imgur.com/Du5Jh.png

 

After

http://i.imgur.com/zFM2R.png

[FN-GM]

The easiest way to do this would be to disable the buttons/menus/shortcuts via Group Policy for each Office program (using the relevant control IDs). To find the correct IDs to use, either download this spreadsheet from Microsoft and/or a free app called Built-in Controls Scanner.

 

User Configuration » Administrative Templates » [color="#FF0000"]Microsoft Word 2010[/color] » Disable Items In User Interface » Custom » Disable Commands

User Configuration » Administrative Templates » [color="#FF0000"]Microsoft Excel 2010[/color] » Disable Items In User Interface » Custom » Disable Commands

User Configuration » Administrative Templates » [color="#FF0000"]Microsoft PowerPoint 2010[/color] » Disable Items In User Interface » Custom » Disable Commands

etc.

 

For example, if you enter the control IDs 11922 and 11923 in the PowerPoint GPO above, the video and audio buttons on the Insert ribbon menu will be disabled.

 

Before

http://i.imgur.com/Du5Jh.png

 

After

http://i.imgur.com/zFM2R.png

 

 

What if someone put the video in the file from an external machine?

[Arthur]

What if someone put the video in the file from an external machine?

Good point. The GPOs above wouldn't prevent them from playing videos that have already been embedded into Office documents.

 

Videos can also be easily inserted into HTML and PDF files (among many other file types), so this may be harder than I initially thought.