Is there any way to stop any system changes in XP?

[patelrg]

Hey guys,
I think it would be helpful if I gave you an overview of the office. Attached is a picture of the network. Every now and then, some computers will have problems and run slow. I usually end up using system restore to get them up and running again. Is there anything that you guys could recommend to assist me in preventing any system changes for all of the computers? I would like for the computer to be only able to update BitDefender Internet Security. By the way, it is a physicians office and most of the work is done through CernerWorks. It is a web based program that everyone logs into and uses a Citrix Client and Uniprint to work. Also, should I turn off any services to maximize the efficiency of the computers? Thanks.

[jbennet]

XP Home or XP Pro?

Do you have a system with Windows Server running on it (and an active directory domain set up)

If so you can use Local (Or better Domain User/Group) policy to lock down the system

[Bob Gempaloran]

Hi,
Try running deep freeze, it will restore the system to the way it was before you started it

[HoustonIT]

Yeah, Deep Freeze is awesome! I used it at a cyber cafe and never had any problems after deployment.

[patelrg]

I have a computer that is just set up as a server to run one of my programs, but it isn't running Windows Server. It is running XP Pro SP1 (I cannot update to SP2 or Sp3 because the program that it is hosting is old and picky). Also, will deep freeze work on my xp pro stations? I ask this because the website doesn't clarify. The only reason I am asking this is because some of the laptops (Nurse, Nurse2, and Nurse3) all print to a shared label printer that is on the Lab computer. However, every now and then, the printer settings change and the pages come out portrait instead of landscape and I end up using system restore. I have been doing research trying to stop any system changes and saw that system restore monitors quite a bit of file extensions. Will deep freeze stop any changes to all of these file extensions or is there anything else that I should be looking at to find out the problem? Thanks guys.

[patelrg]

I have a computer that is just set up as a server to run one of my programs, but it isn't running Windows Server. It is running XP Pro SP1 (I cannot update to SP2 or Sp3 because the program that it is hosting is old and picky). Also, will deep freeze work on my xp pro stations? I ask this because the website doesn't clarify. The only reason I am asking this is because some of the laptops (Nurse, Nurse2, and Nurse3) all print to a shared label printer that is on the Lab computer. However, every now and then, the printer settings change and the pages come out portrait instead of landscape and I end up using system restore. I have been doing research trying to stop any system changes and saw that system restore monitors quite a bit of file extensions. Will deep freeze stop any changes to all of these file extensions or is there anything else that I should be looking at to find out the problem? Thanks guys.