Allow Users To Run Only Specified Programs in Windows 7

I was doing some reading today and came across an interesting article that I thought I’d share with you. It’s about allowing users to run only specified programs in Windows 7. I think that this would be helpful to restrict programs you don't want others to use or execute on your own computer. This also prevents unwanted application execution like viruses and malwares thus keeping your computer safe and sound.

If you have a shared or public computer you might want to allow users to use only specified programs. Today we take a look at a setting in Local Group Policy that allows you to set only specified programs to run. Note: This process uses Local Group Policy Editor which is not available in Home versions of Windows 7.
First click on Start and enter gpedit.msc into the search box and hit Enter.

Navigate to User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ System. Then under Setting scroll down and double click on Run only specified Windows applications.

Set it to Enabled, then under the Options section click on the Show button next to List of allowed applications.

A Show Contents dialog comes up where you can type in the apps you want to allow users to run. When finished with the list, click OK then close out of  Local Group Policy Editor.

If a user tries to access an application that is not on the specified list they will receive the following error message.

This is a nice feature for limiting what programs users can or cannot access on the computer.