Chapter 13 -- Configuring Security Settings and Internet Options

Chapter 13

About This Chapter

Group Policy administrators use Group Policy to define and control programs, network resources, and the operating system for users and computers. Typically Group Policy is set for the entire domain or network. It is used in an Active Directory environment and is applied to users or computers based on membership in sites, domains, or organizational units. The Group Policy snap-in is the tool used to configure Group Policy. As discussed in the previous chapter, when you add the Group Policy snap-in to a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) console and point it at the local computer, the snap-in that is added is the Local Computer Policy, which is Group Policy for the local computer.

In this chapter, you learn how to improve the security on your computer. You learn about configuring security settings that are part of the Local Computer Policy or Group Policy snap-in. The security settings include Account Policies and Local Policies. In Chapter 12, "Auditing Resources and Events," you learned about auditing, which is one of the three Local Policies found in the Local Computer Policy or Group Policy snap-in. In this chapter, you also learn how to improve the security of your computer by configuring Internet Options to control and secure the way Microsoft Internet Explorer interacts with the Internet.

Before You Begin

To complete this chapter, you must have

• A computer that meets the minimum hardware requirements listed in the preface, About This Book
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional software installed on the computer