I want to disable five of the six buttons in the dialog box that appears when a Windows 2000 user presses Ctrl+Alt+Del. (I want to keep the Cancel button and delete the Lock Computer, Log Off, Shut Down, Change Password, and Task Manager buttons.) I've managed to disable four of the buttons through some registry changes, but I can't figure out how to get rid of the Shut Down button. Can you give me the solution?
The registry value for the Shut Down button is in a somewhat obscure position, so it can be difficult to find. Open a registry editor and go to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer subkey. Add the NoClose value (of type REG_DWORD) and give it a value of 1. This step eliminates the Shut Down option on the Start menu. When the user presses Ctrl+Alt+Del, the Shut Down button is shaded and nonfunctional.
Before you take this step, however, I encourage you to consider whether eliminating the Shut Down option is wise. When you disable the Shut Down option along with the other changes you've made, the only way users will be able to shut down the machine will be to turn off the computer or to log on as another user. Win2K is a robust platform, but shutdowns that involve an abrupt loss of power can be devastating. For example, if the system's power goes off as the system or an application is writing an event to the registry, the registry can become corrupted.