How to easily restrict access to applications in Windows 10?
Windows 10 operating system supports a lot of security and privacy settings that make it easy for you to protect your data, and the group policy editor also allows you to control certain features, or make some modifications not available in the settings panel to improve system performance, but there may come a time you want to restrict access To some apps, especially if you share your computer with family members.
The step to restrict access to some applications that came previously built-in, such as: Command Prompt and Task Manager applications, or one of the applications previously installed on the computer, such as the Skype application, may be a useful way to prevent others from making any unauthorized changes when they use the computer.
Below, we will learn how to prevent others from accessing certain applications on Windows 10 computer:
First: How to restrict access to applications using the Group Policy editor:
The (Group Policy) editor allows you to change hundreds of different options, preferences and settings on the Windows 10 computer, but you must be careful not to try random options, as this can lead to problems in the system, and to do so, follow the following steps:
- In the search bar at the bottom left of the screen, type (gpedit) then press (Enter) and run it as an administrator in the window that appears.
- In the window that appears, expand the (User Configuration) menu.
- Click on the (Administrative Templates) option.
- Find the (Systems) option, then click on it.
- On the right side of the window, double-click on Don’t run specified Windows applications policy.
- In the window that appears for you, select the option (activation) Enable, then click on the option (Show) Show below.
Note: Only one application name must be added at a time. In addition, you will need to specify the application’s installation executable “.exe”, for example: To prevent access to the Command Prompt application, you can add cmd.exe and pwsh.exe. The settings are applied immediately, but in some cases you may need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
Second: How to disable access to applications using the Security Policy Editor:
- In the search bar at the bottom left of the screen, type (Local Security Policy) then press (Enter) and run it as an administrator in the window that appears.
- Double-click to expand the (Software Restriction Policies) menu.
- Right-click on the (Additional Rules) option, then select the (New Hash Rule) option from the menu that appears.
- In the window that appears, click on the Browse option.
- Find the application folder location, then select the main executable file, for example: cmd.exe.
- After selecting it, click on the "Open" option, then click on the "Apply" option in the previous window.
- Click on the OK option, then restart the computer.
After completing the previous steps, other users of the computer will not be able to run the application that you specified, and you can always repeat the same steps to prevent access to other applications on the computer.
If you want to undo the changes, you can use the same previous steps, but in the fourth step, right-click on the option (hash of the app currently blocked), then choose Delete.