How to Disable Access to Task Manager
You may want to restrict access of a particular user to the Windows Task Manager for a number of reasons. The way in which task manager access can be disabled is different for different version of Microsoft Windows. The only basic prerequisite for disabling access to task manager is that you must have an account with administrative rights or the administrator account itself. This simple task will take no more than a few minutes of your time. Here is how you can disable access to task manager for both Windows XP and Windows 7.
Instructions
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Disabling task manager access in Windows XP
In Windows XP, you can disable access to task manager using the Windows Registry Editor. Simply click ‘Start’ button followed by ‘Run’ button, type ‘regedit’ and click ‘OK’ to open the Registry Editor in Windows XP. -
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Navigate your way to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
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Right click in the right pane, point to ‘New’ and choose ‘DWORD value’ from the list of options.
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The name that you have to give to this DWORD value is ‘DisableTaskMgr’ without the quotes.
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Double click the newly created DWORD value. Write ‘1’ without the quotes in the ‘Value date:’ bar.
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Click ‘OK’ to confirm. Close the registry editor window and reboot your computer. When it comes back on, the user for which you disabled the task manager will not be able to open Windows Task Manager.
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Disabling task manager access in Windows 7
Open ‘My Computer’ followed by the C: drive. -
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Double click the folder labelled ‘Windows’ and then open the folder named ‘System32’ by double clicking it.
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In the ‘System32’ folder, there will be a programme taskmgr.exe. Right click that programme and from the list of options that appears, choose ‘Properties’.
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Click on the ‘Security’ tab in the ‘taskmgr Properties’ window and the click the ‘Edit’ button.
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A new window labelled ‘Permissions for taskmgr’ will pop up. On this window, click the ‘Add’ button.
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Click the button labelled ‘Object’ types. You will be given a number of options on the ‘Object Types’ window. Uncheck all the options except ‘Users’ and click ‘OK’.
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Windows will prompt you to add all the usernames for which you wish to disable access to task manager. For instance, if the username for which you want to restrict access to task manager is ‘Michael’, type Michael in the ‘Enter the object names to select (examples):’ and click the button labelled ‘Check Names’.
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Click ‘OK’ and then click on the username for which you wish to restrict access to the task manager.
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You will be returned to the ‘Permissions for taskmgr’ window. Deny task manager access right to the user by checking ‘Deny’ box corresponding to ‘Read & execute’.
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Click ‘Apply’ and then click ‘OK’. You have successfully disabled access of a particular used to task manager. You can deny task manager access to other users in the same way.
