Securing a High School Windows XP Computer Lab?

An anonymous reader asks: "My SO just inherited a computer lab from a departed teacher who was no security guru. These are Windows XP systems, and security basically consists of a password on the admin account, a subscription to McAfee Security Center, and a free Internet filter. The students have access through a non-passworded 'limited' user account that doesn't seem to limit much. They have been going in and changing settings, downloading games and music, and generally screwing the computers up during class time, in many cases leaving them unusable. As the geek in our house, she has asked me to give her a hand, but while I have dealt with some security issues in the past, it was to protect against remote intruders, not against someone who has to have access to the keyboard. Any suggestions on the best way to lock these systems down?"

Comments

Sure.

[khasim]

First off, the part you'll be authorized to use is almost exactly like Windows. Here's the login screen. Here is the "Start" button. This is your web browser, word processor, etc.

These machines will NOT run most of the applications you have at home. We want it that way.

One word: Don't

[PaxTech]

If you lock them down, they'll work but you'll have a lot of complaints as people are restricted from using the computers for any purpose you haven't specifically allowed. In a business environment, this is fine, you pay the people to work and they aren't using the computer as a toy. In an educational environment though, you want students to be able to experiment.

What I would do is try to create a network disk image that could be quickly and easily reverted to when the machines inevitably get messed up. Let the students play and learn, a large part of learning is in messing things up and trying to fix them.