No matter what version of Windows operating system are you using, your computer is not fully safe from viruses. Even the top most antivirus software cannot provide the 100% security to a computer. There is still a way to make Windows more secured without an antivirus installed on it.
This tutorial will help you take control of the whole computer as an administrator and disallow the users to make any changes to the existed programs or install new ones.
1. If any virus or malware program installs on the computer, it would have happened due to the other users’ unconscious actions or clicks on the relevant harmful links on the web or on the installer packages. ‘Windows Installer’ program is the program responsible for the installation of any software program on your Window Computer. If we can restrict users from accessing it, we could take the better control of the computer.
* To perform the operations in the following procedure, you need the administrator privileges on your computer.
Click Start button > type ‘edit group policy’ (without quotes).
Open ‘Edit Group Policy’ windows and navigate to the following path, Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Installer.
Find the ‘Turn off Windows Installer‘ option and double-click on it. It will open up with a default option ‘Not configured’ selected. Change it to ‘Enabled‘ and select ‘Always‘ under Disable Windows Installer options. Click ‘Apply‘ and ‘Ok‘.
This will restrict the users on your computer make changes to your already installed programs and prevent them from adding new programs.
2. Blocking Windows Installer alone is not enough to make Windows more secured. Make sure you have your ‘Firewall’ enabled always. Disable the ‘auto-run’ for all removable media. Malware will not exploit sometimes unless the auto-run is executed.
3. It is always better to monitor the users activity. We can restrict the software usage for users without the administrator’s authorization. To disable the access to all software programs to users on your computer, go to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Security Levels. Double-click on the ‘Disallowed‘ setting and ‘Set as Default‘.
4. Windows computer comes with ‘Windows Defender’, the best and native anti-malware program installed on the computer. Make this program run under ‘Normal Priority‘ tasks. To set so, go to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components >Windows Defender.
Double-click on ‘Allow anti-malware service to start-up with normal priority‘ and set it to ‘Enabled‘.
Make sure to update the virus definitions of the Windows Defender from time to time. Only maintain one Administrator account to avoid diluting the security. This will take care of the most of the cases of security on your computer and make windows more secured.