Solutions from PC Magazine: Create an Indestructible Shared PC

I first heard about the Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit from watching an hour-long demo video from Channel 9. Basically, the Shared Computer Toolkit provides a way to reinforce a Windows XP install so that an anonymous user, such as the Guest account, cannot fuck it up. This is primarily aimed at kiosks, schools, and other relatively public PCs that, if you've ever been responsible for a public computer lab, you know are at a high risk of fuckupability.

As a rule, people who don't own a specific computer will treat it, in my opinion, with slightly less care and concern than they would a piece of chewed gum. People will bookmark shit, change the home page, try to install their own screensavers, delete "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop", and anything else that, in some way, makes the computer indelibly theirs.

Which is why I enjoy this article from PC Magazine which outlines how the Toolkit works. If you ever have an XP machine that you have to permit strangers to touch, you'll want to experiment with this software.