WINSelect Supports Windows 10

We are pleased to announce that WINSelect now supports Windows 10, Microsoft’s latest operating system. Administrators can control specific Windows 10 features, thereby allowing end users to experience only authorized Windows 10 functionality.

Hide Windows Action Center

Action Center is a notifications and settings side bar introduced in Windows 10. While it offers the convenience of viewing alerts at one place, in addition to the ability to enable or disable some settings, you may want to prevent users from accessing its functionality.

With WINSelect, you can now hide the Windows Action Center from your end users.

Block Start Menu and Start Menu Items

In Windows 10, Microsoft has re-introduced the sorely missed Start Button along with the Start Menu. These allow users to handily access several programs and Windows features.

As an administrator, you can now block specific programs and features from the Windows 10 Start Menu that you wouldn’t want your end users to access.

Some of the programs and features in the Start Menu that could be blocked include:

Control Panel, Settings, File Explorer, Lock, Sign out, Most used, Programs and Tiles on the right-hand side of the Start Menu panel, Run, Shut down, Store Metro app and Cortana.

You can also block the Desktop Taskbar and the Start Menu itself.

Block Start Button Context Menu

The Start Button Context Menu appears when the Start button is right-clicked and offers access to a collection of Windows Settings and Features like Programs and Features, Power Options, Device Manager, Control Panel, Run and so on. You wouldn’t generally want users accessing this menu and tampering with pre-configured settings, and with WINSelect, you can now block access to this menu.

Disable the Uninstalling of Apps

Windows 10 users can initiate the uninstalling of apps by simply right-clicking on the app in the Start Menu. By choosing this option in WINSelect, you can prevent users from uninstalling apps that need be retained on the computer.

Disable Pinning of Apps to the Taskbar

Windows 10 users can pin apps to the Taskbar via a right-click menu option on in the Start Menu or Start Screen. You may not want end users to clutter the taskbar by pinning a large number of apps. WINSelect now provides the option to disable the pinning of apps to the Windows 10 Taskbar.

Disable Right-click of Tiles and Customization of Start Screen

You may not want users to be able to right-click on tiles in the Windows 10 Start Menu or Start Screen and access the right-click menu options or customize the start screen. WINSelect now provides you with the ability to disable the right-click on tiles and customization of the Start Screen in Windows 10.

Summary Infographic

To summarize, WINSelect now enables you to control key aspects of the Windows 10 user experience such as the Action Center, Start Menu and Start Menu Items, Start Button Context Menu, uninstalling of apps, pinning of apps to the task bar and the right-click of tiles and customization of the Start Screen.

The above options are available under the Desktop & Windows Taskbar panel and Start Menu panel within the System tab of the WINSelect Policy page on Deep Freeze Cloud. They are also available in the Desktop & Windows Taskbar item and Start Menu item under the System node of the WINSelect Enterprise and WINSelect Standard Configuration interface.

We hope you find these enhancements useful for your environment. We love to hear from our users – let us know if you have any feedback by contacting us.