Program to Restrict Specific Applications?

[Nick H. Supervisor]

It's probably too late for this to be worthwhile this evening, but maybe I can use it in future.

 

My laptop is going to be used to play music for a BBQ. While I will be primarily in charge of arranging the music for the night, I would like the possibility to let other people change it - via the laptop - if they want. So I would like them to be able to sit down and access Dopamine and maybe also Google Chrome (for YouTube, SoundCloud and so on). But I don't want people to be able to use File Explorer, VLC, Slack etc.

 

I was wondering if someone knew of an application that could restrict the laptop to only use certain applications without entering a password. All other applications would request a password in order to run. Having looked around I know that you can restrict applications through gpedit, but with the laptop having a home licence it doesn't look like I'm able to access the snap-in.

 

Let me know if I need to clarify anything.

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

EDIT: I don't know why I didn't try to explain it like this to begin with - I basically want to lock down my laptop so that only certain applications are accessible. Other applications would ask for a password before being allowed to run. Maybe that helps.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

I'm sure some kiosk apps can do this but not sure of any free offerings. let me search a bit here

 

edit1: Windows 10 has a new built in Kiosk Mode but it's limited to allowing access to 1 application

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-kiosk-mode-assigned-access

[Nick H. Supervisor]

1 minute ago, Brandon H said:

I'm sure some koisk apps can do this but not sure of any free offerings. let me search a bit here

D'oh! Why didn't I think of that?! For some reason I was thinking kiosk applications would just reset the machine when it was restarted, but of course it would include locking abilities.  I'll have a look as well and see what I can find.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

4 minutes ago, Nick H. said:

D'oh! Why didn't I think of that?! For some reason I was thinking kiosk applications would just reset the machine when it was restarted, but of course it would include locking abilities.  I'll have a look as well and see what I can find.

It looks like Windows 10 CAN have multiple apps assigned for the Kiosk mode but it's a bit of a pain to setup that way

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/lock-down-windows-10-to-specific-apps

 

good luck with your search if looking at 3rd party kiosk apps; most seem expensive pay for or are only for web apps...

[Jim K Global Moderator]

10 Pro, Educ, Ent has a Kiosk mode.

 

...and I think you can get W32 programs to run???

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/lock-down-windows-10-to-specific-apps

 

I've no experience with this...so I may be way off.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

2 minutes ago, Brandon H said:

It looks like Windows 10 CAN have multiple apps assigned for the Kiosk mode but it's a bit of a pain to setup that way

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/lock-down-windows-10-to-specific-apps

 

good luck with your search if looking at 3rd party kiosk apps; most seem expensive pay for or are only for web apps...

Oof...that'll be too complex for right now, but at least it's something to look in to for the future. My housemate is really getting involved with BBQ's this summer so it's something I'll have to look in to.

 

And yeah, I found similar results when searching around. It's either only restricted to web-apps or it costs a fair bit of money. More than I would be willing to pay for a home situation.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

1 minute ago, Jim K said:

10 Pro, Educ, Ent has a Kiosk mode.

 

...and I think you can get W32 programs to run???

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/lock-down-windows-10-to-specific-apps

 

I've no experience with this...so I may be way off.

nope, seems like exactly what is needed but just looks a bit of a pain to setup imo

[Brandon H Supervisor]

8 minutes ago, Nick H. said:

Oof...that'll be too complex for right now, but at least it's something to look in to for the future. My housemate is really getting involved with BBQ's this summer so it's something I'll have to look in to.

 

And yeah, I found similar results when searching around. It's either only restricted to web-apps or it costs a fair bit of money. More than I would be willing to pay for a home situation.

the basic Kiosk mode seems pretty easy to setup so you could trial the setup with just Dopamine to see how it fares before messing with a multi-app setup 

[Copernic Reporter]

http://veridium.net/homeguard-activity-monitor/program-blocker/

[Skiver Veteran]

1 hour ago, Copernic said:

http://veridium.net/homeguard-activity-monitor/program-blocker/

Thanks, this actually looks like it could solve some problems I was having.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On 7/19/2018 at 10:14 AM, Copernic said:

http://veridium.net/homeguard-activity-monitor/program-blocker/

That looks exactly like what I'm looking for! Thanks!