I work in an Enterprise size world and I often need to add a link to the IE Favorite Bar forALL users without removing or changing the links they have put on their favorites bar individually. This need, of course, is just a common need for ANY enterprise size organization. We are changing our learning system from one venders to another.
The URL for the new system is different than the old one. I have PCs that are used by several different people. That means that there is more than one profile under the "users" folder. (Windows 7 Enterprise)
Knowing Microsoft's reputation for paying attention to the details and working very hard to make life easy and to use common sense process' for Enterprise level control of Win 7 etc I am sure that there is a folder/registry location or some such thing/location
where I can via a .bat file create a link that will show up for ALL users in the IE Favorite Bar. (LOL) Needless to say the URLs in this location areadded to the existing "User Specific" links in the users Favorites Bar and areNOT REPLACING them. This of course is just a common sense need of the Enterprise IT world.
I have seen suggestions that one change the pointer in the registry to their Favorite folder, for all users individually to a common folder, but, needless to say, that would be a foolish way to do it as it, at the least, it will remove the ability for an
individual to have links in their Favorite Bar that do not show up for everyone else and programmatically I would have to "discover" all the names of the individual profiles etc and load and change those settings in the individual hives. Do able
in a full blown programming language like VB, but not so much in a .bat file. (Yes I can load a hive in a .bat file, but which hive?)
In Windows XP you could use the "All Users" profile and put these "common" for All users links in there and they would immediately be available for all users. This was a common sense way to handle this need and, of course, it should never
have been changed, but it seems that Microsoft with their usual lack of care or common sense or interest in the Enterprise needs of their customers, the ones who spend the most on their products, DID NOT carry this COMMON SENSE approach over the Window 7.
I would like to think that Microsoft is not so stupid as to have completely removed any possible way to have a common place to put URL links that will be available for EVERYONE via the IE Favorites Bar, without removing the individuals ability
to also have URL links that are only used by them and not all users on the same bar in IE.Unfortunately though, it seems, so far, that Microsoft HAS BEEN JUST THAT STUPID!
So what I need to know is, has Microsoft been that stupid, or have I just not used the right "Google" phrase to search out the correct answer with? If there is a way and Microsoft was not as STUPID as they seem, then please tell me and the hundreds
and thousands of other enterprise level IT people who need this capability exactly where it has been moved to? It does not seem to be under the new "Programdata" folder where they moved the global "Stat Menu" too for no good reason.
Thanks to all that can help, and please feel free to add your displeasure to mine over the lack of care for the needs of IT in an enterprise world to be able to push global links etc via programing, .bat files etc without removing individual ability to have
their own with the global.
Common sense say's that any folder with a name like "All users", or as it is now called , "Public" should provide the means to do just what we at the enterprise level need to do. If I need to put something on everyone's start menu, that
is where it should be, NOT PROGRAMDATA! It is inexcusable that Microsoft would take away such common sense. Why even have a "Public" folder anymore if it doesn't contain the most commonly needed folders, favorites, desktop, start menu, etc.
Thanks again,
Ralph
