As I work for a large company with 700+ workstations we strive to minimize the need for PC support whenever we can, one of the problems is when users use different browsers or install strange add-ins, one of the more annoying IE additions is the Google Toolbar.  Now I am sure the toolbar offers some great options to some users, however in our corporate structure we like that all browsers function the same as this minimize the development time for our intranet and other internal solutions.

Informing the users that corporate policy does not allow for installation of Google toolbar (and others) does not help that much, it is almost impossible to avoid installing Google Toolbar today, it comes with numerous applications (even with Java as I recall) and if you just miss one checkbox then it is installed (reminds me about the terrible Real player from years back).  One good thing about the Toolbar is however that it is easy to get rid of, it uninstalls without too much hassle.

Anyway I got my heart set on disabeling the Google Toolbar from installing, but how?

Well I found this interesting article on Google Groups;
http://groups.google.com/group/IEToolbar-Group-Advanced/browse_thread/thread/bc70afa3d5b37aa9

---[FROM GOOGLE GROUPS]---------------------------------------

Hi Alan,

You actually have a couple options to prevent the Toolbar from being

installed on your school's network:

1. You can block the Toolbar through the IE policy, or blacklist

everything and selectively whitelist specific add-ons. The relevant

path to the add-on management policy is:

Console Root/(Local or Global) Policy/(Computer or User Configuration)/

Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Internet Explorer/Security

Features/Add-on Management

>From there, you should be able to block each add-on through its GUID.

The Toolbar's GUID is {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F}.

2. You mentioned not wanting students to install the Toobar because it

shrinks the usable area of the screen. More than preventing the

installation of just the Toolbar, you may want to prevent the

installation of all IE BHO's in general. These can be disabled through

group policy in the admin console. There's an IE key that disables

BHO's at:

Console Root/(Local or Global) Policy/(Computer or User Configuration)/

Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Internet Explorer/Internet

Control Panel/Advanced Page/Allow third-party browser extensions

Setting that to "Disabled" will prevent all BHO's from launching.

And for any network admins out there concerned with privacy but who

still want to enable the Toolbar, you should be able to disable

features like PageRank or AutoLink through the group policy file

(that's the .ADM file that's included with the Toolbar for

Enterprise).

Cheers,

Kiku

---[FROM GOOGLE GROUPS]---------------------------------------

Option 1 actually sound quite good, Option 2 will likely disable way too much – some things actually need to install browser additions (certificates for public signature, banking add-ins, PDF readers/printers and many other)..

When I have the time I will take a further look at it.