To avoid legal liability, it's important to protect yourself wherever possible with appropriate notices and disclaimers. Windows NT gives you the ability to create a legal notice that users must view upon logon to the machine.
(Note: Remember that editing the registry can be risky, so be sure you have a verified backup before you begin.)
Set up a legal notice
Here's how you can set up a legal notice in Windows NT:
1. Start the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe or Regedt32.exe).
2. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\ Current Version\Winlogin.
3. Modify the contents of the LegalNoticeCaption key to be the title of the window that will display the notice.
4. Modify the contents of the LegalNoticeText key to be the legal notice that you want to display.
5. Close the Registry Editor, and restart the system.
At system boot, the legal notice will appear after you press [Ctrl][Alt][Delete] to log on, but before the username/password prompt.
This setting only affects the local system. If you want a legal notice to display on all systems in the Windows domain, use the Windows NT System Policy Editor (in Windows NT Server 4.0) to enforce a logon banner on all domain machines.
TechRepublic is the online community and information resource for all IT professionals, from support staff to executives. We offer in-depth technical articles written for IT professionals by IT professionals. In addition to articles on everything from Windows to e-mail to firewalls, we offer IT industry analysis, downloads, management tips, discussion forums, and e-newsletters.
©2004 TechRepublic, Inc.
3%
5%
