I have to run my C# application that I wrote it recently on several computers with window 7 operating system. Here is a big challenge with it, Application must run on startup and user must not be able to work with anything else such as windows hotkeys, other applications, some directories and etc.
Considering I don’t want to kill any process or service as less as possible, Please give me the best solution.
Thanks and waiting
Maybe A little more information will help
did you see Devices like ATMs or Medical devices that window is running on? Those devices don't allow user to manipulate with desktop or anywhere else, I want their solution. . . my Application Will run as a device handler(A Medical Device in Operating room).
You probably shouldn't write such an application in the first place (nagware?).
Anyway. I think what you are looking for is actually "kiosk" software. Here is blog entry that describes how to lock down the computer to effectively run in "kiosk mode".
Note however, that not every application can (or should) be used in that mode. Either because it has loopholes that still allow you to do thing (for example the file open/save dialog still allows you to create directories or navigate the file system), or because they were simply not designed with that goal in mind.
This sounds actually like a (very) bad idea to me...
You could probably hook every Keyboard event so you disable OS shortcut (Windows + D, Windows + E...). See here.
Also hide the Windows taskbar.
Make sure your application starts with Windows.
This sounds a bit hacky to me...
A program with the properties you mention is called a (very restrictive flavour of) shell. So you need to register your program as a shell (instead of explorer.exe) for the poor, poor user you want to restrict.
You might look into using a local group policy to enforce this restriction. Check this out.
Related
I need help. I made a WPF application. Its functionality is that it launches the application when it is launched. But if it is pinned to the taskbar, then a JumpList appears. From which you can also call other applications. I ran into this problem: I do not know how to make the program automatically pinned to the taskbar after the first launch. Please help someone. I read on microsoft's website, but it's not suitable for wpf. Please help with this.
Maybe there is some kind of library? Maybe there is a way with the registry?
Don't ask for support for pinning, here is why.
Microsoft goes in great length to prevent applications altering user preferences. Why? Because otherwise, every application would do it. Giving access to user preferences via API means developers start exploiting it. It means applications fighting for screen space. You install compnay A product and it unpins company B product.
If such API existed, that is malware.
And an API for only the calling executable is not viable, it would mean that somewhere deep in the operating system the function call to do it for any executable exists. And then somebody finds it and calls it directly. Besides, it has been a big trouble for Microsoft to decouple the shell as it is.
Instead, explorer handles it.
Further reading Why is there no programmatic access to the Start menu pin list?.
Some application do manage to pin.
Regardless of what, it is a bad practice.
It is not guaranteed to work, much less in the next Windows update.
One way is to mimic user input. It is hard to consider all cases (what if the taskbar is hidden, what if it is not in the usual place, what if explorer is not running, etc.), but you can imagine setting the pointer position and sending keys.
Another way would be to write directly to the list. You might have found out that the pinned items are at:
%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar
And they are regular, good old, shortcuts. And you could add your own. And it would not work.
Thus, the answer is "Please don't do it".
For a more detailed explanation, you can try to refer here.
I'd like to make my own custom program run on windows 10 in replacement of the start screen and logon screen.
Is there any way I can do this? I've currently replaced the accessibility program (accessible from the logon screen) with a command prompt, if I accidentally lock myself out (it has happened once!).
I recall seeing a particular Winlogon.exe. Is this my starting point? Am I able to replace the program that windows runs with my own?
Also, wrapping up, If I manage to replace this program, can I logon to windows in my program? I'm writing it in c#.
Old post, but still relevant...
I don't know if you can, or should replace it, but you could write an overlaying app to cover it and do it's own thing, if you can use a little windows command-line magic combined with node.js. More of a work-around, but then you won't chance destroying any os-specific functionality, and it seems to be universal from Vista on up (to my knowledge at least). Here is how you can get your starting point to run a GUI app on the logon screen.
Node-Windows - Run GUI app on Logon screen
You can use this technique to run any app in any language that you can open it's window from a command-line.
There will be a brief period where the normal logon screen will be visible before your app starts, but this will let you do it.
Whatever language you use for your logon GUI, you will need to send simulated key input to the real logon screen, possibly mouse-clicks-- but you can likely use simulated tabs to get to the right logon. Likely MS has API's for C# as well as a variety of related dialects to programmatically logon to the desktop in a more elegant fashion than this last part, however.
Your app will be running as the SYSTEM user (unless you specify otherwise), therefore it will be running with the highest authority-- so you can basically do anything that is possible from there. Permissions won't stop you. Be careful with this.
I am developing a C# application. I am looking for a way to monitor different events in 3rd party applications.
Example 1: Calculator is running, and I want to know when the user has clicked on "=" button.
Example 2: Skype is running and I want to monitor when the user hits the "Call" button.
Example 3: Word is running and I want to monitor when the user opens the "Font" drop down list.
I am not looking for simple Mouse or Keyboard events.
Take a look at EventSpy, Both of those seams to do what you need.
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/11918/EventSpy
http://eventspy.codeplex.com/
You basically need to tap into the "Windows Messaging" loop. In order to properly filter the GAZILLION messages that come flying through you'll also need to be able to periodically scan through all of the active windows to see which ones (if any) are relevant to you.
Be aware that this whole subsystem of windows is a GIANT security hole. (I have not worked with it much since NT4 / W95/W98 days so they might have tried attempts to "secure" it since then so it might be even harder to get to than it used to be.
You're going to need a good ide / 3rd party tools to help you get started on your way to have some idea of what you're looking for.
In a "previous" life we used this basic technique to get ~4,000 workstations to install their own software, updates, patches, etc through monitoring for existence of certain windows, controls, etc and "injecting" messages into the Windows Messaging loop to control Application Setup Programs, configuration changes that were not stored in the registry, etc, etc...
Is there anyway to find what kind of window is opened on the desktop in real time?
It may need C# or C++. What I have found right now is to use C# Process.GetProcesses() method to find the opened windows on desktop.
But the output cannot be changed when the users have opened any new windows. So, is there any method I can use to track the opening windows in real time?
Also, is there any way to track the mouse movement on a specific window by using our web service?
Many many thanks!
I do agree with tnw that this sounds sketchy (possibly an example would be useful to help here). However, you want to look at the windows api calls:
GetForeGroundWindow
GetCursorPos
The first will only give you the current window, and not all open windows, but it sounds like this is what you really want anyway?
Source code to Windows keystroke logger that does this (in C++): http://16s.us/16k/
Edit: It shows the open window the user is typing in (in real time), but not all open Windows, only the active window in use.
i wish to load my C# application after windows user login and before windows desktop appears. currently i added my application startup path to registry run key. it loads my application correctly but windows windows desktop appears[2 sec] then my application runs
Note:
My application creates seperate desktop using winapi, while my application running it hides the desktop temporarily.
This really isn't possible to do. Windows works pretty hard to get the desktop up and explorer responsive as soon after the user logs in. This is what is most important to the user.
Your goals may be noble, but they are at odds with what users want. So in general, they are at odds with how Windows works (especially Win-7).
If you have software that needs to run early that doesn't need to interact with the user, then a service is they way to go. It is important to note that in Vista and later Windows systems, there is no way for a service to interact with the user - e.g. they cannot have their own graphical user interface. Services with UI are inherently not secure.
One way to partition your software is to put some things in a service, and have a think UI layer on top of it. COM and Local RPC are good choices for communication between your service and your UI layer.
Note that you will need to do work here to prevent your components from slowing down boot. Poorly behaving applications are one of the biggest problems in the boot path. You can study this using the Windows Performance Toolkit
It is kinda possible I think, but you are really in for a lot of extra work. What you could do is replace the Windows Shell with your own code, but at that point you become solely responsible for the UI that the user interacts with.
If your code isn't 'just right', you may end up with an unusable Windows install, and I'm not sure your users are going to appreciate that much.
Also note that there may be features that you normally intuitively expect to be available on a Windows machine that are part of the shell which you will not have access to anymore. For details, try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_shell_replacement as a starting point.
Addendum:
I have only the vaguest knowledge myself about what is actually involved technically to make this happen, but http://dustyant.com/articles/deeshell/ seems to be a decent explanation of the basics. Again tho... here be dragons make sure you do this in a VM or something so that you don't end up stuffing your main Windows install.
Just briefly what 'Shell Replacement' means: after you log in, windows starts an application called 'explorer' (not sure if this still holds for Vista / Win 7... I have a vague recollection it got a little more involved recently), which basically draws the desktop, the taskbar, etc. ... it is possible to tell Windows to start a different application instead of the default graphical shell. At that point you are in control of the main UI of Windows... which means that you are responsible for everything that Windows normally does in the shell ... gives you a lot of control and flexibility, and possibly lots of headaches.