How to Allow Only Specified Applications to Run in Windows 7

To protect the system’s integrity, some system administrators block certain applications to maintain the system in good health by keeping away unwanted users accessing critical programs that may harm the system.

To block certain applications there is already “Parental Controls” feature to block programs. Using that you can block applications per users by selecting the user which you want to restrict using by adding the program in blocked list.

But what about giving the users access to only specified programs or applications? Suppose there are 15 users accounts and 100 applications in your system and you want to give all the users the authority to use only 4-5 applications – what you’re going to do then? Adding all the applications in the blocked list except those 4 or 5 by going to all 15 users’ accounts one by one? If you think this is the only way to do this then you’re wrong.

Local Group Policy Editor has many advanced Windows settings and hidden features that even most of the power users never discover. Beside many advanced features it has this “Run Only Specified Windows Application” feature as well.

To do this, follow the steps:

1. Go to Start Menu, and type “gpedit.msc” and hit enter.

2. From Left menu, choose “System” under Administrative Templates.

3. From right pane, double click “Run only specified Windows Applications”.

4. From Windows that appears, change settings to “Enabled” and then push “Show” button.

5. In the next window, manually type the name of the system’s application or address of any third party application installed.

6. Hit OK and Apply the Changes.

Now try to run the application that is not in the allowed list (not allowed to run) you’ll get a error message like this:

Tell me if you use any other method to allow certain applications to run. If there’s a better way to do this, do tell me in the comments below.