Support: Defeating
Netscape Wallpaper Resets
Applies to: Navigator 3.01
Operating Systems: Windows 95
Problem Symptoms: "I need a way to prevent users
from changing the Windows wallpaper image from
within Netscape."
Netscape 3.01 provides a new
"feature" in the pop-up menu that appears when the
user right-clicks on a web page with a background
image or on any graphic on a web page. Labeled "Set
as Wallpaper", it allows the user to use the
specified image as his or her desktop wallpaper
image.
While in many cases this is fine
for home use, this "feature" can be quite a
headache to the network or computer lab
administrator, as users, either by accident or with
intent, can easily change the desktop wallpaper.
Not only can this raise copyright concerns, but it
can also result in some undesirable images being
set as wallpaper, notably in educational computer
lab settings.
SOLUTIONS
32-BIT NETSCAPE
NAVIGATOR
- MS Windows 95 (running the
32-bit version of Netscape 3.01)
Please carefully read the warning
that appears below prior to using this
method.
Open Windows Explorer and locate
the file called Netscape
Wallpaper.bmp
in C:\WINDOWS (or its equivalent). (If you do not
have this file, find your current wallpaper image,
rename it Netscape
Wallpaper.bmp
and move it to C:\Windows. Once you have a Netscape
Wallpaper.bmp, right-click it and choose
Properties, then check the box next to Read-Only.
You can also make the file hidden if you want.
Note to Network and System
Administrators:
This will not prevent the user from changing the
wallpaper in the Display Properties Control Panel
or in Windows Explorer, only from within
Netscape.
WARNING: The 32-bit method will produce a
crash of Navigator every time the user attempts to
set an image or background as the wallpaper. On
Windows 95 this manifests itself 100% of the time
in the form of an Invalid Page Fault in
Kernel32.dll and often another Invalid Page Fault
in Mfc40.dll. Even though it crashes in the kernel,
which is a core Windows component, extensive
testing proved that this crash does not destabilize
the operating system. On Windows NT it appears as
an Application Error in Netscape.exe. Due to the
potential for lost work as a result of these
crashes, it is our position that every user
must
be made aware that the Set as Wallpaper feature has
been disabled, and that attempting to do so anyway
will always result in a crash. It is our belief
that the crashes on 32-bit platforms are a bug in
Netscape, however we also feel that the crashes
serve as an excellent deterrent against attempts at
changing the wallpaper.
Reference: http://www.sousystems.com/faq/navcom/
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