A. Win2K introduced the Scheduled Tasks folder and lets you drag files (including executable files) into the Scheduled Tasks folder to automatically create a new scheduled task. Users can also right-click an application, select Copy, navigate to the Schedule Tasks folder, then click Paste to accomplish the same thing.
To disable this drag-and-drop functionality, but still let users schedule tasks through other means, perform the following steps:
- Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
- Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Task Scheduler5.0 subkey to disable the Scheduled Tasks drag-and-drop functionality for all users of a particular machine or HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Task Scheduler5.0 subkey to disable the Scheduled Tasks drag-and-drop functionality for a specific user (create the subkey if it doesn't exist).
- From the Edit menu, select New, DWORD Value, name the value "DragAndDrop", and set it to 1.
- Close the registry editor.
- Log off and then log on for the change to take effect.
If you change both the machine and user settings, the machine settings will take precedence over the user settings. You can also disable the drag-and-drop functionality in Group Policy (go to User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Task Scheduler, Prohibit Drag-and-Drop option for users or go to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Task Scheduler, Prohibit Drag-and-Drop option for machines).
