We have about 20 laptops with Windows Vista or 7. Most, if not all, have Java and Flash installed and those are updated through their upstream update routines, i.e. the user gets prompted that there's an update that should be installed. These users have admin rights and they can install updates when it best suits them. We have no Windows domain or whatever central management. The problem is that with each update Java offers to install an Ask toolbar and Flash offers McAfee something and many or most of our users neglect to unselect them.
Given
that there are security holes that need updating and especially that Firefox even refuses to use a unsecure Java
that we unfortunately need Java and Flash and
that our users cannot be trained to not update when prompted nor unselect stuff when offered
how can we best avoid this crap? Is there a registry key that changes how those updates work? Would an unwritable directory under Program Files fail the installation? Or should I just distribute a post-install batch-script to remove specific files?
