Web browser lock-down: How to?

Question

Hi,

I have an ASP.NET web application where a portion of it needs to run in a web browser as a public facing terminal.

Essentially it is used to capture anonymous user feedback (wizard control on a .aspx) in a commercial location such as a shop.

An administrator will login and prep the application for 'terminal' mode.

The terminal is a normal PC with keyboard and/or mouse like device.

I would like to prevent users from: Viewing the browser menu's, pushing back button and/or entering a different URI in the URL and also disallow keyboard shortcuts from bypassing the intended looping functionality of the application that is running?

Which browser is best suited for its ability to disable functionality as mentioned? The app runs on IE/FF/Chrome/Opera/Safari.

HOW would one go about configuring the machine and/or browser so it is locked to prevent unauthorized/unintended use?

On a side note, I guess the web application session needs to have an unlimited timeout?

Thanks for your input!

EDITED: I am leaving the question as unanswered for now... I would like to see responses that highlight possible options for the other browsers as well.

Answer 1

Hi.

You can run Internet Explorer in Kiosk mode. Please see this MS KB article.

Simply put, start Internet Explorer with the -k argument

There seems to be some commercial products available also, like this.

Answer 2

Try How to use Kiosk Mode in Microsoft Internet Explorer

Also, there are many Kiosk tools to assist in locking down a machine. Example: http://www.thekioskstore.com/index.php/software/kiosk-lock-down

Answer 3

Firefox has at least two plugins (and possibly many more):

• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1659
• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/509

It is also possible to lock down KDE and GNOME (GNOME at least has a built in tool), which you can also use to lock down the rest of the system. I suggest installing Ubuntu if the web app is running on another system.

If you have to use MS Windows, check out: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/seeit/internetcafe.mspx.

Answer 4

You can use an opensource Linux distribution designed for this very purpose, http://webconverger.com/