To add another to my ever growing ‘how to disable’ defaults-write series, here’s another to restrict the Finder.
If you want to prevent a user from modifying the Finder’s preferences, one option is to enter a simple command to simply hide the Preferences option in the Finder menu.
To disable the Finder’s ‘Preferences’ option, all you need to do is enter the following command using the Terminal Application from /Applications/Utilities:
defaults write com.apple.finder ProhibitFinderPreferences -bool true;killall Finder
The Finder should quit. To re-open the Finder, click on the Finder icon in the Dock and the ‘Preferences’ option will no longer be available in the Finder’s application menu:
If you do want to revert back to the default setting and bring back the Preferences option in the Finder, just enter the following command:
defaults write com.apple.finder ProhibitFinderPreferences -bool false;killall Finder
Disclaimer:
While the author has taken care to provide our readers with accurate information, please use your discretion before acting upon information based on the blog post. Amsys will not compensate you in any way whatsoever if you ever happen to suffer a loss/inconvenience/damage because of/while making use of information in this blog.
This feature has been tested using OS X v10.8.4 which was the latest Mac OS release at the time of writing.