Safer Work

Note: The software is free for private use, businesses or schools require a paid license. The unlicensed software activates the computer protection for all users. With the full version, you can also protect individual user profiles. Restrictions may be activated for individual users.

Mainly aimed at system administrators and more advanced users alike, Safer Work is a very unusual yet interesting piece of software that allows you to block and restrict the execution of various programs.

The app's highlights are marked by its three main, self-explanatory features, each with its own switch: Enable Whitelist Protection, Enable Firewall Protection (All Users), and Restrict Admin.

The first mode allows you to activate software whitelisting, and you should know that there are three directories that are on the positive list by default: C:\Windows, C:\Program Files, and C:\Program Files (x86). This means that from these directories, you can start basically any software. It's also worth highlighting that some directories that are writable by users by default are also automatically added to the whitelist, however, do note that the directory listing is customizable.

Moving on to the second mode, there's really not much to be said, except for the fact that it restricts the range of all open ports to the local subnet. The third and last mode affects the User Account Control settings. In short, by enabling this option, the app reconfigures the UAC to allow all administrative rights. Unfortunately, users with older computers running Windows XP can't benefit from these last two modes.

Other than that, even though the app basically offers protection by modifying your system's registry database, the application is quite straightforward, with a non-impressive GUI housed within a compact main window. There are two main tab sections, namely User Management and Safer Configuration.

From the first tab, you can change the app's log, enable all of the aforementioned features, as well as have your pick at its surprisingly comprehensive collection of GUI themes. In the second tab, you are presented with the possibility of whitelisting various scripts, as well as SRPDirs, and SRPWinDirExpcetions, SPRSysUtilExceptions, and SRPCustomExceptions.

Taking everything into account, Safer Work is definitely a useful app designed to stand guard and reinforce various restrictions on Windows computers used for more public purposes in schools, libraries, companies, and so forth.

The only small (and easily fixable) downside is the fact that both its Help section and its License Agreement section from the installer are in German.