If you want to prevent a specific program from running, for whatever reason,
the Windows system does not provide a built-in and clear option within the
settings that performs this task for you, meaning that you add certain
programs to a list similar to the blacklist of contacts, which leads to
blocking their operation. However, there are still hidden ways and tricks that
do this, but you will need to complete a set of steps that seem complicated to
the novice user. In general, if you want to prevent the running of a specific
program installed on your device without deleting it from the system, you will
not get out of this topic unless you have found the best way to enable you to
do so. Let's start straight.
Method 1: Using the Group Policy Editor tool
This method relies on the Local Group Policy Editor tool included in the
Windows system, which allows the Administrator Account to control Windows
features, applications, and even services and settings. This tool is only
available in the Pro and Enterprise version, however, the tool can also be run
in the Home version, but in an unofficial way, as we explained in a previous
article. Anyway, all you have to do is press Win + S, type "group policy" in
the search field, and press Open.
After running the tool, double-click on User Configuration, then click on
Administrative Templates, then click on System. On the right side, right-click
on "Don't run specified Windows applications" and select "Edit" from the menu.
From the window that appears, select the "Enabled" option, and in the part
called "Options", press the Show button to open a new window where you can add
the programs that you want to block from running. In each field under the
Value column, type the name of the program's executable file that you want to
block, which usually ends in "exe." This file can often be found in the
Program Files or Program Files (x86) folder. Once found, copy the file name
and paste it into any new field within the Show Contents window.
When you're done, click OK and close the Local Group Policy Editor window.
From now on, if you try to run a program from the programs placed in the list,
you will see an error message and you will not be able to run the program in
any way except by changing these settings and removing the name of the program
from the list.
The second method: by modifying the registry
Alterations can already be added to the Windows Registry to prevent a specific
program from running. This method works in almost all versions of Windows,
starting from XP to Windows 11, but before you start applying any step, I
strongly advise you to review how to make a registry backup to restore it in
anticipation of any potential problems, so save a backup first, which will not
take minutes to accomplish.
Well, if you have checked the How Backup Works topic attached above, then
you probably know how to open the Registry Editor tool on Windows. Anyway, you
can do that by pressing the Win + R keys together to open the Run window, then
type “regedit” and press Enter, or you can just type “Registry Editor” in the
search field within the Start menu and run the tool from the results. After the
Registry Editor window appears, copy the following path and Paste it in the
address bar at the top of the window, then press Enter:
-
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
When you select the Policies folder from the left side menu, right-click on it
and choose from the “New” menu, then press the “Key” option from the drop-down
list to create a new subfolder and name this folder as “Explorer”. After that,
inside this subfolder, right-click in any empty place on the right side, then
choose New and select from the list “DWORD (32-bit”) to create a new value,
name it “DisallowRun” and after creating it, double-click on it to show you
Edit value window and there you will replace “0” with “1” in the Value data
field and press the OK button.
After that, right-click on the Explorer sub-folder and choose New, then Key to
create another sub-folder that you will name "DisallowRun" and on the
right-hand side, right-click in any empty place and choose String Value and
give the new value any name, let it be a number. 1" to number the values since
you are going to block a group of programs. In general, after creating the
value, right-click on it and choose Edit, and in the Value data field, write
the name of the operational file of the program that you want to block from
running and press OK. You can create an infinite number of values within the
DisallowRun folder with each value representing a blocked program. When
finished, restart your computer, after which you will not be able to open and
run this program again.
Method 3: Using an external program
If none of the previous methods work, then you can try a third-party program
to block certain programs from running on your computer. And
Simple Run Blocker
is considered one of the best in this regard. This portable and free program
is the best to complete this task perfectly and easily, all you have to do is
run the program and then press the plus sign (+) to select the file to run the
program that you want to prevent from running in order to add it to the list,
then press the check mark icon to save the settings Then you can close Simple
Run Blocker and restart your computer to apply the block to the program in the
list.
