Making windows run only one program visible to the user

Question

So I have been charged with the task of making all of the computers for a small company only able to access a single website, sort of like a web kiosk. After playing with a lot of the whitelist web filtering software out there and finding nothing that is in the company's budget that really does what they want. (blocking user access to all programs except IE, and IE can only access one domain) I'm not the greatest programmer in the world but I figured I could throw together a really simple C# web browser that only allowed access to a particular domain and make the users use that. Problem is that C# relies on other things existing in Windows to work properly. If it were possible to then setup a windows machine so that when a user logs on, all Windows functions are hidden, but still running in the background, and one specific program is running, then this C# web browser would start on the right domain and that would really be all that the user could do. Does anyone know of a way to make this happen?

Other solutions to my problem would be greatly appreciated. I would prefer a solution that is user specific on individual machines, not a network filter or something higher up. So that I can access the full web and computers when I do maintenance on them and because users could just access one of the many wifi networks available from neighboring offices if it was network level.

Oh yeah, and some machines are windows 7, and others are running XP.

Answer 1

I suggest you use the CreateDesktop/ SwitchDesktop WinAPI Calls from user32.

E.g. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms686347(v=vs.85).aspx

Don't know how to call this from C#, but I think it is possible.

So your should integrate a desktop creation and switching inside your simple C# browser (at start of it) or in separate application, which does start your browser. Add this application (or browser) to the user's autorun.

Be very careful, when you does a desktop switch, is it very hard (I think impossible) to switch back.