Kiosks in Windows 8 Running Regular Software (Non-Windows Store App)

Question

My company operates using public kiosks. These kiosks are running Windows 8 and though they are secure, they are certainly not as secure as the kiosks AKA ATMS you would see

Answer 1

If you have Windows 8 Pro or Enterprise, you can achieve that with Group Policies (GP).

1. Create a user with the desired privileges;
2. As an admin account, run the Microsoft Management Console (mmc.exe);
3. Go to File > Add/Remove Snap In...
4. Select the Group Policy Object and press Add
5. Press the Browse... button
6. In the Users tab, select the user you just created
7. Press finish
8. Go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System and edit the Custom User Interface settings
9. Change it to Enabled and enter your application path (i.e "C:\Program Files\My Kiosk App\App.exe") in the Interface File Name field

Next time you log in using this user, Windows won't load Explorer.exe, but your application instead. This way you won't have easy access to the desktop. Through GP you can tweak your system to prevent other stuff like blocking specific applications, removing features, etc.

You can also force an auto logon through registry. Further information can be found here: http://deployhappiness.com/group-policy-kiosk-mode-locking-down/

I hope that helps.