I am trying to help open up some GPOs that lock down IE8 here (IE8 is the default version for the entire company so please do not mention other versions in this case) but it appears the settings are already open in the GPOs? In particular, the AxctiveX yellow bar install prompt appears to be Enabled (users allowed to install) as well as Trusted Sites yet everything is grayed on the client so I'm not sure where to make adjustments or how to test even in a blocked OU.
It also appears that there was an admin that used his own PC to setup a white list of web sites, but he's gone and so is the machine which he had the IE8 settings configured. I can see a GPO that has User Config>Preferences>Control Panel Settings>Internet Settings and in there one IE8 Template, but when I open it to edit, even in there buttons are grayed out. I'm assuming this is where the previous Admin uploaded his white list.
What's strange is it appears there are Computer, User, and GPP used in 3 different GPOs to control IE8, but all of the settings appear to allow for ActiveX install by users as well as to edit the various Zones for security in IE8. How can I go about setting up a test environment to adjust these to allow users more freedom to do as they please here. The 2 main things are ActiveX controls and freedom to add sites to locked down zones? Thanks