Option to block applications from being installed through a blocklist or a group policy on regedit

[gelatinbomb]

Checklist

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• I have verified no other issues exist related to my request.

Is Your Feature Request Related To A Problem? Please describe.

I usually have a variety of software designed to block the access to distracting webpages so being able to install another browser kind of bypass that. By adding a way to block these problematic apps I can prevent myself from trying that. It can be used also as a kind of "parental control" if you want. In my case I use these tools for myself.

Describe The Solution. Why is it needed?

I think the best way to implement this is by setting a regedit key on the Registry. Then all the "values" added to that key would be blocked by Chocolatey. Maybe when you perform the command choco this one checks first maybe a file with the data before it does the search of the package and if the name of the package gets found there it can show something like "program is blocked from being installed by the Administrator"

Honestly this and a good software blocker should be enough since after I configure the key in the registry I can block the regedit executable with one of those an wouala!

Additional Context

I have heard Chocolatey is friendly with Administration software so I guess it might be possible to implement this. Now as you can see by the context of the post I don't want this for a company os a school or something like that, it's a personal thing for end users.

If you want an example of what I mean you can check the Google or Firefox group policies. Check the urlblocklist one. It's the closest to what I mean for the proposed feature.

https://admx.help/?Category=Chrome&Policy=Google.Policies.Chrome::URLBlocklist

Related Issues

No response

[JPRuskin]

Though I can see your potential use-case, there are a few problems (to me) with your suggestion.

Mainly, Chocolatey is designed to (except with some business features that match your requirement, when combined with restricting available packages as suggested on your Reddit thread) be run as an elevated process - if you're running Chocolatey, you're very likely an admin on your machine.

If you're an admin on your machine, you can undo any of these restrictions (for the record, the Windows Registry can be modified dozens of ways - not just by using regedit).

Jokingly speaking, if you're able to undo any of these restrictions, but choose not to - you can just choose not to install this other software. Voila! That said...

If you want to just put a layer of obstruction to reduce the temptation, can I recommend not using an administrator account as your day-to-day account?

This is actually a recommended practice, for various reasons. Your account will then (mostly) not be able to install the restricted software, but you'll be able to use UAC prompts or runas to update or install when you need to - there will just be an extra gate where you can ask yourself "should I be doing this?"

I'm going to convert this to a discussion for now, and we can talk more about it if you want.