MS Annotation tools

This is a fun one that I'm sick of seeing.

MS office applications come with some form of annotation tool that turns the pointer into a "pen" and lets people scribble away. I want to try and find a way to remove this option. In powerpoint its a context menu over a slideshow.

There is something similar in word although I have yet to actually find it.

I can't find anything in group policy to disable it, nor does google search help much. Does anyone have any ideas?

The sad part as well, is that rather than just messing around doodling (which I would call normal, to an extent) the craze round here seems to be to colour in the entire screen. I mean, I understand procrastination but these guys take it to whole new levels.

Interesting question there Aard~. What version of MS office are they using?

:)

ah yes, version info. Newb mistake :P

This is running Office 2003 on XP pro (corporate naturally).

Server is 2003, up to date with patches.

The server also runs the ranger network manager, which on one hand allows us to add "title checks" so that if there was a window called "annotation" I could title check that, but there isn't. The down side is it tends to not like all adm files and overrides a lot of AD.

In this case the office policies are working fine through ranger, so there are a few options. I soooooo hope I get the job at the university though so I don't have to worry about this sort of mindless crap.