If the Windows 7 client is not part of a domain, you apply security settings through Local Group Policy Objects (LGPOs). LGPOs are a set of security configuration settings that are applied to users and computers. LGPOs are created and stored on the Windows 7 computer.

If your Windows 7 computer is part of a domain, which uses the services of Active Directory, you typically manage and configure security through Group Policy Objects (GPOs). Active Directory is the database that contains all your domain user and group accounts together with all other domain objects. GPOs are policies that can be placed on either users or computers in the domain.

The Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in that is used to configure and manage GPOs for users and computers via Active Directory. Windows 7 computers that are part of a domain still have LGPOs, and you can use LGPOs in conjunction with the Active Directory group policies.

The table below lists some of the options that you can set for GPOs within Active Directory and which of those options you can apply through LGPOs.