We have been discussing GPO links in every chapter of the book so far, diving a little bit deeper each time that links are mentioned. If you couldn't tell, having the ability to manipulate GPOs by their links is essential to successful Group Policy administration. In this chapter, we take it a little bit further still, and look at some of the more advanced filtering scenarios for your GPOs. Sometimes GPOs can be filtered simply by strategically placed links, true, but there are many cases where you need to filter the application of GPOs even more specifically than what a simple link allows for. This chapter is all about those advanced filtering capabilities.

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

• Link order precedence
• Blocking GPO inheritance
• Enforcing GPOs
• User settings versus computer settings
• Exercises with Organizational Units (OUs) and links
• Filtering GPOs with security filters
• Filtering GPOs with WMI filters