Understanding Group Policy Preferences

           The new feature in windows 2012 is Group Policy Preferences, are a set of Group Policy extensions that expand the range of configurable settings in a GPO. Like Group Policy settings, Group Policy Preferences are available for both users and computers. However, unlike Group Policy settings, preferences are not enforced.
Users can change the configurations that are
applied. Also, by default, Group Policy Preferences remain even when the GPO that contains the preferences is no longer applicable.
           Some of the more common uses for Group Policy Preferences are:

• Map network drives for users
• Configure desktop shortcuts for users or computers
• Set environment variables
• Install printers
• Set power options
• Configure Start menus
• Configure data sources (ODBC connections)
• Configure Internet options
• Schedule tasks