Gnome 2.6 purplorts to have this feature: http://www.gnome.org/start/2.6/notes/rnwhatsnew.html (near the bottom - "lockdown" section). The "thin clients" I spoke of are essentially running the same remote X command you mentioned above. I thought you might be able to see if somehow the remote screen toggled something in Gnome to remove the "shut down" command. Still poking around - seems like the value would be in gconf *somewhere* - just don't see it... Chris
