how to restrict programs to root access only
 

i've just installed gconf-editor and i'm wondering how can i make this program root accessible only? i mean when i fire it up it will prompt me for root password before i can use it... (there's a few other softwares that i would like to put restrictions on)

You can make a tool only usable by root by changing the ownerships/perms.
You'd have to write a wrapper to make it ask for root passwd if that functionality is not built-in (usually wouldn't be).
You should put your distro in your profile, but if you have RH based system, it does ask for root passwd for stuff like Add/Remove SW I think, so you could check the src code. Also the stuff on the SysAdmin menu iirc.

to be honest i'm a real noob to Linux, i have used it for a length of period but i haven't delved into anything more than daily usage (movie watching, document creation, web surfing etc)

I'm clueless in what you are explaining... maybe i'll wait untill a click click instruction comes along :|

In that case I highly recommend you bookmark & read this http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz
For your particular qn, pay special attention to the chown and chmod cmds.
If you add your distro & version to your profile details so we can see them, you'll get better advice, as some things solutions vary depending on which Linux you've got.
You should also bookmark/read
http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-G...tml/index.html

Bla
 

Same here about the newbie stuff. Good link though.

sorry, i'm currently running the latest from RedHat Fed Project: Fedora 11 - Gnome

In that case, as I said, you'll notice there are several operations that prompt you for root passwd. You need to check the src code.
Alternately, this looks easier http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2807, http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2460
GIYF

Manuleka

Just so you understand it is NOT RedHat Fedora, it is Fedora. While RH does offer a tremendous amount of support to the project, it is an independent entity (even more so since FC6).

thanks... i thought Fedora was more like a community based Red Hat Project (which is open source and open to public) developed and maintained by the community group or groups, where as Red Hat Enterprise is their pay service/product line