local config to disable applet for all users

["Joshua Swink" <joshua swink gmail com>]

I have a kiosk system that doesn't use gdm, so fast-user-switch-applet
always throws up an error dialog when Gnome starts.

I'd like to disable fast-user-switch-applet, preferably with some sort
of local gconf file that won't be overwritten by the package manager.

I could uninstall fast-user-switch-applet, but that would remove
ubuntu-desktop as well, so any packages that are added to
ubuntu-desktop's dependencies in the future wouldn't be installed
automatically.

I could download the Mandrake source RPM of fast-user-switch-applet
and get one that doesn't throw up an error dialog when you log in, but
again, the executable would later be overwritten by the package
manager when FUSA is upgraded. I'm looking for something that's low
maintenance.

I can remove the reference to FUSA with the following command:

gconftool -s -t list --list-type string --config-source
xml:readwrite:/var/lib/gconf/debian.defaults \
    /apps/panel/default_setup/general/applet_id_list \
   '[mixer,clock,notification_area,show_desktop_button,window_list,workspace_switcher,trashapplet]'

(Provided I first get the list of applet IDs and remove fast_user_switch.)

However, this file will be overwritten by the package manager when
gconf2-common is upgraded.

Josh