How do I write a hard-hitting notice to discourage bad practices done on the computer?

You need to write a good company policy outlining what is acceptable behavior and what is not. Print out a copy for each employee, have them sign for it, keep the signatures on file. If the policy is not followed than that person will be disciplined up to termination. You must follow through on the discipline and you cannot pick favorites. Each person that is in violation should be disciplined in some way. Of course it would depend on the offense and the nature and seriousness of it. Your policy is not effective if it is not enforced.

Acceptable Use Policy

This policy contains two components the E-mail security policy and the Internet security policy.

E-mail security policy

This policy address's the use of company provided email, what is admissible and what is not. The ____ Company provides its employees with email and internet access for business purposes. It generally must be used only for business purposes. Incidental personal use is permitted as long as:
• It does not consume for than a trivial amount of resources
• It does not interfere with staff productivity
• It does not preempt any business activity
Forbidden activities are:
• Charitable endeavors
• Private Business Activities
• Amusement or Entertainment purposes
• Any other inappropriate work content
These are forbidden unless expressly approved by the _____ companies' president or his representative. Employees are reminded that the use of corporate resources, including electronic communications, should never create either the appearance or the reality of inappropriate use.
Password's must never be shared or revealed to anyone other than the authorized user.
Employees will be granted rights to data on a “need to know” basis which means only those that must use the data to perform a job will be granted access.
While ______ is committed to respecting the rights of its employees including their reasonable expectation of privacy the ______companies cannot guarantee that email messages will be private. Employees need to be aware that email messages can be forwarded, intercepted, printed, and stored by others. In addition others can access email in accordance with this policy. _____ employees should also be aware that email messages may be monitored. Users should structure their email messages with the thought in mind that the ______ companies may monitor the content of those messages.
Please see a copy of the written policy for details not included in this summary.
Violation of these policies may subject employees to disciplinary procedures up to and including termination.

Internet Security Policy

The purpose of the internet security policy is to establish procedures and requirements to make sure the _____ companies information and equipment is secure in its internet connections.
This policy applies to any user of the _____Companies computer networks. All information traveling over the ______ companies computer networks that have not been specifically identified as the property of other parties will be treated as though it is an asset of the ____ Companies. It is the policy of the ___________ companies to prohibit unauthorized access, disclosure, duplication, modification, diversion, destruction, loss, misuse, or theft of this information. In addition it is the policy of the ____ companies to protect information belonging to third parties that has been entrusted to the ______companies in confidence as well as in accordance with applicable contracts and industry standards.

All software downloaded from non-The ____ company sources via the Internet must be screened with virus detection software prior to being opened or run, whenever the provider of the software is not trusted, downloaded software should be tested on a stand-alone(not connected to the internet) nonproduction machine, if this software contains a virus than the damage will be restricted to the involved machine.

Exchanges of software and/or data between the _____companies and any third party must not proceed unless a written agreement has first been signed. Such an agreement must specify the terms of the exchange, as well as the ways in which the data is to be handled and protected.

Employees need to be aware that their communications are not automatically protected from viewing by third parties. Unless encryption is used, staff should not send information over the internet if they consider it to be private.
At any time and without prior notice, the Aim companies' management reserves the right to examine email, personal file directories, and other information stored on the _____companies' computers. This examination assures compliance with internal policies, supports the performance of internal investigations, and assists with the management of the ____ companies' information systems.
The ______ companies' management encourages staff to explore the Internet, but if this exploration is for personal purposes, it should be done on personal, not company, time. Likewise, games, news groups, and other non business activities must be performed on personal, not company, time.
Use of the ______ companies computing resources for these personal purposes is permissible so long as the incremental cost of the usage is negligible, and so long as no business activity is preempted by the personal use. Extended use of these resources requires prior written approval by a director.

Please refer to the Internet Security Policy for more details and the full test of the policy.
Violation of this policy may subject employees to disciplinary procedures up to and including termination.
For questions or more information on these two policies please refer to the written copy of the policy and for further questions contact the Information Services Manager.

This is a summary of our two internet policies.

Shirley