Version 5 (Beta)

[Andy]

As you may be aware, we've been working hard on the next version of AB tutor Control, primarily to support the latest Windows Vista operation system. To be quite frank with you, Vista has cause us a massive headache which why it's taken so long to get it ready! We've had to change the way the program works quite significantly and even now some commands still don't work on Vista and we are working with Microsoft to fix them. One good thing that has come out of the Vista support is the added benefit of Terminal Service support.

We are looking for more beta testers, so we can start to get feedback from users with different machines/configurations etc.

If you would like a beta copy, please send me an e-mail directly giving your name, school, address, telephone and account number. Sorry, but we will be just as strict to who we send beta copies as we are in sending out the full product.

[b]PLEASE BE CAREFUL[/b], try it out an a few select machines and don't just role out to all machines until its been further tested.

We would like to go for a full release at the end of August.

Although at first you might not see much change to the interface, most of the changes have gone on behind the scenes.

[b]Terminal Server Support: [/b]
- Install the client program only as normal on a Terminal Server
- When you connect to the TS via AB tutor Control any 'Active' sessions will automatically appear in the list.
- Use 'Tools' - 'Settings' - 'Terminal Server' tab to configure your TS for auto connections
- You can then highlight and connect to these as normal.
NOTE: If a session is shown as 'Connected (Inactive)' it means that although a session is running no one is actively using it. You can only 'Watch' Active remote sessions. All other functions will still work ok.

[b]Known Vista Issues:[/b]
Ctrl+Alt+Del does NOT work - We are still battling with this one!
This also affects the 'Login' command as this sends a CAD command before entering the username/password.

[b]Other know issues:[/b]
The 'Blank Screen' command can cause a screen 'flicker' on portable PCs.
You are still prompted to install the Mirror Driver on installation.

Please let me know via e-mail the moment you hit any serious problems and also keep track of any other problems/suggestions you find.

[b]What's New[/b]
1: Added Vista Support
2: Added a 'Lock Message' history selection box (See 'Tools' - 'Setting' - 'Lock Message' )
3: [ComputerName] and [Date] inserts added to the lock message
4: Terminal Services support added
5: Improved Multiple-monitor support. when you make the 'Watch' window Full Screen on a secondary monitor it does not jump back to the primary monitor.
6: New option to keep the AB tutor Control application windows visible during a 'Show' command. Useful for teaching how to use AB Tutor Control to other teachers. (See 'Tools' - 'Settings' - 'View/Show' tab)
7: New feature to allow the Tutor/Administrator to 'Blank' the remote screen during a Watch/Control.
8: New Policies added: Mute, Lock and execute Action policy. (Action policy allows you to Shutdown/Reboot/Logoff or run/close an application. Usually used in conjunction with the Activate based on time of day)
9: Added Policy Security. Administrators can 'Protect' policies so Tutor cannot Add, Edit or remove them.
10: Added a 'Reapply' policy after X mins function. If the Policy is removed by a Tutor, then it will automatically re-apply in X mins.
11: Added the ability to Activate/Deactivate policies based on time of day.
12: Policies can now be Applied/Cleared from the Remote view windows.
13: With the 'Shutdown/Reboot/Log off' commands, you can now optionally display a count-down window on the remote computer. You can specify the text to display, the number of seconds and the ability to allow the user to abort the command.
14: Enhanced connection security. You can now prevent older versions of AB Tutor connecting to your clients and also block un-registered copies from connecting.
15: You can now 'Close' remote applications. Either by specifying its filename or application title (or part title by using wildcards)
16: The active running application is now shown as the first Icon in the application list
17: You can now customise the text for the message boxes that are displayed when a user is blocked from running an application or accessing a web page. (See 'Tools' - 'Settings' - 'Messages' tab)
18: We've developed a new way to monitor/block Web sites at a lower level. Previously this only worked on with IE. Now it blocks ALL access to web sites independent of browser.


Thanks for your continued support.

[am_k77]

is there any option with witch we can lock the PC after specified time from Tutor control?

thanks

[Andy]

Hello

Yes, you can apply/remove policies based on time of day. One of the new polices is to apply a Screen Lock. You need to set the times during each day (down to a minimum of 30 minutes) you either want the policy active or inactive.

I hope this answers your question.

Andy

[Zoom7000]

Do all the features that were in the previous versions still work with Windows XP? Or are they missing in XP too because of the rewrite? (i.e. Does CAD still work in XP for example...)

[Andy]

Yes, the system works as before on XP etc, it's just the Ctrl+Alt+Del command on Vista that is causing us problems at the moment!

We will be releasing the new version without this working in Vista, but as soon as we have a fix, we will issue an update.

We are officially releasing next week.

[Dave1983]

What day is version 5 going to be officially released? And besides this one Vista issue is there anything else missing?

[jamesrhart]

Hi Andy,

I have been using the beta for a few weeks now and we were quite confident in it, however we have found an issue on XP machines where we have upgraded the MSI in group policy. When logging onto the machines as a user they are prompted that the machine has found new hardware, a display adaptor.

The users are obviously unable to install it themselves and this fails, when running it as an admin it is unable to find a driver, this will however cause large issues if rolled out to the entire site this way as it will mean us manually completeing the wizard on each machine.

Will this be corrected in the final release and is there a fix for it now?

Thanks
James

[meastaugh1]

James,

We ran into this issue at the last upgrade. Users get this because the mirror driver installed by ABTC is not WHQL'd (digitally signed by Microsoft).

The issue and workaround is detailed in [url=http://www.abtutorcontrol.co.uk/ActiveKB/questions.php?questionid=74]this[/url] knowledgebase article. I used the [i]instdrv.exe -u[/i] command in a startup script to retrospectively repair the problem, then used the INSTALL_MIRROR_DRIVER property in the MSI to ensure future installations don't include the mirror driver.

[jamesrhart]

Thanks for that, worked a treat and saved a lot of manual work!