SoftActivity

Setup SoftActivity with Symantec Endpoint Protection

June 11th, 2010

If you have Symantec Endpoint Protection installed on your company computers, it may detect a threat/risk in SoftActivity Monitor,  Agent or TS Monitor and delete it.  To avoid this you need to setup Exceptions in Symantec Endpoint. It will then ignore presence of Activity Monitor and allow monitoring of computers in your office network and will not notify users. Following steps below add these Centralized Exceptions  in Symantec Endpoint Protection:

  • Spyware.ActivMonAgent
  • Spyware.ActMon
  • Folder on monitored computers:
    C:\Windows\sysnchrb
  • Folder where SoftActivity Monitor main console and server software is installed:
    C:\Program Files\SoftActivity\Activity Monitor

In case you use Symantec in Unmanaged Clients mode, you need to add these exceptions  on each workstation where you are going to install Agent and on the workstation or server where you install Activity Monitor. If you use Managed clients mode in Symantec you need to add exceptions only once in Endpoint Protections Manager on the server. This is preferred mode and makes adding exceptions to all client computers much easier.

You need to add exceptions on computers where you are planning to install Activity Monitor and Agent before the installation. If you add exclusions after installation, you may need to reinstall Activity Monitor again, as it could be already damaged by the antivirus. If Symantec detects a risk in Activity Monitor/Agent files it will ask user to choose an action. In this case you can right click it and click Exclude.

1. Open Symantec Endpoint Protection. Click Change Settings tab, then click Configure Settings button next to Centralized Exceptions:

Symantec Endpoint Protection settings window

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Setup Activity Monitor with Norton 360

June 11th, 2010

If you have Norton 360 installed, it may detect and delete Activity Monitor and Agent. To avoid this you need to setup exclusions in Norton 360. It will then ignore presence of Activity Monitor and allow monitoring of computers in your office network. Following steps below add these Signature Exclusions in Antivirus Settings in Norton 360:

  • Spyware.ActMon
  • Spyware.ActivMonAgent

You need to do it on computers where you are planning to install Activity Monitor and Agent before the installation. If you add exclusions after installation, you may need to reinstall Activity Monitor again, as it could be already damaged by the antivirus.

UPDATE (Sept 2012): Since version 7.0 of Activity Monitor exclude this folder on monitored computers: C:\Windows\sysnchrb

You may also need to create a Firewall Rule for Activity Monitor and Agent.

Antivirus exclusions for Activity Monitor and Agent in Norton 360

1.Open Norton 360 main window. Click Settings:

Norton 360 main window. Click Settings

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Setup SoftActivity Monitor with Norton Antivirus

June 10th, 2010

Norton Antivirus will report presence and delete SoftActivity Monitor software and Activity Monitor Agent . You can  still install Activity Monitor on your company’s computers to monitor employees if you are authorized to do so. You will  to add a few excludes in Norton Antivirus.

1. Open Norton Antivirus main window and click Settings in Computer panel:

Norton Antivirus – click Settings for Computer

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Activity Monitor 5.4 released

May 27th, 2010
  • new: recording of Skype instant messages; both sides of conversations
  • new: recording of AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) chat; both sides of conversations
  • new: collect recordings from Agents by schedule without keeping Activity Monitor running
  • new: View Screenshots button that allows to view all screenshots recorded for a selected computer
  • new: view Agent screenshots one by one or as a slide show
  • improved: no flickering of Agents list when connected to a machine with Activity Monitor via Remote Desktop
  • fix: unable to type accented characters in Firefox on Winodws XP/2000 with Agent

Activity Monitor 5.3 released

April 1st, 2010
  • new: added user interface languages:
    • Italian
    • French
    • Russian
    • German
    • Portuguese
    • Spanish
    • Turkish
  • improved: added Duration field for visited websites in export to Excel and CSV file
  • fix: error message “The parameter is incorrect” when installing/updating Agent from Windows 2000 computer
  • fix: minor fixes and improvements

New: Ability to download updates for Activity Monitor online

February 11th, 2010

SoftActivity introduces online update system for registered users of Activity Monitor. This system enables our customers to download new version of Activity Monitor software online on our website.

It requests for user’s full name, email and the registration key that was used to activate the software. It allows then to download newest version of Activity Monitor software. You will also see expiration date of your subscription to updates and support.

If your updates and support subscription has expired the system will offer an easy option to renew your subscription for 1 more year.

Registered users of Activity Monitor: Check Subscription and Download the Latest Version

Activity Monitor 5.2 released

February 1st, 2010
  • new: check for updates command in Help menu. Option to automatically check for updates weekly.
  • new: automatic update of Agents to the version of Activity Monitor. Agent since version 5.2 will support automatic updates for future versions. Agents still need to be updated to version 5.2 using regular installation method as before
  • new: Update/Repair Agent command that reinstalls Agent on the remote computer to fix problems with missing files etc.
  • new: monitoring of Guest user accounts in Windows is supported now
  • improved: saves network traffic by stopping update of screen view for invisible tabs