SoftActivity

MONITORING SOFTWARE BLOG

Activity Monitor 8.0 released

December 18th, 2012
  • new: support of Windows 8 (except Windows RT on ARM based CPU)
    • records usage of Windows Store Apps
    • records visited websites in Internet Explorer store app
    • both the monitoring console and Agent support Windows 8 and run as a desktop app
    • monitoring console supports Windows Server 2012
  • new: Auto cleanup of Central Logs Database. Select a number of days/months you want to keep in Options – Database tab. Older data and screenshots will be deleted automatically to save disk space.
  • new: support of 64-bit edition of Outlook for email recording. Added support of Outlook 2013
  • Fixes since version 7.0:
    • fix: errors with downloading of logs and screenshots. Some screenshots could be missing in central logs DB.
    • fix: Dates filter panel disappears in SoftActivity Reports sometimes when there is an invalid date found in the database
    • other numerous fixes and optimizations

SoftActivity TS Monitor 3.1 released

October 18th, 2012
  • new: Auto-cleanup of the database and screenshots. Allows to select how many days or months of data you want to keep. Older data will be removed automatically to save hard drive space and improve database performance
  • new: support of Windows Server 2012
  • fix: Dates filter panel disappeared in SoftActivity Reports sometimes when there is an invalid date found in the database
  • fix: file opearations recording is now off by default to improve performance
  • fix: minor improvements and fixes

Activity Monitor 7.0 released

August 2nd, 2012
  • new: View screenshots in sync with reports in Central Logs Database [screenshot]:
    • select a program and view all screenshots for this program in Top Programs report  [screenshot]
    • select a website and view a history of screenshots taken during visits of this website in Top Websites report [screenshot]
    • view screenshots at the bottom of the screen as you navigate through history of used programs, emails, chats, etc.
    • double click a screenshot thumbnail in the bottom panel to view it full size
    • zoom in/out screenshots, view as slide show [screenshot]
    • recommended setting now is to take screenshots from active window only instead of full desktop. It is now default
  • new: View History button added in every tab in the Monitoring window that opens Central Log Database for this computer and user
  • new: screenshots from remote computers are now downloaded together with logs. Get Agent Screenshots command removed. Click Get Agent Log instead
  • new: Options – Location tab: removed folders for screenshots and exports. Screenshots are now stored in the Central Log Database folder under SCR subfolder
  • new: Improved compatibility with antivirus products. Now it’s easy to exclude Agent folder from scans in your antivirus to avoid any positive detection
    with future updates of your antivirus product
  • Fixes since version 6.5:
    • fix: database conversion error on some computers: “error in statement near s”
    • fix: Activity Monitor crashed on some computers when monitored PC’s IP address changes
    • fix: Adobe Reader hanged on some computers with Agent installed resulting in user unable to open PDF files
    • fix: compatibility issue with Microsoft Security Essentials antivirus caused extremely slow file downloads and copying
    • fix: rare crashes when displaying some HTML email messages
    • fix: on some monitored computers Administrator users could find recorded screenshots by searching for jpg files in Windows
    • improved: support of more than 65K rows for export to Excel 2007 or newer
    • fix: error message on computers with MS Outlook 2010 64-bit about no default email client

SoftActivity TS Monitor 3.0 released

June 13th, 2012
  • new: view screenshots together with all reports on new Screenshots Timeline:
    • new: select a program and view all screenshots for this program
    • new: select a visited website and view history of screenshots for this website
    • new: view screenshots as you navigate through history of used programs, emails, chats, etc.
    • new: double click a screenshot thumbnail in the bottom panel to view it full size
    • new: zoom in/ zoom out screenshots, view them as slide show
    • new: recommended setting is to take screenshots from active window only instead of full desktop. It is now default
  • new: Licensing is now for concurrent user sessions instead of named users. For example, 6 users license allows recording of up to 6 any users simultaneously logged to a terminal server. For your existing license this means you can monitor more users than before
  • new: Select users and/or groups to monitor. Selecting a Group or All Users option allows monitoring of user accounts created in future or not known by administrator at time of setup
  • new: Exclude users and/or groups from monitoring, such as managers and administrators
  • new: Recording file operations on all drives: local, network, removable. Select monitored folders and change other settings on Files tab. By default, records removable drives and user’s Documents folder. Previously recorded only USB drives
  • improved: Recognizes external hard drives as removable and records file operations on such drives
  • new: export File operations report to Excel
  • new: improved and more reliable keystrokes recording algorithm, especially on 64-bit Windows editions
  • new: database can be stored on a network shared folder on another server. To allow this grant write NTFS permissions to COMPUTER$ account for the shared folder. Only supported in domain. This allows storing databases from multiple servers in a single location
  • improved: support of more than 65K rows for export to Excel 2007 or newer
  • lots of other improvements and fixes

Activity Monitor version 6.5 released

December 6th, 2011
  • new: Documents security: records file operations on all types of drives: local, network, removable. Select monitored folders and change other settings in Agent Properties on Files tab
  • new: recognizes external hard drives as removable and records file operations on such drives connected via USB or Firewire 1394 interface
  • new: export File operations report to Excel
  • new: added “Do not restart remote computer” option for installation of Agent update. Note: will work only for future updates. During update to this version remote computers may still restart to finish installation. It’s recommended to update Agent when users are not at their computers
  • new: improved and most reliable keystrokes recording algorithm, especially on 64-bit Windows editions
  • new: correctly records group chats in Skype
  • new: grouped display in Reports Viewer that is easier to read (no duplicate lines)
  • new: Next/Previous buttons in Agent Properties window for quick navigation between Agents. Makes it easy to view and change settings for multiple Agents
  • new: (minor) Ability to start Activity Monitor minimized to system tray (notification area). To do it: open Activity Monitor shortcut Properties in Start menu or on your Desktop, select Run: Minimized instead of Normal Window; in Activity Monitor Options select Minimize to system tray check box,
  • fix: email messages in KOI-8 (Russian) encoding are displayed correctly
  • fix: chat in Windows Live Messenger sometimes was not recorded
  • fix: minor fixes and improvements

SoftActivity TS Monitor 2.1 released

May 15th, 2011
  • new: Shows computer name and IP address of clients connected remotely to terminal server
  • new: Documents security: record file operations on removable drives connected to the server. Track files potentially stolen on flash drives or external HDD’s. View results on Files tab in Log Viewer
  • new: Improved stealth mode. Works invisibly even for advanced users. There is no process in Tasks Manager. Monitored users without Administrator rights cannot see log files on hard drive.
  • new: no more tsmsys_hh process running in all user sessions
  • removed Hotkeys to open TS Monitor. Instead use an icon on Administrator’s desktop (if choose to create) or run “opentsm” command from Start menu->Run
  • multiple fixes and improvements