Sources available

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:19:00 GMT

I have just uploaded the source code for V2.5 to Sourceforge.

We're out of beta, we're releasing on time (well, nearly)

Thu, 29 May 2008 17:39:00 GMT

I have just uploaded the setup file to the server so I'm waiting on Simon to update the site. Given that he does this in his spare time it might not be until tomorrow or the weekend.

Once the site is updated you'll be able to download the new version. There's new version of WMI Query Builder (incldued in the setup) and MWLoggedOn as well.

There will also be new forums that are much nicer than the old ones ;)

Slight delay

Tue, 20 May 2008 17:36:00 GMT

I discovered over the weekend that the Scheduled Task code in 2.4 must never have worked properly. I guess no-one else ever noticed either! This was due to my completely misunderstanding how WMI created Scheduled Tasks. Anyway, I have since found a free class on codeproject.com that provides a much nicer and reliable way to create Scheduled Tasks. It has meant I've been able to expand the Scheduled Task creation screen considerably. I completed that yesterday and have just squished another bug with the HTML/RTF reporting that one of the eagle-eyed beta-testers spotted.

Hopefully that's it now. Once I get the OK from the beta-testers I will upload the final release.

Oh yes, this release will be a proper setup.exe as opposed to a simple zipfile like before. It'll be about 30K or so I suspect because I will include the .NET 2.0 framework in the setup.

Getting close now

Wed, 14 May 2008 19:24:00 GMT

The beta testers have been doing their job and reporting back some bugs I hadn't squished. I'd say we're only a few days from releasing the final version now as long as nothing major crops up. I really hope everyone likes the new version. I believe it's a huge improvement over 2.4.

Beta progress

Wed, 07 May 2008 20:18:00 GMT

Just a few more little things to sort out and I'll have something ready. Every time I think I'm ready to email out to people, I spot something else that's not quite right!

Anyway, I should be able to finish it up tomorrow. However, I'm off on holiday for a few days on Friday so I may not be able to send it out before I get back.

Beta testers required

Tue, 06 May 2008 16:54:00 GMT

Righto, I think the new version is ready to go beta! There's no SQL DB support as yet, I'm still working on that but I'd appreciate any of you loyal users volunteering to beta test the new version.

Send me email via the CONTACT page if you are interested.

As a little teaser, here's a screenshot of the new interface.

http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/i1737580_ManagePC2.5.JPG

Maybe next week?

Thu, 01 May 2008 19:50:00 GMT

I may be in a position to release a beta of v2.5 next week. It will probably be without SQL server support (unless that proves very easy to code). I just need to get the alternate WMI credentials working properly (again!) and also make sure there are no bugs with the new code.

Slowly but surely

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:32:00 GMT

Reporting is done. You will now be able to export the data to HTML and RTF files. I plan to work on the Excel export today.

I realised today that most of the important code has been entirely re-written. It also made me realise how many mistakes I made in the previous version(s). Even though it worked and was pretty stable there were things I was doing which were, well, less than optimal. That's been corrected now and I'm suprised at the difference it's made. The whole application just feels smoother and more performant. Amazing what happens when you bother to find out about proper object-oriented techniques and methods!!

Major milestone!

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:10:00 GMT

Today I completed the migration of all the features of the previous version to v2.5. Now it's a matter of adding the extra stuff that I would like to do (SQL database support and reporting are the main ones).

There are a couple of major changes that you should be aware of. Firstly, information is now retrieved on a "when requested" basis. This means that when you select a machine, it will go and get some basic summary information. Then, when you select, say, the "Services" tab it will go and get the installed Services. There will be an option to perform a full scan by default it you want to though.

The second major change is to the XML file format. This is perhaps the one that may affect more people as I know some of you import the XML files into Access/SQL. In v2.41 I created the XML file "manually". By that I mean I wrote specific code to add XML nodes, child nodes, attributes etc. Whilst this worked well enough it made it quite difficult if I ever wanted to add new WMI queries (as I have done with v2.5)

Now, I use the ability of .NET to automatically generate XML files from datasets. This means that the format of the XML file has radically changed. Also, because of the way I've had to write the code, there is no longer one single XML file for all machines. Each machine will have its own XML file.

Anyway, that's a quick status update. I hope to get SQL database support done next and then it's on to the more onerous task of being able to generate reports. This may or may not make it into the next release ;)

Things are progressing

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:50:00 GMT

Work's going quite a bit faster than I thought it would. The new interface is done and all of the WMI queries are populating the tabs.

Now it's just a matter of the little stuff. Getting the buttons, context menus, remote process execution, scheduled task creation, XML export etc etc into the new version. Then I will start looking at the new features (reporting, export to SQL server).

Watch this space

Wow! It's been a long time...

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:10:00 GMT

Has it really been almost a year since I updated this?

Well, I've started development on ManagePC again and this time it's going to be a big one. The whole interface is going to change to give it a more professional XP look (similar to Hyena and Everest, two commercial tools).

A bit like this http://www.lavalys.com/products/whatsnew/core2_en.png

I'm also going to optimise the code more now that I have a colleague who is something of a .NET expert ;)

There's loads of stuff I'd like to add such as reporting and SQL DB support but the main priority now is too get the new interface up and running and optimise the existing code.

I'll have to go all Duke Nukem Forever on you and say it'll be done "when it's done". Hopefully you won't have to wait another 9 months though!

WMI really can be very annoying..........

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:17:00 GMT

I have finally established what was causing these errors when running on servers (either Win2k or Win2k3). It's partly my fault and partly Microsoft's (well, I'm going to blame them anyway!). The problem stems from the fact that when running WMI queries for a lower OS version to a higher one (e.g. Win2k to XP) you need to change the WMI Authentication Level from the default of CONNECT to PACKET. I was doing that but was saying, effectively, "if we're not running on XP, assume it's a lower OS version". So, people running on Win2k3 were using a different Authentication level. Now, that SHOULDN'T make a difference when querying an XP box but, for some reason, it caused this strange error.

Anyway, that's fixed now and I have even tested it on a Win2K AND a Win2k3 machine. I'm just awaiting word from someone that everything works and then I'll upload a new minor release (v 2.41)

Threading errors on Win2K/Win2k3 servers (AGAIN!)

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 14:36:00 GMT

At least one person is still getting errors when running on servers. I can reproduce the error which is a good thing but there is absolutely no reason (as far as I can see) why this should happen only on servers. The code that's failing is perfectly OK and .NET compliant so it must be SOMETHING with the machines themselves. I'm getting the feeling that it's something in the WMI implementation on Win2k/Win2k3 Server that's causing the problem.

ManagePC and MWLoggedon new versions coming

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 10:22:00 GMT

I've just sent new versions of ManagePC and MWLoggedon to the webmaster so (hopefully) they should be available soon. I will, of course, send everyone on the mailing list an email when they are there.

For now, here's the changes

ManagePC 2.4 Changelist

Fixed bug that could cause a crash when scanning a machine with large amounts of RAM
Fixed bug that that could cause Services and Processes lists to be empty when using alternate credentials
Fixed bug that could cause crash if return was pressed immediately after scanning a machine
Removed need for Interop.Excel.dll and Interop.ActiveDS.dll files to be present (they're now inside the EXE)
UNTESTED: Vista compatibility. I think that the application should now work on Vista. I've not been able to test it however.

MWLoggedOn 1.10 (BETA) Changelist

New syntax and functoionalities.

mwloggedon \\computername (e.g. mwloggedon SERVER1) - returns the logged on user of SERVER1
mwloggedon [username] (e.g. mwloggedon johndoe) - scans every machine in the domain and determines which machines johndoe is logged on to
mwloggedon -d - scans every machine in the domain and returns the logged on user for that machine

Passing /nolog as an additional parameter will suppress error logging

WMI Query Builder sources available

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 12:09:00 GMT

On request, I have uploaded the WMI Query Builder sources to the SourceForge page.

ManagePC 2.3 released

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 11:18:00 GMT

Version 2.3 is now available. No major changes really other than the ability to search for machines. It's more of a minor cosmetic update with some annoying bugs finally fixed.

Development underway again!!

Tue, 15 May 2007 20:29:00 GMT

Wow. Has it really been 5 months since I've updated this? My son was born just before Xmas 2006 so time has been at something of a premium :)

Anyway, I'm finding a bit more time to work on it now. Not much but a bit. I don't think the next release will be anything major. More of a minor upgrade with some fixes and small additions prompted by your suggestions. I've fixed the bug with the Hotfix date sorting and also added a feature that lets you search AD for machines.
Other stuff I'll probably include is a way to install VNC on a remote client, sending a message to a remote machine and whatever else I can think of!!

Vista compatibility will have to wait until I get myself a new machine at home. Even then, I may not get Vista on it as I'm not liking what I am hearing about it.

V2.2 Sources available on SourceForge

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 10:55:00 GMT

The sources for v2.2 have been uploaded to SourceForge. See the Downloads section for the link

New version

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 10:01:00 GMT

Version 2.2 should be available some time today or tomorrow. No major changes in this one, it's a bugfix release

YYYYYYYYYYESSSSS!

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 10:59:00 GMT

It's taken me days of searching and loads of headaches but I've finally figured out why people are getting errors when running on Windows 2003. In the end, it's just the removal of a single keyword ("Shared") in one of the pieces of code.

REALLY annoying problem. I'll try and address the other bug that's been reported with the silent uninstall and then post a new version.