SmartCode Solutions Official Blog

Keyboard shortcuts for SmartCode VNC Manager

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 04:12:00 +0000

This article lists keyboard shortcuts that you can use with SmartCode VNC Manager.

Main window

Delete: Delete the selected item (registered computer, group, or dynamic search folder).
Ctrl+Shift+1: Show Registered Computers tab.
Ctrl+Shift+2: Show VNC Thumbnails View tab.
Ctrl+Shift+3: Show Hyper-V Thumbnails View tab.
Alt+F1: Toggles "Navigation Tree Always Visible".
Alt+F2: Toggles "Show Actions View".
F6: Open the properties for the selected object.
F7: Open the application settings window.
F10: Activates menu bar options.
CTRL+A: Select all the items in the current window.
CTRL+L: Start "listening" VNC viewer.

Quick Connect

Ctrl+1: Moves focus to the Quick Connect text box on the toolbar.
Ctrl+Arrow Up/Down: Changes the default quick connect protocol (when the Quick Connect text box has the input focus).

Registered Computers

Ctrl+N: Create a new registered computer entry.
Ctrl+Shift+N: Create a new registered computer group entry.
Ctrl+U: Update statuses for the selected registered computers.
Ctrl+Shift+G: Update logged on users for the selected registered computers.
Ctrl+Shift+U: Open Detect Installed VNC Distribution window.

Dynamic Search Folders

Ctrl+Shift+D: Create a new dynamic search folder entry.
F8: Start or stop network scan for the selected Dynamic Search Folder.
Shift+F8: Start network scan for all Dynamic Search Folders.
Ctrl+Shift+F8: Stop network scan for all Dynamic Search Folders.

Management Tools

Ctrl+E: Open Windows Explorer.
Ctrl+G: Open Show Logged on Users window.
Ctrl+W: Open Send Wake On LAN Command window.
Ctrl+Shift+E: Open Execute Remote Command window.
Ctrl+Shift+W: Open Query MAC Address window.

Actions View pane

Alt+F3: Show Status Messages view.
Alt+F5: Show Actions view.
Alt+F6: Show Connection History view.
Ctrl+Delete: Cancels the selected action in the Actions View pane.

VNC viewer

Ctrl+Alt+End: Display the Windows Security dialog box (sends Ctrl+Alt+Del)
Ctrl+Alt+Break: Switch between a window and full screen.

Remote Desktop Connection (RDP)

Ctrl+Alt+End: Display the Windows Security dialog box (sends Ctrl+Alt+Del)
Ctrl+Alt+Break: Switch between a window and full screen.
Alt+Page Up: Move between programs from left to right.
Alt+Page Down: Move between programs from left to left.
Alt+Insert: Cycle through programs in the order that they were started in.
Alt+Home: Display the Start menu.
Alt+Delete: Display the system menu.
Ctrl+Alt+Minus Sign (-) on the numeric keypad: Place a copy of the active window, within the client, on the Terminal server clipboard (provides the same functionality as pressing Alt+PrtScn on a local computer).
Ctrl+Alt+Plus Sign (+) on the numeric keypad: Place a copy of the entire client window area on the Terminal server clipboard (provides the same functionality as pressing PrtScn on a local computer).

VNC / RDP clients: full-screen mode improvements

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 07:15:00 +0000

In the past two weeks, we released three SmartCode VNC Manager builds that significantly improve user experience using VNC and RDP clients in the full-screen mode. We also squashed several nasty bugs.

Several new keyboard shortcut among the improvements implemented.
Ctrl+Alt+Break – switch the client between a window and a full screen.
Ctrl+Alt+End – send Ctrl+Alt+Del to a remote server.

Here is the full change log:

NEW: VNC / RDP viewers: Added support for Ctrl+Alt+Break (Switch Full-screen Mode) keyboard shortcut.
NEW: VNC viewer: Added "Send Ctrl Key" command to the full-screen toolbar.
NEW: Changed behavior of the Quick Connect command. Now if the Quick Connect text box is empty, the hostname of the currently selected object will be used instead.
NEW: Dropbox /Amazon S3 / FTP configuration profiles: Added ability to refresh configuration settings from server.
NEW: VNC viewer: Added support for sending Ctrl+Alt+Del command to a remote computer via Ctrl+Alt+End keyboard shortcut.
FIX: VNC / RDP viewers: Window frame is visible on an adjustment monitor when VNC/RDP viewer is used in the full screen mode.
FIX: VNC viewer: in the full-screen mode, when the top toolbar is pinned, it remains on top of other windows.
FIX: NullReferenceException when using VNC viewer in the full-screen mode.
FIX: VNC viewer: "Empty desktop size" error when accepting listening connection from or establishing connection to a TightVNC server without password set.

The latest SmartCode VNC Manager build can be downloaded from http://www.s-code.com/products/vncmanager/download.aspx

First look: Linked Active Directories

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 09:31:00 +0000

Hi Guys,
I just want to give you the first glimpse at the Linked Active Directories features that will be included in the next SmartCode VNC Manager update.

For many users, this feature will remove any need to use the Registered Computers feature. Instead you will be able to browse an active directory tree, assign connection properties to active directory computer, etc.

If you guys have any comments or suggestions about this feature, please do share them with us.

GDI vs. GDI+ based screen scaling

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 07:13:00 +0000

We have just published SmartCode VNC Manager build 6.0.34. This build includes a nice improvement – when using the VNC client, ability to use GDI+ as the engine used to scale the remote desktop bitmap. This feature is used when you enable one of the screen scaling modes (Aspect ratio or Free).

A picture is worth a thousand words, so lets take a look the sample image that shows differences between GDI and GDI+ scaling.

As you can see, there is quite a noticeable difference in the scaling quality.

But the better quality comes with a price – slightly higher CPU usage. If you are running SmartCode VNC Manager on a modern hardware, you will not notice any CPU hit at all. But the users, who use older computers, especially the ones with integrated graphics card, might see slightly bigger performance penalty.

For that reason it’s possible to switch between GDI and GDI+ based scaling engines. Use Tools \ Options \ Common Settings \ Built-in Remote Clients \ VNC Viewer \ “Screen Stretch rendering engine” to switch between GDI and GDI+ screen scaling engines.

PS: The VNC thumbnails view always use GDI based scaling engine. But this might change in the future builds.

FTP-based Configuration Profiles

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 08:44:00 +0000

Another v6.0 beta build, another exciting new feature. This time build 6.0.23 adds support for storing VNC Manager configuration settings on a FTP server. Both FTP and FTPS protocols are supported as well as establishing connection via a proxy server.

Also the 6.0.23 build includes critical fixes and improvements to the built-in SSH client. We advise all the VNC Manager users to upgrade to the latest and greatest version of the VNC Manager.

VNC Manager v6.0 change log

Technorati Tags: vnc,ftp,ftps,vnc manager,smartcode

Build 6.0.14 adds ability to link Credentials Template to a Registered Computer entry

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 04:30:00 +0000

The Credentials Templates feature was added to the VNC Manager years ago. It has instantly become popular among the users. But some of the users had been wondering – “Why it is when I update a credential template those changes are not getting propagated to the registered computers?” This was the case because there was no logical link between credentials templates and registered computers.

In the v6.0.14 we have added ability to link a credentials template to a registered computer.

Credentials templates can be edited by opening the Tools \ Options \ Logon Credentials page.

Registered Computer Properties Sheet changes

The General page has been updated so now it’s possible to link a credentials template to a registered computer.

Credentials templates can be used to store Windows and VNC credentials. VNC credentials templates can be used as part of the VNC connection settings.

Ability to override NTLM credentials per-connection has been removed in the 6.0.14. It seems that only a small fraction of the users had been using this feature, while the majority had found it rather confusing.

Show a Registered Computer uptime using Custom WMI columns feature

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 05:08:00 +0000

Knowing how much time your system has been running is a piece of information useful for administrators. Sometimes you might need it in order to know when the machine has recovered from a possible power failure or any other issue it might have had.

The VNC Manager 6.0 includes powerful Custom WMI Columns feature that can be used to show a Registered Computer uptime. This feature is available in the VNC Manager 6.0.10 and newer builds.

To start you should open Tools \ Options dialog and select the WMI Properties node.

Then you should select Win32_PerfFormattedData_PerfOS_System in the Available WMI Classes combobox then select SystemUpTime property and click the Add button.

That’s it!

You will notice that Win32_PerfFormattedData_PerfOS_System.SystemUpTime column has been added to the Registered Computers list. Now select a registered computer and hit Ctrl+U shortcut or open the context menu and select the "Check VNC/RDP/SSH Server" command.

NOTE: SystemUpTime returns the remote computer up time in seconds.

The latest v6.0 Beta can be downloaded from http://www.s-code.com/products/vncmanager/download.aspx

Custom WMI Columns Knowledge Base article:
http://www.s-code.com/kayako/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=68

SmartCode VNC Manager 6.0.6 adds support for WMI Monitoring and Inventory

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 09:18:00 +0000

Many of the VNC Manager users have been asking for ability to fetch additional information about registered computers and show it in the Registered Computers list. We listened and in the v6.0 introduced WMI Properties feature.

With this feature there is hardly anything that you can't monitor on a remote Windows-based computer. WMI Properties can be used as an inventory tool as well.

Selecting WMI Properties to Monitor

To start using WMI Properties open Tools \ Options dialog (F7 shortcut). and select the WMI Properties node.

Expand the "Available WMI classes" combobox to select a WMI class. The current version of the VNC Manager list classes from the root\cimv2 namespace.
Lists the properties exposed by the selected WMI class. If you want a property to be shown in the Registered Computers list you should select it and click the Add button.
List of the properties selected whose values will be fetched during Registered Computers status update. For each property a column will be added to the Registered Computers list.

NOTE: When the VNC Manager attempts to establish WMI connection it uses the logon credentials assigned to the Registered Computer being updated.

The VNC Manager will attempt to fetch WMI properties when the application is performing scheduled status updates or when an update is initiated via the Check VNC/RDP/SSH Server Status command (Ctrl+U shortcut).

The latest v6.0 Beta can be downloaded from http://www.s-code.com/products/vncmanager/download.aspx

ServerX v2.0 : Question for current and potential users

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 04:33:00 +0000

In this post I would like to describe an issue we are currently having with the v2.0 implementation. I’m also seeking your feedback.

First some background: a VNC server can run in in Service mode and in User mode.

Service mode is started as a windows service; setting it to run in Service mode requires administrator privileges on the system.
This mode is compatible with Vista’s UAC prompts.
User mode is started manually by a user after logging in. It can be done by launching winvnc.exe. Controlling VNC server in User mode doesn’t require administrative privileges.
This mode is not compatible with Vista’s UAC prompts.

ServerX 1.0 executes in a mode similar to the User mode. On the plus side, administrative privileges are not required when hosting application needs to change a ServerX instance settings. The downside is that ServerX doesn’t support UAC prompts. And this is a huge problem for users with Vista/Windows 7.

To work around this problem ServerX 2.0 is being designed to run as a Windows service. The service would be installed when the ActiveX is registered on the computer and uninstalled upon un-registration.
Installation / uninstallation of a service require administrative privileges, but this is not an issue because registering/unregistering an ActiveX requires the same privileges anyway.

The issue that we are facing is that controlling ServerX 2.0 settings would require administrative privileges. There is no other way around it. So my question to the current and potential ServerX users is how the administrative requirement would affect your applications? Would you still be able to use ServerX?

Basically the above mentioned issue is the only one that preventing us from finish the 2.0 release.

Please post your feedback here or you can email it directly to me at yury (at) s-code.com.

Putting an end to the problems with ArgumentException crashes

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:20:00 +0000

For the past few builds of the VNC Manager some of the users had been experiencing fairly regular crashes. In most of the cases they had been seeing System.NullReferenceException errors.

From the errors stack-traces we could see that exceptions originated from the depths of Infragistics NetAdvantage library. Attempts to get a fix from Infragistics failed, since they couldn’t reproduce the problem and hence couldn’t fix it.

Turns out support for GDI renderer is completely broken in the current version of NetAdvantage. By default NetAdvantage uses GDI+ renderer, but since GDI renderer is faster, we opted to use the later one in the VNC Manager.

As a temporary workaround we have configured all the NetAdvantage controls used by the VNC Manager to use GDI+ renderer. It seems that this have fixed all the NullReferenceException crashes.

Click here to download VNC Manager 5.5.23.0

Windows Error Reporting (WER) vs. Custom Error Reporting

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:33:00 +0000

"Windows Error Reporting (WER) is a technology introduced by Microsoft with Windows XP and included in later Windows. Windows Error Reporting collects and offers to send post-error debug information (a memory dump) using the internet to the developer of an application that crashes or stops responding on a user's desktop" – Wikipedia

Until this past month, we had been maintaining our WER account for the past four years. For each VNC Manager build, we would create special map file and upload it to the Microsoft’s server. WER is a great service, no doubt about it, but we eventually discovered one problem with it.

It seems that most of the crash reports weren’t uploaded to the WER server. Most probably some of the users, who experienced VNC Manager crashes, choose not to upload the error reports or had their WER service disabled or stopped. On average, we were receiving 5 to 8 crash reports per month only. We do invest a lot of time in making the VNC Manager a very stable product, but had a feeling that 5-8 crash reports per month is unusually low number. We weren’t getting the real picture and weren’t aware about some of the application crashes.

Starting with the VNC Manager 5.5.20.0, we have switched to using custom built error reporting service, specially tailored to work with .Net based applications. And what a difference did it make! First of all it made us confident that the time we invest in making stable product pays off.

Currently the most frequent reason for the VNC Manager crashes is a bug in Infragistics NetAdvantage toolkit. Infragistics acknowledges that there is a bug, but they are not sure how to fix it. We are working with them, helping to resolve the issue.

Today we released 5.5.22.0 build. It fixes all known crash causing problems that we reported by the users of builds that include the new custom error reporting feature.

If a rare event occurs and the Manager crashes, you will see error reporting window depicted above. When you will be submitting your crash reports, please include your email address (this is optional). This way we will be able to follow-up with you and notify when a bug is fixed.

VNC Manager 5.5.20: Support for SecureVNC plug-in and new way of fetching logged on users

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:12:00 +0000

The latest 5.5.20.0 build of the VNC Manager includes two new features many our customers will be happy to hear about.

SecureVNC plug-in support
The VNC Deployment Wizard has been updated to support configuration of SecureVNC DSM plug-in settings when deploying UltraVNC distribution. It’s possible to deploy UltraVNC configured to use encryption keys pre-generated by SmartCode or specify custom keys to be uploaded to a remote computer. For security reasons, we recommend to use your own encryption keys.

The built-in VNC viewer has been updated with support for SecureVNC as well. If you used default encryption keys during UltraVNC deployment, the client key can be found at:

C:\Program Files\SmartCode Solutions\VNC Manager (Enterprise Edition)\DSM Keys\SmartCode_Viewer_ClientAuth.pkey
New way of fetching logged on users
The VNC Manager included support for fetching logging on users for quite some time now. The problem was that a remote computer you are trying to fetch logged on users list from, had to belong to the same domain or workgroup as your client computer. So if your computer is a member of domain A and you are trying to fetch list of logged on users from a computer, which is a member of domain B, the operation would fail. This limitation was imposed by the fact that native Win32 registry API doesn’t allow to specify alternative logon credentials when establishing connection to the Registry Service on a remote computer.

Starting with the 5.5.20 build this limitation has been removed. With the new implementation, it’s possible to fetch logged on users from any computer, which can be a member of a domain different from your client PC.

Last but not least, 5.5.20.0 includes new Submit Error Report dialog. You will see this dialog in case if the VNC Manager crashes. Should this happen, please do click on the “Send Error Report” button.

VNC Manager Lite for mobile devices

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 06:40:00 +0000

I’ve been thinking for a while about expanding the product line offered by SmartCode. One of the ideas is to implement a version of the VNC Manager for smartphones - VNC Manager Lite.
So potentially this Lite version could be capable of establishing VNC/RDP and probably SSH/Telnet connections. It could also use registered computers database created by the desktop version of the VNC Manager.
In the VNC Manager v6.0 we are going to add support for DB-backend and also offer optional web-based storage for registered computers lists. This way users using mobile version of the application, could be able to access their registered computers DB on the go.
What do you guys think about this idea? Please take the poll and send your comments.

UPDATE:
-----
Thanks for your feedback guys!

Since we don't have any experience with mobile applications development, we consider entering in a partnership with an individual or company who would be interested to develop such application for us on a profit sharing basis.

Please email to yury (AT) s-code.com if you want to discuss this matter on more details.
-----

Yury Averkiev
Founder and Director
SmartCode Solutions

30% off Company licenses until July 31th

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:28:00 +0000

From now until July 31st, 2010 prices on SmartCode VNC Manager (Enterprise Edition) "Company" licenses have been reduced by as much as 30%. Don't miss this opportunity! Click here for pricing details.

TightVNC 2.0 MSI Property Reference

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:02:00 +0000

Since the first release of the VNC Deployment Wizard many of our customers have been asking about the MSI property reference for our VNC deployment packages. In the past, the property list wasn’t publically available.

Couple days ago we released a new VNC Manager build 5.5.16.0 that includes support for TightVNC 2.0 Beta4 deployment. This build includes a brand new TightVNC 2.0 MSI package, which we developed using WiX. WiX is great, by the way. So starting with TightVNC 2.0 MSI package we are going to publish property reference for our VNC deployment packages.

The MSI property reference can be found here.

If you have any questions or suggestions about our VNC MSI packages please feel free to contact us.

We're Hiring: .NET/C+ Developer

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:16:00 +0000

SmartCode Solutions has an immediate opening for a .Net/C# developer (Singapore). The position will be a WinForms C# developer, developing the next version of our award winning SmartCode VNC Manager.

Requirements

1+ year of experience designing, coding, and debugging complex software solutions.
Professional experience with C# and WinForms. Experience with C++ and Microsoft SQL Server is desirable.
Development tools such as Visual Studio 2008 and Team Foundation Server
Experience working in an agile development environment.
Singaporean/ PR

We are looking for on-site, full-time employee but would consider hiring a developer working off-site also.

To Apply For This Job
If you are interested in joining the SmartCode Solutions team, please e-mail your resume to hr@s-code.com.

Sneak peek at SmartCode VNC Manager v6.0

noreply@blogger.com (scode) — Fri, 14 May 2010 09:57:00 +0000

Since releasing SmartCode VNC Manager v5.5 we have been busy working on the major update to the application – version 6.0. The v6.0 is going to redefine the VNC Manager as one of the best remote computer management and screen sharing software. Database backend, ability to browse Active Directory hierarchies from the Groups tree, Inventory Manager, Permissions and Access Rights supports, and centralized Connection History Manager are just a few major features that are going to be implemented in the v6.0 release. We are also going to improve on the VNC Manager’s usability and ease of use and the memory usage.

At the present time, our development effort is concentrated on modifying the VNC Manager core; we are adding database backend support and doing some other low-level changes. So there isn’t much that has changed on the outside. But we want to share some of the v6.0 screenshots to give you a clue about some of the changes coming in the v6.0.

Have a suggestion? Please post it in the Feature Requests forum or email your comments to info@s-code.com

Main Windows with Connection History (click to enlarge)

Configurations Manager. The VNC Manager will support ability to switch between multiple database and XML configurations. (click to enlarge)

File-based (XML) configuration settings (click to enlarge)

New design for Dynamic Search Folders configuration (click to enlarge)

New design for Dynamic Search Folders configuration (click to enlarge)