Thank you for downloading and using ActivTrak – we really appreciate your interest and support. Over the weekend we’ve released the latest version of our product – ActivTrak 2.5. Now it includes support for all latest browsers:

• Internet Explorer 9
• Firefox 4
• Google Chrome 10

You may download version 2.5 at any time using this link. This file will perform a new install or update earlier versions, including the demo.

We pay a lot of attention to all feature requests form our Service Desk and really do use it to drive our product development. Want to see something in Activtrak? Submit your request to us and we’ll review it for future implementation.

Another great challenges to any full-time member of the workforce is the challenge of balancing one’s life at home and at work. If you have struggled with this in the past, you already know how hard it can be to maintain that delicate balance without ticking off your boss or suffering through another fight with your loved ones. Luckily, there are some tips you can follow to help you alleviate this tension between the domains of home and work.

Living With Children and a Spouse

If you live with children and a spouse, you may already feel guilty sometimes about not spending enough time with them.

Balancing a Full-Time Job With Your Home Life

Examine areas of your work life that can be reduced or eliminated without losing your job. For example, if you constantly stay late at work on Friday nights, you could try to do the hardest, most necessary and most time-consuming tasks first on Friday mornings and then work your way down the list. When it’s time to go, you may just find that the most important things are done and everything else can be put off until Monday. Also, remember to step back and honestly evaluate what is important and what isn’t so important.

Living With Parents

You may be relatively young, and still live with your parents, for financial reasons or to take care of them. In this case, you should decide how much time you want or need to spend around them and ensure that work does not override this need. If your parents have been hinting that they’d like to see you more and you’re agreeable to this, find ways to separate yourself from work, make yourself unavailable for overtime shifts, or do whatever else it takes to spend more time around them.

Living With a Partner

Perhaps you are living away from most of your family, but share your place with a sweetheart. In this case, you have to be sensitive to how much time he or she feels entitled to spend with you. Some people are very clingy, while others are very independent, but most fall somewhere in between. If necessary, sit down and have a conversation with your partner addressing how they feel about your work hours and even asking for help to change them if possible. Set aside time on a regular basis to go on a date with them, even if you are already married. You might be amazed at what this can do for your relationship!

Living By Yourself/With Pets
If you live on your own, you are lucky to be a little more free than many full-time workers. You can spend as much time at work as you would like, except if you have pets. Remember to keep a consistent routine as much as possible so they get fed, walked or cared for at the same time each day. This will help keep them reassured that you are returning home for them. If you have no pets, you should figure out how much time you want to spend at home, relaxing with yourself for company! There’s no use in burning yourself out just because you don’t have anyone to go home to.

Balancing your full-time job with your home life is a tricky task, but with time and practice it becomes easier to master. Take into account your individual situation and remember to take time off when you need to preserve your own mental health.

“Manually monitoring employees is hardwork. Thanks to this software, we were able to save on administrative costs while promoting an honest working environment. This improves our management system and clients are even more confident on leasing our employees. This is heaven sent!”

- Jason Diaz
Business Development Manager
whitelabeloutsourcing.com

One of the trickiest parts of working from home is managing the constant temptation to be distracted. When you don’t have a sterilized office divided into cubicles and designed to minimize distractions, your mind is much more liable to wander, and before you know it, you’ve spent half an hour planning a party with a friend who dropped by unannounced. Most distractions can be divided into one of these five types.

Telephone
Many people communicate via phone, and it’s the fastest way to reach our relatives and friends who aren’t always online. Unfortunately, this also means it’s the fastest way to be distracted for those of us who work at home. Start setting work hours and don’t answer the phone during that time. Let it ring through to voicemail, and if you need to, disconnect it or mute the ringer so you won’t hear it. Then, as part of your routine to wrap up your work day, you can check the messages later.

People at the Door
Friends, relatives, and religious fanatics have a way of unexpectedly showing up on your doorstep and acting as though you should invite them in for an all-day gossip-fest. Don’t answer the door, and if you need to, close the blinds and act as though you aren’t home – because you aren’t home, you’re at work! If people complain, explain to them that you can’t take personal time during work hours.

Email
When the ring of your email program calls, it’s difficult to ignore. We have trained ourselves to be alert to these notifications and obey them whenever they should appear. Instead, try setting two or three period of time, perhaps half an hour per day each, when you check and answer emails. Resist the temptation to even quickly check outside of that time, as you’ll just find something that “needs” to be answered and distract yourself.

Family
When you live with others, their patience (or lack thereof) can make or break your work-at-home career. Do all you can to make it clear to your spouse, partner, kids, parents, or whomever else you may share your household with, that you’re at work and not to be disturbed. This may mean anything from locking your office door and wearing headphones to putting on a certain hat whenever you’re at work and not to be disturbed.

Self-Discipline
The final type of distraction is one that you make yourself. The best way to handle these annoying reminders, to-do’s, and urgent tasks that pop into your head is to keep a list where you write them down and then finish whatever you were working on. In between tasks, you can check the list, and if you find something that really is urgent, you can do it. A lot of the time, you will find that the things that seem important when they are distracting you aren’t really that important to you once time has passed.

All these types of distractions are difficult to handle in their own ways. By being firm about your unavailability from the get-go, you will make it clear to yourself and others that you are at work and distractions are unwelcome!

• Replaced demo mode with 3 user, freeware version requiring online registration.
• Added option to show Net View of local subnet on Viewer startup. On by default.
• Added functionality to directly open a current month log analysis for a computer in a Net View.
• Added configurable double click action for computers in Net View. (Snapshot, current month log, or current month analysis)
• Modified log analysis to show window title of subpages.
• Modified the file open dialog to add ‘All ActiveTrak files’ as a file type selection.
• Modified initial Snapshot window size to trim white space from right or bottom in Actual Pixel mode.
• Documented log file redirection to provide support for network based storage. Provided .adm file for
• specifying network directory and data retention period.
• Fixed log analysis bug where log records with missing executable name and non zero duration caused invalid analysis.
• Fixed agent uninstall to eliminate occassionaly crash of active UI program as hook was removed. Allows remote uninstall on local
• computer to function error free.
• Added background check for updates.
• Added link to order page on Update dialog and on License count exceeded dialog.
• Updated help file.

• Modified agent to read URL from FireFox 3.5 and 3.6.

• Created special shareware version to improve demo experience.
• Installs Agent automatically.
• Modified Viewer to open local Net View automatically.
• Modified text on Welcome screen to explain agent installation and remote installation.
• Launches browser pointing to trial offer page upon first close of Viewer.

• Modified Agent .dll to prevent slow Window activation as scene with rare application. (ResponderNET/StaffLogon). Added processor yield.
• Renamed Agent .dll’s to ease update installation.

We are pleased to announce the release of ActivTrak 2.3 on April 26, 2010. This is a final, stable release, and we recommend ActivTrak users upgrade to this version. ActivTrak 2.3 delivers a variety of  improved features, including: multiple NIC hand, 64 bit ActivTrak Agent,  and modified Viewer.

This list covers the major upgrades, but doesn’t include every little bug fix and change:

• Agent and Viewer can handle multiple NICs
• Modified Viewer to handle IP changes
• Fxed agent to handle slow binding on IP changes
• Fixed a list of UAC Issues.

Misc:

• Modified relay to allow installation on 64 bit computers
• Removed unnecessary call to picture properties that caused crash if session not found when creating snapshot
• Modified realtime view to use computer name as initial sort criteria
• Changed domain dialog to set focus to OK button after successful Add
• Save authenticated domain list after initial startup.  Makes next startup as fast as possible.
• Modified subnet dialog to preload appropriate masks for private networks
• Widened remote install dialog
• Added version status reporting to relay.  Now shows version number in remote install dialog.
• Make viewer broadcast threads self deleting to prevent delay when closing net views.
• Added default message “ActivTrak started…” to agent so it will report back immediately after remote install even if no user activity

The ActivTrak Viewer can be used across a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection. That is, running the Viewer on a VPN client you can monitor activity on the server side of the connection.

You will need to install the ActivTrak Relay Service on the local network. It can be installed on the VPN server itself, or on another computer on the network.

The ActiveTrak Relay is a service that allows the ActivTrak Viewer to broadcast across subnet boundaries when UDP broadcast forwarding is not provided by the routers connecting the subnets.

If broadcast forwarding is turned off at the router, the ActivTrak Viewer will not be able to see Agents on subnets other than the local subnet, unless the Relay is installed on those subnets.

Installation

The ActivTrak Relay is simple to install, has no user interface, and can be deployed using the same remote installation feature used to install the ActiveTrak Agent. The .MSI file for the ActivTrak Relay is included in the Viewer package and is installed in the Program Files folder.

C:\Program Files\Birch Grove\ActivTrak Viewer\ActivTrakRelay.msi

It is best to install the Relay on a computer that will be running 24/7 and has a static IP address. It can be a domain server, a standalone server, or workstation. While it is only necessary to install the relay on one computer on the subnet, there is no problem using more than one computer as a relay.

Configuration
If your Viewer is on subnet A and you wish to observe Agents on subnet B, install the ActivTrak Relay Service on a subnet B computer. Then in the Viewer, when configuring subnet B for viewing, enter the address of the relay computer in the optional field.