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BeAnywhere Support Express Changelog

What's new in BeAnywhere Support Express 5.75.00 Beta

May 21, 2014
  • Revamped Interface
  • The new BASE 5.0 releases a completely revamped interface, both graphical and mechanical. More attractive and intuitive than ever; as powerful as always been.
  • Expand/CollapseAssist any machine
  • Provide remote support to users with SO Windows 2000 or later, and equally so, to clients using Mac OS X Lion or later.
  • Expand/CollapseinSight Lite Edition
  • Prevent problems and reduce downtimes in your clients’ critical servers and workstations. Monitor CPU and memory state, along with the running processes and HDD utilization; keep hardware and software inventory always up to date.
  • Expand/CollapseJava-based Web Console
  • A lite console for our clients to use on non-Windows computers (although it also runs in Windows).
  • Expand/CollapseCollaborative Sessions
  • While on a session made through the BA Agent or the applet, additional technicians can now be invited. Also, multiple techs can connect to the same Agent simultaneously (for reporting purposes, this will be counted as a joint session, not as different sessions).

New in BeAnywhere Support Express 5.70 (May 21, 2014)

  • Console/Viewer/Agent:
  • - UPDATED! Fixes and tweaks in the image capture - Solved a bug responsible for the incorrect placement of the remote mouse pointer in situations where the image scaling was too aggressive. Also, fixed a circumstance where the remote cursor could not be seen while entering text.
  • - UPDATED! Solved an issue with sorting files in File Transfer - For some unknown silly reason, Windows 8.1 doesn't like the "sort files by date" routine we have been using flawlessly on the past 8 versions of the Microsoft's SO. Long story short, we had to rewrite the whole thing; and now it's working like a charm.
  • - UPDATED! Visual hint when using View Only and Laser Pointer modes - The cursor now changes shape on each of these two modes, providing a visual hint of the tool being used.
  • - NEW! Windowed full screen and new shortcuts - A new, intermediate mode between normal and full screen has been added. To use it, just press the Ctrl Shift Enter combination. We have also added a bunch of shortcuts to use along with this mode (do not forget to activate the Scroll Lock key if you want shortcuts to work with the mouse positioned on the remote screen):
  • Ctrl Shift F8 -> Switch to Chat
  • Ctrl Shift F9 -> Switch to Remote Desktop
  • Ctrl Shift F10 -> Switch To System Shell
  • Ctrl Shift F11 -> Switch To File Transfer
  • Ctrl Shift F12 -> Switch To System Information
  • Ctrl Shift Tab -> Switch Monitor
  • - NEW! Added new advanced settings - It is now possible to hide by default the remote mouse pointer; automatic optimizations of the image quality can be disabled, as well as the upload of the session videos to the cloud (they still will be locally available to the techs).

New in BeAnywhere Support Express 5.60 RC2 (May 21, 2014)

  • Console/Viewer/Agent:
  • UPDATED! Eliminated a dependency on VC++ 2005 Runtime - One of BASE's components was unnecessarily depending on a Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime. Most of the devices have this component installed, but we removed that dependency which was not needed.
  • UPDATED! Solved a bug in image capture - In some specific (normally older) configurations, the capture of the remote image could be interrupted until the session was restarted. This issue has been fixed.
  • UPDATED! Fixed a bug in the screen share - This feature wasn't working for some clients, so we made a new version that solved that.
  • UPDATED! Minor cosmetic changes to the applet and the console.

New in BeAnywhere Support Express 5.50 RC (May 21, 2014)

  • Infrastructure/Admin Area:
  • NEW! Mark request as urgent - Sessions can now be marked as urgent, whether in the Admin Area, in the Console (when the request is still on queue) or in the Viewer. This feature only works with consoles 5.50 RC or better, and needs to be enabled in the permissions of each tech to work in the Viewer and Console (it always works from the Admin Area if the tech has permissions to use it).
  • NEW! Hidden request details - It is now possible to restraint certain techs from knowing the details of a request before opening it. This feature only works with consoles 5.50 RC or better, and needs to be enabled in the permissions of each tech. Also, it is waived on certain situations - e.g. requests marked as urgent - so take that in consideration or a paradox may arise: if a tech cannot see the details of a request but can mark requests as urgent, he will be able to see the details of any request he may mark as urgent, thus overcoming its limitation.
  • NEW! Limit request queue in the Console - Depending on the permissions set up in the Admin Area, techs may be limited to view only the first pending request in their consoles. This permission can be used simultaneously with any other, including the hiding of the request details, and it is also waived on certain circumstances (check manual for details).
  • NEW! inSight Lite information available to all PCs - Although the free version of BASE inSight Lite only includes five (Business) or ten (Corporate) licenses, every computer with a recent version of the BeAnywhere Agent will be able to manually collect advanced system information, which will then be available on the Admin Area. On new installs, this information is collected automatically.
  • UPDATED! Correction of several bugs and small improvements in the Admin Area - Correction of linguistic problems on localized pages and usability annoyances through all site, as well as improvements to the Calling Card management interface in order to make it more intuitive.
  • UPDATED! Changes to the inSight Lite audit process - The frequency of the collection of some non-priority data was causing problems on older machines. We decreased this frequency on older systems to avoid putting too much stress on those machines, while guaranteeing the same functionality.
  • Console/Viewer/Agent:
  • UPDATED! Increase of performance when starting sessions - The Viewer was optimized in order to reduce even further the session starting time.
  • UPDATED! Two-way transfer of files with 0 bytes - Up to now, it was only possible to download files with 0 bytes, not upload them. This limitation has been removed.
  • UPDATED! Correction of a bug in UDP file transfers - In some rare occasions, when transferring big files (more than 4GB on average) during an UDP session, the operation could end with an error and resuming those transfers would mostly result in a corrupt file. The problem is fixed.
  • UPDATED! Correction of a bug in file transfers - sometimes when transferring big files inside a folder, in spite of the process being completed correctly, the size of the file was incorrectly shown in the transfer queue. This issue is now fixed.
  • UPDATED! Solved bug in the chat - Three characters ("" and "&") were being shown incorrectly on the chat window of the Viewer, and also on the Applet and Agent windows. The problem is fixed.
  • UPDATED! Changes in the Agent - Correction of small bugs and the inclusion of a provision that delays the ending of a session to the maximum extent possible when a restart or a shutdown of the operating system has been initiated.
  • For Mac:
  • NEW! Agent for Mac computers - Compatible with most of the features of its Windows counterpart, the new Agent for Mac allows for seamless and fast remote control of computers with Mac OS X 10.7 or better, supporting multiple users, screen share, restart and reconnect, multi-tenant authentication end the ease of use traditional on BeAnywhere's solutions. To install it, just create a regular BASE Agent PIN Code in the Windows console, and download the program from this URL , or from www.startcontrol.com , on the "Mac Version" tab, clicking on "Install Agent".
  • UPDATED! Enhancements in the Applet for Mac - Some bugs were corrected and the code was further improved with the performance of the remote control in mind. The applet now supports most of the features of the Windows version, except VoIP, which will be implemented in the future.

New in BeAnywhere Support Express 5.35 (May 21, 2014)

  • Console/Viewer:
  • UPDATED! Up to 30% more speed in Remote Control - We have made some tweaks on the code based on connection statistics and, as a result, managed to squeeze a little bit of performance in normal situations, and also to make a big impact in scenarios where low bandwidth or unstable connections are more prevalent.
  • NEW! Automatic optimization of Remote Control settings - The Windows viewer presents a new menu to optimize the connection settings according to the available bandwidth between the technician and the client. The default setting is "Auto", which tries to guess the best options according to the performance of the connection.
  • UPDATED! Improved session start time - Now, starting a session should be less than a second in ideal situations. There will always be some scenarios where this time can be three or four seconds, which is the time needed when a standard direct connection is not possible and other connection options are being tested and measured.
  • UPDATED! Faster changing of TS sessions - The time needed to cycle through opened Terminal Services sessions was also reduced, from 5-10 seconds to just 1-2 seconds. This enhancement is also visible on the time to start capturing the remote image after the Windows logon screen, which was reduced as well.
  • UPDATED! Overhauled color modes - A new color mode was added (Medium Color - Low Bandwidth) and all the other modes were updated.
  • NEW! Refresh command - The viewer has now a "Refresh Image" menu option. This can be useful in situations where the remote image is not being correctly received.
  • NEW! More information when the image capture is interrupted - The user now receives a friendly warning about sessions inside RDP, instead of not knowing why he is not seeing the remote screen as he should.
  • Other programs:
  • UPDATED! Applet for Mac® Computers - This version supports multiple languages, the disable of features by the remote user (if configured), the share of the technician screen and several others (lock remote input, laser pointer...) along with the System Shell, File Transfer and System Information tabs. A BASE Agent for Mac® is coming on the next weeks, so stay tuned!
  • Admin Area:
  • UPDATED! Expanded ticketing functionality - Tickets were overhauled and have now much more options: clients and techs may be now notified when a ticket is created, modified or closed and it is possible to schedule a next action date (at which the attributed technician will receive a reminder). To each ticket can be added notes, and sessions can be associated with it (making it easier to calculate the cost of a given ticket). There is also a new API to create tickets (click here to download the relevant documentation).
  • NEW! Expected Wait Time Information - While downloading the applet, a message will inform the client about how many other support requests are on the queue and what is the waiting time expected for a request to be accepted. This option is available for normal PIN codes as well as Exclusive Links and Department Links. You can enable it on "Management>Departments>1. Identification" for Departments only, and on "Profile>Identification>3. PIN/Calling Cards" for any other case.
  • NEW! Direct links - Two links were added to the Admin Area top bar: the terms "COMPUTERS" and "TECHNICIANS" are now clickable and serve as shortcuts to add new techs and to download a BASE Agent installer (without any custom settings - to create an installer with custom settings, please use the Windows Console). It is also possible to download the abovementioned installer in the "Management>My Computers>1. Computer List" page (under the name "Quick Install").
  • NEW! Notify if a request is waiting for more than X minutes - Pending Applet requests waiting more than a configured amount of time may now trigger an e-mail notification to a predefined address (this option can be set up in "Profile>Integration>7. Notifications").
  • NEW! Questions can be marked as optional on mandatory surveys - Until now, a mandatory survey meant all the questions included had to be answered. Now, for added flexibility, it's possible to not validate certain questions inside a mandatory survey.
  • NEW! Exportable computer list - It is now possible to export a complete list of the installed BASE Agents, in XLS format, from "Management>My Computers>1. Computer List". This list includes all the information present on the computer tree list, along with some extra details, and it might be useful when dealing with a substantial number of devices.
  • UPDATED! Usability tweaks and minor bug corrections - Added an auto-refresh option in the Chat Transcript pane, in the session details of the Admin Area; made changes to the interface shown to Free users, corrected an issue occurring with the search popup on smaller resolutions; corrected the time format used in some charts (were showing seconds instead of HH:MM:SS); solved a few minor formatting, translation and logic errors...

New in BeAnywhere Support Express 5.02 Beta (May 21, 2014)

  • CONSOLE/VIEWER:
  • NEW! Low Bandwidth Color Mode A new JPEG mode was added, combining heavy image compression with a limited color space, making it ideal to extreme situations where the bandwidth is scarce but color needs to be used.
  • UPDATED! System Information with more data System Information now includes the Windows Updates policies applied to the machine, which makes it easier to identify potential sources of future problems.
  • UPDATED! Tweaks & correction of minor bugs Corrected a situation in which the keyboard shortcuts weren't working well on FTP; solved a bug occurring with BASE Agents and computers configured to 150dpi; decreased the CPU utilization of the mouse cursor capture; solved an issue with elevation of privileges in the applet; added some experimental non-documented options, like remembering the last size of the console and viewer windows.
  • ADMIN AREA:
  • NEW - Pre-defined technician profiles Three types of profiles had been included on the tech creation and edition pages of the Admin Area. This is helpful when setting up new technicians if you want to quickly downgrade or upgrade a tech account. The three profiles (Junior Tech, Senior Tech, Administrator) were chosen with the most common options selected (you can check the differences between profiles on the Help link) but they are just meant as a baseline to make the configuration of new technicians more intuitive. In the future we may add a profile manager to add your own profiles or edit the current ones.

New in BeAnywhere Support Express 1.50.04 (Feb 3, 2010)

  • Access to unattended PCs - UNLIMITED
  • Automatic scale the remote screen image to fit the window .
  • You can restart and automatically reconnect to the remote computer.
  • Windows 7 compatible.
  • Free version available.