The enterprise version of SystemIdleCheck has been improved over the free version to provide flexibility and ease of management for Windows system administrators.
SystemIdleCheck allows you to set a time limit for “idleness”. When the target idle time is reached, the specified action is performed:
- Log the current user off
- Lock the computer
- Restart the computer
- Shutdown the computer
Logging via Windows Event Log
By utilizing the built in functionality of the Windows event log, integration with other log aggregation and monitoring applications becomes no problem. You can use your favorite monitoring solution to “watch” as actions are taken across a domain.
Event Descriptions
As of version 1.5, the following are the events currently logged by SystemIdleCheck:
| Event ID | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1000 | Info | SIC startup event |
| 1012 | Info | Configuration data used |
| 1020 | Info | Idle detected, logging off current user |
| 1021 | Info | Idle detected, locking workstation |
| 1022 | Info | Idle detected, rebooting workstation |
| 1023 | Info | Idle detected, shutting down workstation |
Added Enterprise Version Features
The free version of the program gives you some basic functionality, and if that is what you want to use, more power to you. However, with the enterprise version, you also get the ability to utilize registry settings, which can be distributed via Active Directory Group Policy, to configure the target workstations.
Configuration via Registry
Configuring an application via registry settings is no big deal. Applications have been doing this for many years.
In a domain environment, this becomes a method to configure a large number of computers, quickly. By utilizing Active Directory Group Policy, identical settings can be applied to many machines, with minimal administrative overheard.
With the enterprise version if SystemIdleCheck v1.5, you also have the ability to configure various aspects of the program, including:
- Title text
- Body text
- Colors
- Actions (Restart, logoff, lock, and shutdown)
- Warning banner triggering
Sample Registry Settings
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\fortypoundhead]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\fortypoundhead\sic]
"TitleText"="! WARNING !"
"BodyText"="Your computer has been idle and will be locked when the timer expires."
"TitleBackgroundColor"="C00000"
"TitleForegroundColor"="FFFFFF"
"BodyForegroundColor"="FFFFFF"
"BodyBackgroundColor"="C00000"
"ExpireAction"="logout"
"ExpireTime"="300"
"ExpireWarningTime"="60"
Note:
I’m pretty much scrapping the separate versions. All “Enterprise” features are being rolled in to one version.