WHATSNEW.TXT: New WinU Features WinU Version 3.1, released December 2, 1996 License Meter Management: if your organization has, say, ten licenses for a particular program, you can ensure that no more than ten users are accessing that program simultaneously. Dynamic configuration update: if desired, WinU will look for config data files at startup in whatever directory you designate (perhaps on a server). If found, they will replace the current configuration with whatever setup data they contain, allowing you to add or change all desks, buttons, passwords, or options dynamically and remotely. WinU now disables the Delete key and right-click context menus in File | Open and other Common Dialogs, and in Explorer's right-side pane. This prevents using the Delete key to delete files from Common Dialogs, or using right-click context menus as a backdoor way to run unauthorized programs. Strengthened "third-party window" processing, to more vigorously remove such windows when they are not allowed. Exceptions can now be specified, windows that are allowed to remain visible even when "third-party" windows are prohibited. "Third-party" windows can now be disallowed for individual desks, in addition to allowing or disallowing them systemwide as before. Button label text is no longer required. A WinU button can now be just an icon in a button border. This is set in the Button Style section of the Appearance And Sound tab. Added the PrevDesk button type. If created on the desktop by the administrator, user can go back to the previously-visited desk by clicking on the button. The last 100 visited desks are available. Like all buttons, a PrevDesk button can be password-protected. New wallpaper option: display background bitmap at its actual size (not stretched to fit available space). This is good for text and other finely detailed images. New wallpaper option: tile the background bitmap. This option will copy the bitmap as many times as required to fill the space. New sound option: loop (play repeatedly) the desk logon sound when no program is currently running. New desk icons for DeskLink, PrevDesk, Exit, and Shutdown buttons. Modified the method of tracking time used in a desk so that it is saved when exiting for MS-DOS mode or an unanticipated shutdown. Saving of parameters when returning from system setup or desk setup is now much faster. New interface for the Clone Setup Builder which requires the password for the computer being cloned. This is a security measure to ensure that one WinU user can't clone another WinU user's computer. Many elements are now encrypted and double-checked in various ways to help ensure that they are not abused. Password dialog times out and vanishes if not used in 30 seconds. New error-message dialog times out and vanishes in 20 seconds. Now doing the keyboard/mouse inactivity monitor in a more reliable way. Can now deny use of the boot-time startup menu when disabling boot-time function keys. Now doing remote password management in a more reliable way. Changed password file format to accomodate this. Added "usable once only" remote passwords. Previously, using a particular remote pasword could indicate the minutes per logon session. Now you can also indicate minutes per day or minutes per week to be associated with a particular remote password. Previously, per-computer cumulative time limits could indicate minutes per day, per week, or simply total minutes (when they're used up, they're gone). Now you can also indicate minutes per logon session as a per-computer cumulative time test. Previously, the desktop's cumulative time counter only lost time when a program from that desk was actually running. If no program was running, the clock didn't lose time. In this version, the desktop timer keeps running whether a program is running or not. So, regardless of whether the time limits are imposed by the password file parameters or from the local machine's setup, they work the same way. Remote file passwords are no longer case sensitive. Passwords set up locally are case sensitive only if the new "case sensitive" box is checked. WinU Version 3.0, released September 16, 1996 Easier system administration, especially when managing a number of WinU machines on a network: clone-able buttons, desks, or entire installations, centrally managed password and timeout control, more detailed event logging, built-in usage reports and graphs. Inactivity timout. Cleaner tabbed-dialog interface. Status bar. More flexible visual interface options (wallpaper, button styles, show/hide the menu and status bar). Attach sound to WinU events. New navigation elements: DeskLink, Exit, and Shutdown buttons. Button options to AutoRun a program at desk logon, keep program running until desk logoff, and allow a program to continue to run after exiting from the desk it was started from. Can now run Shortcuts, including shortcuts to printers, Dial-Up Networking, or other Win95 components. Ultra-robust Kiosk Mode for the most demanding public-access situations. Built-in Explorer window for when you need access to the full computer (with password control of course). Much better when tracking modem-using apps. Blockout periods: times when nothing on that desk will run (for example "Every Tuesday 9 pm to 11 pm" or "Every weekday 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm"). Can disable CD-ROM autorun. QuickNotes, so you can attach a little message to a logfile record when exiting a program (perhaps for billing purposes). And the proverbial Much More. WinU Version 2.0, released January 31, 1996 Numerous new features including Super Security mode, multiple desktops, Administration Maintenance mode, settable background color, keyboard control, highlighted focus button, right-click Properties screens for buttons and desktops, can run multiple programs concurrently, per-button password protection, improved Help system, more. WinU Version 1.0, released August 24, 1995 Initial release, on the same day that Windows 95 was released.