The software described in this guide is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in accordance with the terms of the agreement.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. The names of companies, products, people, characters, and/or data mentioned herein are fictitious and are in no way intended to represent any real individual, company, product, or event, unless otherwise noted. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of WinAbility Software Corporation. WinAbility Software Corporation may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from WinAbility Software Corporation, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.

NO WARRANTY

The technical information in this document is provided AS-IS and WinAbility Software Corporation makes no warranty as to its accuracy or use. Any use of the information contained herein is at the risk of the user. This document may include technical or other inaccuracies or typographical errors.

Copyright Notice

© 2012 WinAbility Software Corporation. All rights reserved.

Trademarks

WinAbility, WinAbility.Com, ActiveExit, and "The Way Software Should Be!" are either registered trademarks or trademarks of WinAbility Software Corporation and/or its suppliers in the U.S.A. and/or other countries. Other product and company names mentioned in this document may be the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged.

Thank you for choosing ActiveExit!

ActiveExit™ was designed to do one thing, but do it well: automatically log off Windows users after a period of their inactivity. With ActiveExit, you can:

Log off the inactive users automatically

When you enable ActiveExit, it starts to monitor the user activity (keyboard and mouse). If no user activity has been detected during the time interval of your choosing, ActiveExit will display a message to the user (for the duration of your choosing, too). If no user activity detected after that, ActiveExit will forcefully log-off that user from Windows.

Log off the inactive users even if they locked their screens

ActiveExit will log off an inactive user even if the user has locked the screen before leaving. (The administrator will no longer have to unlock the screen manually each time it happens).

Log off the inactive users even if they set up custom screen savers

Unlike WINEXIT and other similar software utilities, ActiveExit does not replace the screensaver of the user with it's own. If fact, ActiveExit does not depend on the Windows screensaver functionality at all.

Log off the inactive users even if they use the Remote Desktop Connection

ActiveExit can log off the inactive users who connect to the server remotely, via the Remote Desktop.

Log off the inactive users even if they have unsaved changes

This is a powerful feature of ActiveExit that you should consider carefully. Normally, if a user attempts to log off while there are unsaved changes to the documents, Windows prompts the user to save the changes before logging off. With ActiveExit, the automatic log off happens unconditionally, even if there are changes still unsaved by the user. The unsaved changes, if any, will be lost and the user will be logged off.

Attention System Admininstrators

ActiveExit is enterprise-ready! It fully supports Active Directory and Group Policy, to simplify its deployment and management within large networks.

If you have not done so yet, visit our web site now and download a free no-strings-attached installation file of ActiveExit and see for yourself how ActiveExit can be of use to you:

Version 10.8.2 (February 1, 2011)

This is a minor update that improves how ActiveExit detects and handles the license violations.

Version 10.8.1 (November 5, 2010)

This is a minor update that improves reliability and performance of ActiveExit software.

Version 10.8 (August 7, 2010)

This is a complete rewrite of the ActiveExit software. If you've used an older version of ActiveExit, and are considering an upgrade, you may want to review the rest of this User's Guide to see what ActiveExit is now. You will notice many differences: we've simplified the user interface and removed many secondary functions (such as the allowed use schedule, the password protection, the taskbar icon, and so on). Instead, we've concentrated on making ActiveExit do just one task, but do it well: automatically logoff the users after a period of inactivity. Give the new ActiveExit a try!

ActiveExit is compatible with the following operating systems (both 32-bit and x64):

  • Windows 7
  • Windows Vista SP1
  • Windows XP SP3 (and its variations)
  • Windows Server 2008, Server 2003 (and the R2 and other variations)

Both the 32-bit and x64 editions of Windows are supported. (ActiveExit is a native 64-bit application when installed on 64-bit Windows.)

ActiveExit is NOT compatible with Windows 95, 98, Me, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 or any older version of Windows.

ActiveExit comes with a built-in license that allows its free use for the personal, non-commercial purposes on up to 5 computers within the local network, and can monitor up to 5 user sessions on each computer simultaneously.

If you want to use ActiveExit for the business purposes, then you can use the built-in license for the evaluation purposes only, for no more than 30 calendar days from the day of the first installation of ActiveExit. If you want to continue using it after the initial 30 days, you must purchase one of the following licenses (you can choose the license that suits your requirements best):

The site (per-computer) license

This license allows you to install ActiveExit on the client computers, the number of which may not exceed the number included in your license. The client computers may run any of the supported versions of Windows (such as Windows 7, Vista, XP, or Windows Server 2008 or 2003). When the per-computer license is used, ActiveExit will monitor any user who logs into the computer included in the license. (Both the local and the domain accounts can be monitored by ActiveExit.) If more than one user logs in to the computer at the same time (using the "Switch user" command of Windows), ActiveExit will monitor each such user, but no more than 5 of them at the same time, on the same computer.

Get a quote or Purchase a site license 

The server (per-connection) license

This license is suitable for a server running the Remote Desktop Services (RDS). In this scenario, you need to install ActiveExit on the RDS server itself (rather than on the client computers), and it would log off the inactive RDS users from the server, releasing its resources to other users. Note that when this license is used, then only the users who connect to the server via RDS or login to it locally would be monitored by ActiveExit. If the user connects to the server in some other way (for example, runs an application or connects to a shared folder hosted by the server), then such a user would NOT be monitored by ActiveExit. Note also that the per-connection license can be used only if the server runs one of the "server" versions of Windows, such as Windows Server 2008 or 2003. If the server computer runs a "client" version of Windows (for example, Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7), then the per-connection license cannot be used with it.

Get a quote or Purchase a server license 

In order to monitor the user activity and log off the inactive users, ActiveExit must be installed on each computer where the users login.

ActiveExit can be installed on any computer running a supported version of Windows. We offer for download the .MSI files (one for the 32-bit version of Windows, and another one for the x64 Windows editions). We also offer a universal setup file that you can run, and it would install the correct set of files (32-bit or x64) automatically for you.

Specifically, to install ActiveExit, follow these steps:

  • Login to Windows as the administrator, or as a power user. If you login as a regular or limited user, you may not be able to install or use this software.

  • To begin the installation, run the installation file. If you do not have the installation file, please visit our web site to download the latest version:

    http://www.winability.com/active-exit/ 

  • Note that if you have a previous version of this software already installed on your computer, the installation utility may prompt you to restart the computer, in order to be able to replace the files currently in use by Windows.

  • The installation program will walk you through the process of setting up ActiveExit. You will be prompted to read and accept the End User License Agreement, and to select the installation options.

After ActiveExit has been installed, run its configuration utility to enable it and choose the desired settings.

Using ActiveExit on a small number of computers

If the number of computers you want to be monitored by ActiveExit is small, than the easiest way to enable ActiveExit on them is to install and configure ActiveExit on each computer directly. For that, you can use the MSI files that we offer for download from our web site, just be sure to use the x86 file to install on the computers that run the 32-bit versions of Windows, and use the x64 file with the x64 versions of Windows. Or, use the universal setup EXE file, and it would detect the edition of Windows on each computer and install the appropriate edition of ActiveExit automatically for you.

To manage the ActiveExit settings, run the configuration utility of ActiveExit on each computer. If you want to configure several computers in the same way, you may want to use the Export command of ActiveExit to export setting from one such computer into a file (and save the file onto a removable drive, for example), and then use the Import command on other computers to import the settings from that file and make ActiveExit configured in the same way.

Using ActiveExit on a large number of computers

If you manage a large number of computers, managed via a domain controller, you need to install ActiveExit on each client computer (using the provided MSI files, for example). To simplify the management of the ActiveExit settings on the client computers, you may want to use the Group Policy included in the ActiveExit package. This way, you should be able to manage the settings of the client computers by changing the ActiveExit policy on the domain controller. (You also need to purchase a per-computer license for such a setup.)

Using ActiveExit on a Remote Desktop/Terminal Services server

If your network is set up so that users log in to the Remote Desktop/Terminal Services server, you can use ActiveExit to automatically log off such users, by installing ActiveExit directly on the server. (You also need to purchase a per-connection license for such a setup.)

How to uninstall ActiveExit

To completely uninstall ActiveExit, use Programs and features (or Add/Remove Programs) command of Windows Control Panel.

IMPORTANT: If your computer is configured for several user accounts, login into the same user account that you were logged in when you installed ActiveExit, before starting the uninstall process.

The are two ways of changing the settings of ActiveExit: using its configuration utility or using the Group Policy.

You can use either method (or both of them), the end result is essentially the same. You may find the configuration utility more convenient if you need to use ActiveExit on only a few computers. If, however, you have a large number of computers to install and configure ActiveExit on, then the Group Policy can help automate the configuration of such computers.

If you do set up the Group Policy to manage ActiveExit, you can still run the configuration utility, to check the effective settings and the status of ActiveExit. You can also make quick changes to the settings, however you should remember that such changes may revert back to the previous values during the next Group Policy update.

While setting up Active Exit, it's important to keep in mind that its settings apply to the whole computer, not to the individual user accounts. It means, for example, that you cannot set up different timeout values for different users: all user sessions processed by ActiveExit would get the same timeout. You can, however, specify which users or user groups should or should not be processed by ActiveExit.

Related topics:

You can use the configuration utility to change the ActiveExit settings that apply to the computer on which you run the utility. If you have several computers for which you want to change the ActiveExit settings, you need to run the configuration utility on each such computer. (To manage the setting of a large number of the computers, you may want to use the Group Policy instead of the configuration utility).

To open the configuration utility, choose ActiveExit from Windows Start - Programs menu. The configuration utility of ActiveExit has the following areas:

Enable ActiveExit

If this box is checked, ActiveExit performs the job it's designed to do: it will logg of the inactive users from their accounts. If this box is cleared, ActiveExit stops monitoring the users on this computer. You can use this box to quickly enable or disable ActiveExit without having to uninstall it.

Initiate a logoff if no user activity is detected...

Use this box to specify how long the inactivity period should be. The inactivity period is the time during which no mouse or keyboard activity from the user has been detected.

Before logging off, show this message to the user...

Use this box to specify how long a warning message should be displayed before actually logging off the user. You can also customize the text of the message by clicking on the link.

If the screen is locked, show this message instead

Use this link to specify an alternative text of the warning message displayed to the user, if the user has locked the screen before the idle timeout has occurred.

Note that the warning message is displayed only if the user is connected to its session. That is, if the user's desktop is currently visible to the user, or if the screen is locked and a prompt to unlock it is displayed to the user. If the user is disconnected from the session (which happens, for example, if the user has chosen the Disconnect or Switch User commands from Windows Start Menu), then the warning is NOT displayed and the logoff occurs immediately when the idle timeout is up.

Note also that when the screen is locked, it is NOT enough to press OK to dismiss the warning message displayed by ActiveExit; the user must actully unlock the screen and log back on to keep his or her session active.

Apply to

The list of the user accounts and/or user groups which should be processed by ActiveExit. If this list is empty, then ActiveExit will process every user who logs in to the computer (unless excluded by the Do not apply to list. If this list is not empty, then only users who are in the list or who are the members of the groups listed will be processed by ActiveExit. (Also, see notes below.)

To add a group or a user to the list, press the [+] button above the list. To remove an item from the list, select it and then press the [-] button above the list.

Do not apply to

The list of the user accounts and/or user groups which should NOT be processed by ActiveExit. If this list is empty, then ActiveExit will not exclude any user or group from processing. If this list is not empty, then ActiveExit will not monitor users or members of the groups listed. (Also, see notes below.)

To add a group or a user to the list, press the [+] button above the list. To remove an item from the list, select it and then press the [-] button above the list.

Status

This area is used by ActiveExit to display its status.

Export

Press this button to export the current settings of ActiveExit into a file.

Import

Press this button to import the settings of ActiveExit from a file (created previously with the Export command).

You may want to use the Export and Import commands to simplify the configuration of several computers: Instead of setting up each computer individually, you can export the settings from one computer, and then import them from the file on other computers, to make them configured in the same way as the first computer.

Restore defaults

Press this button if you want to return ActiveExit to the sate as it was when you first installed it, before you made any changes to its configuration.

Apply

Press this button to make the current settings effective, without closing the configuration window.

OK

Press this button to make the current settings effective and close the configuration window.

Help

Press this button open the User's Guide of ActiveExit.

About

Press this button to display the version number and copyright information for ActiveExit. You can also use it to enter your business license key, check your license for validity, etc.

Notes

  • When deciding whether to monitor a specific user or not, ActiveExit only takes into account the groups the user is actually a member of, as listed on the Member of page of the user's Properties window (available through the Computer management utility of Windows ):

    While some group memberships are implied (for example, every user is implied to be a member of the Everyone group), such implied memberships are NOT considered by ActiveExit. To reiterate, if you add a user group to the Apply to or Do not apply to lists of ActiveExit, that group will take effect only if it's explicitly listed on the Member of property page of the user.

  • If the user logs in to a domain, then both the global and the local group membership is checked by ActiveExit. Keep in mind that Windows may map the global groups to the local groups automatically. For example, if a user is a member of the global group Domain Admins, such a user also automatically becomes a member of the local group Administrators, even if Administrators does not appear on the user's Member of property page.

  • The Do not apply to list takes precedence of the Apply to list. That is, if a user matches the Do not apply to list, then ActiveExit will not process such a user, even if it also matches the Apply to list.

  • The decision whether to monitor a user or not is normally made by ActiveExit only when the user log on to the computer. If you make a change to the list of users or groups that ActiveExit should process, such a change will only take effect next time the affected user logs on to the computer. If you need the changes to take effect immediately, restart the ActiveExit service.

To use the Group Policy to manage ActiveExit, first download the Active Exit Administrator's Kit from the ActiveExit web site . Uncompress the zip file, and you should find the ActiveExit administrative template file (ActiveExit.adm) in it. To use this file with the Group Policy, you need to create a new Group Policy Object (GPO) and add the ActiveExit administrative template file (ActiveExit.adm) to it. The following steps should be done once, after installing ActiveExit on the server:

Run the Server Manager application and select Group Policy Objects in the left pane. Right-click on it, and choose New from the menu:

In the New GPO dialog, enter a name for the GPO (such as ActiveExit):

Now right-click on the new GPO and select Edit from the shortcut menu:

Select the Administrative Templates item under Computer Configuration, right-click on it and select Add/Remove Templates from the shortcut menu:

Click Add, navigate to the folder where ActiveExit has been installed (usually it is C:/Program Files/ActiveExit) and select the file ActiveExit.adm to add:

At this point the ActiveExit GPO is ready for configuration. Note that if you have upgraded to a new version of ActiveExit that comes with an updated ActiveExit.adm file, you should remove the old administrative template and add the new one, as described in the previous step, to make sure that the latest Group Policy is used.

To configure the ActiveExit GPO settings, select the ActiveExit item under Classic Administrative Templates - WinAbility, and use the items in the right panel to change the settings:

License information

Use this window to enter your ActiveExit license information:

Keep in mind that when you enter your license information, no verification is taking place, so you must be careful to enter it EXACTLY as it appears on your receipt or invoice. You may want to copy and paste the information, to avoid the typos. If you enter the information incorrectly, there will be NO error message displayed at this point. However, ActiveExit may fail to work properly when it loads the incorrect information on the target computers.

The Hide license key from the user option allows you to hide the ActiveExit license key on its About window, if you don't want anyone running the ActiveExit configuration utility to see the key. Note, however, that this option does not affect the visibility of the license key in other places. For example, the license key can still be viewed on the target computers with the Registry Editor.

Settings

Use this window to manage the settings of ActiveExit:

The settings available here are the same as those offered by the ActiveExit configuration utility.

Apply to / Do not apply to

Use these windows to manage the lists of groups and users which should or should not be processed by ActiveExit:

The settings available here are the same as those offered by the ActiveExit configuration utility. Keep in mind, however, that when you are entering the names of the users and groups in the lists here, no verification of the names is taking place, so you must be extra careful to check the spelling of the names you provide. If you enter an incorrect name here, no error message will be displayed at this point, but ActiveExit will fail to process the name you intended.

The names of the local user accounts must be entered as they are, without the computer prefix, for example:

  1. Administrator
  2. Guest

The names of the domain user accounts must be entered by specifying the domain prefix, for example:

  1. TESTDOMAIN\Administrator
  2. TESTDOMAIN\JoeDoe

The names of the user groups must be entered by WITHOUT the domain prefix, for example:

  1. Administrators
  2. Domain Admins
  3. Remote Desktop Users

Finally, you should link the ActiveExit GPO to the appropriate set of the computers which you want to be processed by ActiveExit. Remember that the client computers must have ActiveExit software installed on them in order for the settings to be actially used! Also, keep in mind that the changes to the Group Policy usually does not become effective immediately: it may take some time (usually between 90 and 120 minutes) before the settings get updated on the target computers. While testing, you may want to use the gpupdate command to force the Group Policy updates after making changes.

Please consult your Windows Server documentation for more information on GPOs and Group Policy.

If for some reason you want ActiveExit to temporarily stop performing its activities, you don't have to uninstall it completely. Instead, you can use its configuration utility (or the Group Policy) to clear the Enable ActiveExit OPTION:

When the Enable ActiveExit option is cleared, no user will be logged off by ActiveExit, even if the idle timeout is up. If a user logs on to the computer while the Enable option is cleared, such a user will not be monitored by ActiveExit.

To resume monitoring user activity and logging off the inactive users, check the Enable ActiveExit box on the ActiveExit configuration window. (Don't forget to also press the Apply or OK buttons!) Note that when you enable ActiveExit, the idle timout starts over. That is, even if a user already was inactive for some time, the inactivity period begins only from the moment when you have enabled ActiveExit.

Another way to temporarily disable ActiveExit is to stop its service, using, for example, the Services management console of Windows. This method, however, is more CPU-intensive: If you stop the ActiveExit service, then not only the user monitoring stops, but also all the monitoring processes used by ActiveExit exit, too. To resume the operation of ActiveExit, start its service, and that would restart the monitoring processes.

If ActiveExit does not seem to be working properly, you may want to check the following:

  • Open Event Viewer (on the Administrative Tools menu of Windows) and examine the events reported by ActiveExit service in the Application category. Very often the reported events provide enough information to determine why a particular user has not been logged off when it became inactive.

  • Verify that ActiveExit service is running.

  • Run the configuration utility of ActiveExit and see if it's Status area contains a warning message. Check that the Enable ActiveExit box is checked.

  • If the user inactivity time is not detected by ActiveExit, it could be that some software running in that user's account simulates user activity. To check for that, enable a screensaver for that user and see if it gets activated. If not, locate the culprit.

  • Make sure that the latest Windows updates (including service packs, if any) are applied to your system installation.

If you still experience technical difficulties, please contact us at:

http://www.winability.com/support/ 

Does ActiveExit require product activation or license validation?

No, ActiveExit does not require product activation or license validation. You only need to enter your license key into the program after you have purchased a license for its business use, that's all. You can reinstall the software and enter your license key in it whenever you want, any number of times (assuming you are not installing the product on more computers than included in your license, of course).

Can I use the same license key to install ActiveExit on several computers?

Yes, you can use the same license key, provided that you are installing it on no more computers than included in your license. Please refer to the file License.rtf (installed along with other files of ActiveExit) for the detailed description of the terms of using this software on more than one computer.

How do I enter the License Key?

If you use ActiveExit for the personal purposes (not related to your business or employment), then no license key is needed: the personal use license is already included in the file that you have downloaded from our web site.

If you have purchased a license for business use of ActiveExit, you have two options for entering the license key:

  1. Use the configuration utility of ActiveExit: just press the About button and then click on the Enter License Key button.

  2. Use the Group Policy to automatically distribute the license information to all computers on your network.

IMPORTANT: When entering your license information, make sure you are entering the Licensed To name and the license key exactly as they are shown on your license certificate, including all capitalization and punctuation. Otherwise, ActiveExit may not accept the license key or may not register your information properly. You may wish to copy and paste the name and key from our message into the form, to avoid typos.

Can ActiveExit be used with the limited user accounts?

Yes, it can. The installation and configuration of ActiveExit must be done by the administrator, but after ActiveExit is enabled, it can monitor and logoff any user account, including the non-administrators and guests.

Can ActiveExit force the computers to sleep or hibernate?

No, ActiveExit no longer offers an option to sleep or hibernate the computers after the user inactivity. If you require it, you could create the desired Power Plan (using Windows Control Panel) that would cause the computers to sleep or hibernate after a timeout. Just set up such a timeout a bit longer than the ActiveExit timeout, to make sure the user is logged off before the computer goes to sleep.

How can I minimize the possible user data loss?

Since ActiveExit terminates the inactive user sessions unconditionally, there is a possibility that any unsaved changes to the user's documents can be lost when ActiveExit logs off the users from their accounts. To minimize the possibility of such loss, make sure that the users only use applications that offer the auto-save feature. For example, some Microsoft Office applications offer the option of periodically saving the document changes, even if the user is away from the computer. If you set up such an auto-save period shorter than the inactivity period used by ActiveExit, then the changes to the user documents would be saved before the automatic logoff would occur.

How can I get a printed version of this guide?

This user's guide is available online in the printed-friendly format:

http://www.winability.com/active-exit/users-guide-printable.htm 

Open the link above in your web browser and use the web browser's Print command to print it out on your printer.