Faronics Anti-Executable Now Supports Maintenance Mode & Windows Server 2008

Faronics has released Anti-Executable v3.3 for Windows which introduces a number of new features to Faronics' white list based application control software, such as on demand and scheduled maintenance modes that make system updates and application installations quick and effortless, and support for Windows Server 2008.

Anti-Executable's ability to protect against unwanted executables and security threats such as viruses, spyware, malware, and rootkits is being used by many of Faronics' corporate, government, and education customers. "Faronics Anti-Executable is a bulletproof solution when trying to prevent rogue software installs, malicious code, and other unsavory happenings," says Aaron Hurt, Information Security Officer for CoVantage Credit Union. "Unwanted programs are prevented at the start by simply preventing them from even running. Installation is quick and easy, and when integrated with Faronics Console, the management overhead is reduced even further."

Added support for Windows Server 2008 enables Anti-Executable to provide resiliency to server environments by blocking network threats such as rootkits that would otherwise hijack enterprise systems, and by preventing non-trusted users from installing unauthorized software on a Windows Server computer.

When installed on workstations, Anti-Executable can ensure that computers are geared for work by making productive applications available to users but blocking software that is not needed. Georgia-based Cognetic Systems Inc., for example, uses Anti-Executable while developing software for their database appliances. “Faronics Anti-Executable is an excellent product with well thought out features such as the trusted check box in the white list that makes software development possible on a white listed machine,” says Bill Patton, President of Cognetic Systems, Inc.

Software updates and installation of new software are critical necessity of every enterprise computing environment—growing in both size and frequency. Maintenance Mode makes this an effortless task. When the system updates or program installations are finished, Anti-Executable will automatically incorporate any new or modified application into the active white list.

Customers with an active maintenance package can login to Faronics Labs to gain instant access to the latest version. Customers who would like to reactivate their maintenance package or purchase new licenses should call the Faronics sales team at 800-943-6422.

New Faronics Power Save is Faster and Supports Active Tasks

Faronics is proud to announce the release of Power Save v3.3 for Windows, which introduces

Speed Improvements – Power Save is now able to generate reports much faster than before.

Active Task Support – Power Save now supports Faronics Core Console’s Active Task feature (mentioned below). Active Tasks ensure configuration changes are applied to a workstation even if the machine is currently unavailable.

Power Save has been recognized by several industry analysts as a leader in enterprise computer energy management, including the 451 Group. In a recent report focused on Faronics Power Save, research analyst Andrew Lawrence referred to Faronics as a “formidable player” in energy management and recognized that one of Power Save's greatest strengths is its ability to detect CPU and disk activity as well as mouse and keyboard activity before taking any actions. “Power Save's integration into Faronics Core Console as well as its support for the Windows and Mac operating system gives it an edge in the market,” says Mr. Lawrence.

Many of Faronics' customers are finding significant cost and energy savings with Power Save. Idaho-based Coeur D’Alene School District, for example, is saving approximately 2,193,581 kilowatt hours annually—equivalent to more than $100,000 in annual electricity costs. “Having centralized control over workstation power states has proven to be a huge time saver and made our IT staff more efficient at their roles,” says Jean Bengfort, Director of Technology for Coeur D’Alene District.

Customers with an active maintenance package can login to Faronics Labs to gain instant access to the latest version. Customers who would like to reactivate their maintenance package or purchase new licenses should call the Faronics sales team at 800-943-6422.

Core Console v2.42 Offers New Features & Speed Improvements

The latest version of Faronics’ enterprise network management platform, Faronics Core Console v2.42, is now bundled with enterprise versions of WINSelect, Anti-Executable, and Power Save. This updated version features some key enhancements to performance and workstation management.

The newly added Active Task feature ensures unavailable workstations, such as laptops that are disconnected from the network or desktop computers that are powered down, receive Core Console tasks once they are reconnected to the network. Active Task also has the ability to wakeup a machine prior to task execution.

The responsiveness of Core Console when managing workstations has been increased significantly, while the time it takes to generate a report has been shortened. Also, administrators can now perform actions on groups of workstations rather than individual workstations. Group actions include task scheduling, execution, and configuration. The ability to track and view failed tasks, along with failed task re-execution via a simple right click, has also been added. Editing scheduled tasks and cancelling active tasks are new features as well. Finally, administrators can now print and email reports.

Power Save Enterprise, Anti-Executable Enterprise, and WINSelect Enterprise all use Faronics Core Console as their native central management console. Therefore, all of these products inherit the features added into Core Console v2.42.

Deep Freeze v6.5 – Coming Soon!

Faronics is putting the final touches on the latest release of Deep Freeze, our award-winning system control software. Releasing in the next few weeks, this latest version introduces several feature enhancements, such as:

Multiple and Hidden ThawSpaces – Deep Freeze allows for the creation of an unprotected space where data can be retained over restarts. Now, up to eight different visible and/or hidden ThawSpaces can be created, providing greater flexibility to both users and IT.

Embedded Events Scheduler – The Embedded Events Scheduler now combines all possible Embedded Events into a single configuration tab which provides greater flexibility by enabling multiple events to be scheduled on a single day.

Customizable Warning Messages & Behavior – Customizable warning messages can now be displayed at the workstation prior to Maintenance, Restart, Shutdown, or Idle Time events and a separate customized message can be displayed during a Maintenance event. Also, users can optionally be allowed to cancel any Embedded Event (Maintenance, Restart, Shutdown, or Idle Time) prior to execution from the workstation.

Integrated Action Files – Action Files are now built into the Enterprise Console. Connect via RDC is included by default, along with the newly added Remote Execute, and Push and Install MSI File function.

Other feature additions include Wake-on-LAN across subnets, Windows Updates logging, and integrated Console Customizer which enables tailored versions of the Enterprise Console to be created.

Deep Freeze is helping organizations ranging from schools and universities to businesses and libraries lower their IT costs and increase their computer uptime. One of Deep Freeze’s greatest strength’s is that its benefits are immediately felt – users get a fully functional computer to work on, IT is liberated from tedious helpdesk requests that previously consumed valuable time, and organizations are able to increase the number of computers their IT team can support without increasing employee headcount.

Here’s what some of our customers have said recently about Deep Freeze:

“We use Microsoft Windows XP in our embedded PCs for Wireless Carrier Drive Test equipment. This equipment places voice and data card calls on the wireless system and benchmarks the performance of the various wireless carriers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, etc.) against each other. The embedded computers were becoming infected with viruses from downloading data files over the wireless network. We had been dealing with the problem by re-imaging the hard drives on the embedded PCs, but this was causing a significant amount of downtime and effort while servicing a population of roughly 2000 embedded PCs in the field. We contracted an IT firm, Madison Avenue Consulting located in Corona, CA to look for a solution. Madison Avenue Consulting suggested Faronics Deep Freeze for our embedded PCs. A particular session of the PC could become infected; however powering the PC off and on to clear the infection greatly reduced the returns and rework. In roughly two quarters of our operations we were able to take embedded PC return and repair failure rates of 2.5% monthly to under 0.6% monthly. Faronics Deep Freeze's contribution to eliminating operating system corruption failures definitely made a positive impact.”

-Scott Griffith,Vice President, Engineering, ASCOM Inc.

“Faronics Deep Freeze was key to our success at Adobe MAX 2008 in San Francisco. MAX is Adobe's annual conference that connects thousands of designers, developers, partners, executives, and Adobe staff for education, inspiration, and community. Adobe needed a way to ensure the training session Mac computers would be resistant to changes made by users. We also needed a way to quickly return the Mac computers to their baseline configuration when readying the workstations for the next group. A colleague of mine at Adobe was an Apple Genius and she mentioned that Deep Freeze was the way to go. Faronics Deep Freeze was exactly what we were looking for, and met both the requirements listed above. Now we are able to give users in our training centers full administrative rights on the workstations without any worry that permanent damage will take place. Once they are done their session, we reset all the training center machines at the same time via Apple Remote Desktop. Faronics Deep Freeze has saved us a lot of time – thanks Faronics!”

-Mitchel Kleinrock, Lead Macintosh Support Engineer, Adobe Systems Inc.

Faronics has added a new case study to the Content Library: Faronics Anti-Executable and Granite School District. This latest customer story details how Scott Watson, an Electronics Teacher in Hunter Senior High School, needed a solution to keep unauthorized executables out of the school's computer labs.

“We are fortunate in that we have a powerful computer lab,” says Mr. Watson. “We do, however, want to ensure that power is used for educational purposes, and not for classroom distractions such as games, instant messaging, and peer-to-peer file sharing.” Mr. Watson continues, “We found that as the prices for USB flash drives fell, more students were using the drives to bring portable applications and executables into the classroom. This is obviously something we don’t want since the applications students need to complete class assignments are already installed on the computers. Allowing unauthorized programs to run on workstations presents a serious challenge to a teacher’s ability to keep lab computers running and student attention focused.”

Tatiana Kouchnareva

This month’s featured employee is Tatiana Kouchnareva, Vice President of Development at Faronics. We sat down with Tatiana for a few minutes to ask her a few questions about her experience at Faronics and her hobbies outside of work.

Q: How has your experience with Faronics been?
A: It’s been great! I quickly 'fell in love' with my Development Team as these folks have a real passion for Faronics’ products and truly care about the product quality and functionality. Faronics’ technology is very interesting and challenging, and I am excited about enhancing the Faronics product suite with more enterprise capabilities. The product quality level is truly impressive, and this is a great achievement of the Development, QA, and Technical Support teams working together.

Q: What do you like to do outside of Faronics?
A: At home I am 100% into being 'green‘ -- which includes growing our own food and recycling up to 90%+ of our household garbage. I am a member of Seed Savers Organization (SSE) since 2005, and I have a 1/2 acre hobby farm where I maintain about 1000+ heritage tomato varieties from all over the world. I save seeds and share them with other 'tomato addicts' who also care about the genetic diversity of food crops. I am secretly hoping that I can spread the passion for heritage tomatoes within Faronics as well!
I love classical music, and I am learning how to play piano again after a 15 year break. Having a nice balance between software production, classical music, and seed saving makes my life very meaningful and rewarding. Having said that, I wish I had space and time for more hobbies!