New Versions of Faronics Power Save Improve PC Power Management

Faronics is proud to announce the release of Power Save v3.3 for Windows and v3.0 for Mac computers! Both versions introduce feature additions and enhancements to Power Save as well as tighter integration with Core Console, Faronics’ enterprise computer management tool. Here’s what’s new:

Power Save 3.3 for Windows

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 which ensures configuration changes are applied to a workstation even if the machine is currently unavailable.

Evaluation License Expiry Notification - Power Save will now notify users when their evaluation license is about to expire.

Power Save 3.3 for Mac

Consolidated Reporting – Power Save now features the ability to generate one Power Save report for both PC and Mac deployments using Faronics Core Console. This makes it easier for Power Save customers to see the savings of their entire deployment in one easy to read report.

Mac Energy Consumption Profile Information – The Power Save Loadin now includes the energy consumption information for Apple’s Mac product line. Power Save Mac customers no longer need to look up the energy consumption profile themselves; they simply select their computer model from a drop down list and Power Save Mac handles the rest.

Licensing – Users can now purchase and enter a license key to convert their evaluation deployment into a purchased deployment. This will make it easier for Channel Partners to convert evaluations into paid deployments.

Enhanced Reporting – Power Save Mac’s report template has been updated to match the Power Save report generated by Power Save for Windows. This also means the Power Save Mac report features the Eco-Savings box. The Power Save Mac Report Generator can now also communicate via TCP/IP in addition to Bonjour, which means workstations can now communicate to the Report Generator across subnets.

Faronics was the first to bring to market a multi-platform computer energy management solution that worked on both Windows and Mac computers. In fact, 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.

Help your customers lower their IT costs by introducing them to Power Save today!

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:

Maintenance Mode — Software updates and installation of new software are pervasive needs of every IT administrator. Anti-Executable Maintenance Mode temporarily disables the protection offered by Anti-Executable while software updates or new software is installed. When the installations are finished, Anti-Executable will automatically incorporate any new or modified executable file to the active white list.
Maintenance Mode means protection with flexibility.

Automatic White List – Channel Partners will appreciate that the ease of deployment for Anti-Executable has increased. Your customers can have Anti-Executable protecting their computers right after installation by using the Automatic White List feature. With a simple click Anti-Executable will create a white list, scan the computer and add the found files to the white list, activate the white list and activate the product.

Windows Server 2008 Support — The adoption rate of Windows Server 2008 is increasing and Anti-Executable is ready to offer its protection to computers running Windows Server 2008 for both 32 and 64 bit environments.

Plus support for Faronics Core Console’s Active Task feature, as mentioned above.

Anti-Executable's ability to protect against unwanted executables and security threats such as viruses, spyware, malware, and rootkits is perfect for your 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."

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 these key features:

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 – A highly-requested feature by Deep Freeze customers, customizable warning messages can now be displayed at the workstation prior to Maintenance, Restart, Shutdown, or Idle Time events. Separate customized messages 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.

Deep Freeze is an extremely versatile solution that can protect computer uptime for a number of use scenarios. We asked some of our customers how they were using Deep Freeze in their environment. Here’s what they had to say:

ASCOM Inc.

“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

Portsmouth Police Department

“Portsmouth Police Department has a number of multi-user machines in addition to the law-enforcement critical computers that are placed in all of our police cars. Before we started using Faronics Deep Freeze, our computers constantly required service due to users modifying the system settings and installing unauthorized software. In fact, we were making daily service visits to our multi-user machines just to keep them running. One of our network administrators had heard about a software solution that the city's public libraries were using to keep their computers consistent and trouble-free. After seeing Faronics Deep Freeze in action there, we knew this was the solution we need at the Portsmouth Police Department.

Now that we have Faronics Deep Freeze installed, if we have one ticket a week for those multi-user computers, it's a 'busy' week. Problems with workstation configuration drift are now non-existent. Deep Freeze has saved us 20 to 25 hours per week in IT support time required for those machines.”

Officer Scott White, Technical Services Unit, Portsmouth, VA

San Diego Housing Commission

“We used to encounter a number of computer problems in our day-to-day operations here at the San Diego Housing Commission. We took a look at Faronics Deep Freeze after our contracted IT support provider recommended it to us. Once we saw how Deep Freeze worked, we knew it was exactly what we needed. It took care of all the issues we were dealing with on our computers: unauthorized downloads, changes to desktop settings, and programs and printer access being deleted. We use Deep Freeze on all of our public access computers, as well as the staff workstations located at the Learning Opportunity Centers. The majority of our public access computer users are youth in after school programming, which includes homework assistance. Having Deep Freeze on the workstations means they can get to work on their studies faster and not have to deal with computer troubles”

Jackie Harris, Resource Development, San Diego, CA

These are just some of the Deep Freeze use scenarios that you can share with your customers. By educating them on how others are using Deep Freeze, your customers will start to think about how they too can apply Deep Freeze in creative ways to their IT infrastructure.