Category: General

ACP ThinManager is the most complete thin client management solution available. No other tool manages terminal services, thin clients, virtual resources, IP cameras and more as well as ThinManager. With over 12 years in business and tens of thousands of seats sold world-wide, ACP leads the industrial market place in providing the most robust software solutions for the modern factory.

ThinManager Helps You Avoid the Stuxnet Virus

Tom Jordan

There is a new villain in the computer virus world and it is from the Stuxnet family of malware.  The Stuxnet attack exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows software, WinCCConnect, which is an integral component of the distributed control and SCADA systems that facilitate production operations in many process-manufacturing companies. The vulnerability would allow the virus to extract process data and possibly HMI screens.

The director and chief economist of the independent watchdog The US Cyber Consequences Unit Scott Borg says “Either the attacker is planning on stealing very valuable information or they are going to use this access to the control system to do bad things.” The virus’s purpose seems to be what can only be termed as industrial espionage as attackers could steal information on how plants are run to possibly extort money or influence manufacturers by taking away the competitive edge with the information obtained. [...]

Top 10 Advantages to Using ThinManager

Tom Jordan

We all know that ThinManager is great, but do you know all the ways ThinManager can help you?  Here are the top 10 advantages of using ThinManager:

1.  Security: ThinManager knows the best security is not letting the problem close enough to be an issue, so we’ve created a secure environment. Terminal Servers can be secured away from public access, USB ports are closed by default and there are no CD or floppy drives to compromise security.  With TermSecure™ we added a second level of security with features like having users access and privileges controlled by administrator, an Auto-login option, and a key blocking module. [...]

Use ThinManager to Shadow PCs

Tom Jordan

The other day I spoke with a company that wanted to monitor and control 400 PCs scattered around their plant.  Believe it or not, this is actually a job for ThinManager!

All that is needed is a ThinManager license and a copy of WinTMC for each PC.  In this case a single ThinManager Enterprise Server license would be the correct choice.  You would not even need a Terminal Server.  Because WinTMC also runs as a service, the administrator could use easily shadow and control each PC without even having the PC logged in. [...]

Thin Client Introductory Article

Tom Jordan
“Being one of the cases where environmental responsibility actually adds to business profitability, thin client computing is likely to be a prevailing trend for many years to come.” So concludes author Bruce Tyson in his article, “The History of Thin Clients” found on brighthub.com.  Since some readers are just learning about Thin Client technology I like to include the occasional introductory post.  You can read the rest the story by clicking on the link below.

The History of Thin Clients

Zero Client and Cloud Computing – What are they?

Tom Jordan

The term Zero Client came about because the line between Thin Clients and PCs has become increasingly difficult to determine – and companies who produce the thinnest clients needed a way to differentiate themselves.

If you can install and run all your applications on a Windows Server (think ‘mainframe’) then to view them remotely you only need a basic CPU, VGA driver, network I/O, keyboard and mouse – a Windows Terminal.

However today you can find “Thin Clients” with local storage, XP operating systems, and a host of local applications.  In my opinion this has crossed the line and has become a PC. [...]

So What is a Thin Client?

Kevin West

As best I can tell, Tim Negris is the man who coined the term Thin Client when he was with Oracle. It originally described scaled down applications that ran in conjunction with a full version of an application that was loaded on a server.

When Windows OS versions that allowed multiple users came on the scene, one of the first hardware companies to start selling client hardware was Wyse with the introduction of their WinTerm in 1995. This made sense – Wyse was already a huge seller of “dumb” terminals for mainframes and providing a Windows Terminal was logical. [...]

ThinManager Version History

Kevin West

Since its introduction in 1999 ThinManager has undergone a number of improvements. But the most significant changes have come with the latest releases.

Here is a look at the most important features added and enhanced since ThinManager 2.3.

Introduced in ThinManager 2.4

  • Configuration Wizards – Perform most of the configuration through computer directed wizards and walk through any number of complex configuration tasks without the fear of missing an important step.
  • New Tree view of Terminal Servers and connected clients – See exactly which Windows Terminal Server is hosting each Thin Client. As clients log off one server and on to another, or in the event of a primary server failure and the automatic switching of all its connected clients to a backup server, the new tree will enable identification of all the server to client relationships.
  • Multiple monitoring connections to redundant ThinManager Servers – Provided the ability to run the ThinManager software on multiple machines. Load and start ThinManager wherever you need to be able to keep up with the system status.
  • Support for new Hardware – Added a number of new industrial ThinManager Ready Thin Clients.
  • ThinManager Configuration Import and Export – Multiple ThinManager Servers can work together by allowing for the export and import of the configuration of all managed Thin Clients. Along with this comes the ability to backup and restore ThinManager configurations.
  • Assign names to Servers – Even users who are not using a network with DNS can assign names to the ThinManager Servers and Terminal Servers on the network.
  • Create lists of available ThinManager Servers and Terminal Servers – Easy and automatic creation of server lists to cut down on confusion during initial system configuration and updates.
    • [...]