Part 1. Using the Filter Bar in the Main Window

The Filter Bar in the Main Window will limit which monitor installations are visible in the Monitors List, simply click on which view you wish to see.

❑ All - Show all of your monitor installations.

❑ Active - Show only those monitors which have been activated (See Client Console Activation) and have not been disabled (See Disabling Monitors).

❑ Disabled - Show only those monitors which have been activated but are disabled (See Disabling Monitors).

❑ Awaiting Activation - Show only those monitors which have been created in the Management Console but have not yet been activated on a client computer (See Client Console Activation)

Part 2. Tracking your Monitors With the Management Console

To get the most out of your WinScry Management Console it is important to understand how the WinScry Client Console software works. After you activated a client (see Client Console Activation) and have created your alerts you must install and start the WinScry Client Windows Service (see the Client Conole Help). It is this Windows Service application that does all of the real "work".

When operating successfully the WinScry Client Windows Service will attempt to contact the WinScry Web Service when the service starts up and every 4 hours subsequent to starting. It does this for 2 reasons #1 is to check for updates made by you in the Management Console. So if you have made changes (like changing the name, or any of the email settings, disabled the monitor, etc) these changes will be automatically picked up by the client when it successfully contacts the WinScry Web Service. #2 is to notify the WinScry Web Service that the monitor installation is alive and transmitting data.

Keep reading below for more information.

Part 3. Showing the Extended Installation Details

In the Main Window Toolbar click the Hide / Show Details button located below the exit button to open the Extended Installation Details panel. In the extended details you will find more information about your monitor installations including:

▪Alerts at Installation. The number of enabled Alerts at the installation.

▪Installation Transmitting. Yes / No indicates whether the WinScry Client Windows Service has successfully communicated with the WinScry Web Service (see Part 2).

▪Last Contact. The date and time of the last communication from the WinScry Client.

▪Disable / Enable the Monitor. Click this button to either disable an enabled monitor OR enable a disabled monitor (see Disabling Monitors).

▪Refresh. Does an extended refresh for the selected monitor

▪Monitor Created. The date you created the Monitor.

▪Extended Monitor Details. If you entered extended details when you created the Monitor (see Creating Monitor Installations) you will see the individual items here

Part 4. Detecting Problems with the Management Console

Referring to the discussion above in Part 2, we know that when working properly a WinScry Monitor Installation will attempt to communicate with the WinScry Web Service when the WinScry Client Windows Service starts AND every 4 hours subsequent to that.

If you refer to the screenshot to the left, it lists 7 active monitor installations and also shows amount of time elapsed since each monitor last communicated with the WinScry Web Service in the Contacted column of the monitors list. Notice that in the two entries marked with arrows the WinScry Monitor named Parkland Hospital last communicated with the web service 72 minutes ago, while the monitor named West Texas Oil and Gas has not been heard from for 9 days.

This should alert you to an obvious problem with West Texas Oil and Gas. It could be that the WinScry Client Windows Service is not running, or that the client windows service is being blocked from the internet. It probably (but not definitely) means that you are not getting alert emails from this monitor. If it were your client you should connect to them and troubleshoot the WinScry Client Console (See Troubleshooting Problems in the Client Console online help).

Q: When should I start being concerned if a monitor installation isn't communicating with the web service?

A: Missing 1 update shouldn't be a cause for major concern. It could simply mean that the client's internet connection was down, (or OUR Web Service was down) at the moment when the Client attempted communication. So if you see a Contacted value of 5, 6 or 7 hours it is not necessarily a cause for concern. The Client (if everything's running correctly) will keep trying every 4 hours. If the Contacted value goes over 8 hours or 12 hours that means that it has failed at least 2 or 3 times and you should probably start considering taking some type of proactive action.