FAQ (read only)

The PC TimeWatch configurator doesn't start under Vista => DEP

Admin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 08:34:09 GMT

If the PC TimeWatch configurator crashes when you launch it under Vista, it's because Data Execution Protection (DEP) is enabled for all programs. Enabling this option can only generate trouble with many applications. You should modify this setting as follows:

1. Open System by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking System.

2. Click Advanced System Settings. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

3. Under Performance, click Settings.

4. Click the Data Execution Prevention tab, and then click Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only. If you select "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select", even if you add pctimewatch.exe to the exclusion list, the problem will persist.

Protect your system BIOS

Admin — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 15:07:15 GMT

There are 2 main reasons for which you absolutely must protect the system BIOS with a password (see the documentation of the system's motherboard for details):

1. If the BIOS is not protected, the user can change the system date and time when booting. If the Enable system time monitoring option is not ON in PCTW or if the PC is not connected to the Internet, the user will be able to cheat.

2. If the BIOS is not protected and if booting on a CD is allowed, the user will be able to boot the system on a CD including some utility allowing to reset passwords or to change the type of an account (and therefore, to change a limited account into an administrator account). There are several such utilities available for free on the Web. So you must exclude the possibility of booting the system on a CD and then lock the BIOS settings by specifying a password. These operations are described in the system's motherboard manual.

Restricting Games (Dofus, World of Warcraft, Counter Strike, Half Life,...)

Admin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:25:53 GMT

Sometimes, you'll discover that selecting a game from the user's or the shared start menu (by using the From user's start menu items or From common start menu items options) is not enough. Many games are started in an unusual way: when you double-click the game shortcut in the Start Menu or on the Windows desktop, you are not actually launching the game but the game launcher which in turn launches the actual game. So if you restrict the game launcher, this will not prevent the game from running. The restrictions will apply to the game launcher only and since it is present in memory only during a few seconds, this will not be very useful. In such cases, you should select the program to restrict by using one of these two methods:

Launch the game and while it is running, launch PC TimeWatch. In the Program selection dialog box, chose either the From window list or From running processes method. You should be able to identify the window name or the process name corresponding to the game's main window.
If method #1 doesn't work, then select By exe name. You don't need to launch the game before in that case. This assumes that you know the name of the game executable. Again, this should be the executable name of the game itself, not the launcher. For example, the process name of World of Warcraft is wow.exe. You can identify the game executable name by opening the Windows Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc - Processes tab), sorting the processes by name (click on the Image Name column header), launching the game and identifying the new process that has just appeared in the Task Manager window.

The DOFUS game is a special case. The developers have named the program executable DOFUS.DLL. If you restrict DOFUS.EXE, you are actually restricting the game launcher. To restrict DOFUS itself use the From window list method. Half Life and Counter Strike also use a launcher: the launcher executable is named steam.exe. Again, if you restrict steam.exe, you'll not restrict the game itself. Use one of the two methods described above.

Then proceed as usual for assigning time slots and/or time allocation to the program.

Special Note for Dofus 2.0:

Dofus 2.0 behaves differently than the previous version. First, it's not DOFUS.DLL that must be restricted but DOFUS.EXE. Moreover, when DOFUS is launched, PC TimeWatch "sees" 2 images of the process in memory. This is due to a technical problem generated by a Dofus companion program, reg.exe. So the allocated time is counted down twice as quickly as it should. The only workaround for the moment is to allocate twice the time that you actually want to allocate to DOFUS.

This article also applies to some games installed by Windows like Internet Reversi.

PC TimeWatch license key and registry cleaners

Admin — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 14:12:44 GMT

Using registry cleaning software has always been a "risky business", whatever the quality of the used program. If you let the software take automatic decisions about what elements of the registry should be eliminated or modified, you are certainly exposed to some annoyances, to say the least.

As far as PC TimeWatch is concerned, the information related to the license key might be corrupted by such registry cleaning operations. If PC TimeWatch refuses to start after a registry cleanup, you'll have to enter your key again in order to re-activate the software. You don't need to request a new key unless you lost it. Your license key is permanent and can be re-used in this case.

A limited user cannot enable/disable a network connection

Admin — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 13:52:46 GMT

By default, Windows XP doesn't allow a limited user to enable or disable a network connection. This can generate problems when configuring the Internet entry in PC TimeWatch. Depending on your version of Windows XP, there are two different solutions to this issue (se below). In both cases, the user will then be able to activate/deactivate the Internet connection by richt-clicking on the network icon in the system tray (bottom right area of the desktop).

XP Pro
- Start | Execute | gpedit.msc | OK.
- User configuration | Administrative templates | Network | Network connections.
- Configure the strategy named Ability to Enable/Disable a LAN connection.
- Restart the system.

XP Home
- Run Regedit under an administrator account .
- Select the HKEY_USERS key.
- Open the File menu and chose Load Hive...
- In the file selection dialog box, select the file named NTUSER.DAT which is located in c:\Documents and Settings\<user>, <user> being the name of the account to which you want to give the permission. Say Paul. We'll use that name in the following steps. Click on Open.
- Give the name that you want to the hive when the system will prompt you for it (the account name - Paul - will do)
- Open the HKEY_USERS key under which you should find a subkey named Paul.
- Go down the subkey hierarchy until you reach Software\Policies\Microsoft.
- If a subkey named Windows does not exist under Microsoft, create it. Otherwise, open it.
- If a subkey named Network Connections does not exist under Windows, create it.
- Now select the possibly new key HKEY_USERS\Paul\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Network Connections.
- In the right pane, right-click and New | DWORD Value.
- Name the new value NC_LanConnect.
- Give it the value 1.
- Select HKEY_USERS\Paul.
- File | Unload hive.
- Repeat the steps above for all users to whom you want to give this permission.
- Close Regedit et restart the system.

Restrictions apparently not applied to a game or an application (Dofus example)

Admin — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:29:39 GMT

If you have specified restrictions for a given game and if these restrictions are apparently not applied, you may have chosen the wrong way of selecting the program in PC TimeWatch. Let's look at the Dofus example...

If you have selected the Dofus game by using the From user's start menu items or the From common start menu items in the Select Program dialog box in PCTW, you have actually selected the game launcher, not the game itself. Dofus.exe is not the main program. The main program is actually dofus.dll which is not a DLL but a renamed exe. So restricting dofus.exe doesn't help because it will have enough time to launch dofus.dll before PCTW terminates the dofus.exe program. In such a situation, you have to select the program to restrict by using the From window list option after launching the game. You'll then see a window named Dofus (dofus.dll). Select it and proceed as usual.

This method applies to all games and applications that are not launched directly but executed indirectly via a program launcher. Half Life or Counter Strike are also good examples: they are usually executed from a launcher named Steam. Restricting Steam will not restrict Half Life or Counter Strike in any way. You must use the method explained above.

Instead of the From window list option, you can use the By exe name option. This however, assumes that you know the name of the executable to restrict.

PCTW warning messages not displayed in Vista

Admin — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:42:19 GMT

Due to a registry change in Windows Vista, PCTW now cannot display its warning messages without interacting with the user.

In order to fix this, please proceed as follows:

Connect to Windows Vista with an administrator account
Download this file: http://www.mainsoft.fr/Files/fixts.zip
Unpack fixts.reg in any folder and double-click it.

The PCTW warning messages should then be displayed as usual.

You don't need to apply this patch if you install version 1.5.0.4.

Protection against keyloggers and speed typing

Admin — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:49:02 GMT

PC TimeWatch now implements a protection system against most keyloggers. It's not as powerful as a generic and dedicated anti-keylogger software but it is enough to protect the PCTW Manager password.

The protection system is relatively complex and sensitive to the typing speed. If you are a speed typist and if PCTW tells you that you have entered a wrong password, please try entering the password again but slower.

NB: This feature has been removed from PCTW starting with version 1.5.0.7. It was generating too much problems on certain systems.

If you decide to install a global protection against keyloggers, please look at these links:

http://dewasoft.com/privacy/kldetector.htm

http://dewasoft.com/privacy/i-hate-keyloggers.htm

http://www.anti-keylogger.net/

http://www.anti-keyloggers.com/

http://www.sharewareconnection.com/elite-anti-keylogger.htm

http://www.programurl.com/anti-spam-guard.htm

A Google search with the keywords "anti-keyloggers" will also bring you to alternate solutions.

Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy are able to detect most keyloggers that might be installed on your system.

How to use the new "Program grouping" feature

Admin — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:08:43 GMT

Starting with version 1.5, the Prototype feature behaves differently and allows you to manage restricted programs as groups.

Let's assume that you want to restrict 3 games (Game1, Game2 et Game3) and apply the same settings (time slots and time allocation) to the 3 games. As usual, you'll start by creating a new prototype (model) named Games (Add program to restrict and check Create prototype). Setup the prototype as you wish.

Then, for each restricted game (Game1 to Game3), create a new entry and check Copy time slots from... while selecting the prototype named Games. You can also apply the Copy settings from... command to an already existing entry. This will have the same effect. From now on, Game1, Game2 and Game3 will be linked to the Games prototype. Any change made to the Games prototype will be applied to all linked entries. The time slots for linked entries are displayed in gray and you can no longer modifiy the linked entries directly, including the time allocation settings.

You can break the link between a restricted program and a prototype at any time by using the Detach from prototype command. The entry will then become independent from the prototype and will be displayed by using the standard colors.

You can also decide that some programs linked to a given prototype will share the time allocation defined at the prototype level. You just have to select the Share time allocation command in the contextual menu (right-click) of the relevant entries. You can share the allocation between all entries linked to a given prototype or between some of them. If you have allocated 3 hours per week to the Games prototype and if you have applied the Share time allocation command to Game1, Game2 and Game3, the user will benefit from a credit of 3 hours for the 3 games all together and not for each game separately. Using this command resets the time used for all linked entried.

Use this command again to stop sharing the allocation.

You can copy the settings of a prototype to the Windows and Internet entries but they will not be linked to the prototype.

PC TimeWatch, Windows Vista and Time Zone

Admin — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:07:19 GMT

Unlike Windows XP, Windows Vista allows the standard (non-admin) users to change the time zone used by the system. This is obviously a big issue for PC TimeWatch.

Depending on the Windows Vista edition that you are using, there are two different ways of solving the problem:

Windows Vista Ultimate, Business and Enterprise

Login to Windows Vista with an administrator account.
Start | Run| secpol.msc.
Go to Local Policies | User Rights Assignment.
Open the Properties window for the Change Time Zone privilege.
Remove the Users group from the list.
Possibly add to the list any non-admin account to which you still want to grant the Change Time Zone privilege..
Close the MMC console and reboot.

Windows Vista Home Basic et Home Premium

For an unknown reason, the gpedit.msc and secpol.msc snap-ins are not available in these editions of Windows Vista. In order to disable the Change Time Zone privilege for standard users, we had to write a little utility that partly replaces the missing MMC snap-in.

Please download http://www.mainsoft.fr/Files/SetTZPriv.zip and unarchive the SetTZPriv.exe in a folder of your choice.
Open a Command Prompt window and change the current directory for the directory where you have stored SetTZPriv.exe..
Enter the following command:

SetTZPriv Users OFF

This will deny access to the Change Time Zone privilege to all standard (non-admin) users.
If you want to grant this privilege to a particular standard (non-admin) user, enter the following command:

SetTZPriv user_name ON

After following one of these two procedures, the users removed from the list will no longer be able to change the time zone on your system.

The complete syntax of SetTZPriv is as follows:

SetTZPriv <account_name> ON|OFF [machine_name]

The <account_name> argument is mandatory and specifies either an individual account or a group name. The machine_name argument is optional and specifies on which system the modification must be made. By default, this is the local machine.

PC TimeWatch and Safe Mode

Admin — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:33:44 GMT

Despite the downgraded behavior of Windows in Safe Mode, some restricted users prefer using Windows in Safe Mode rather than being constrained by PC TimeWatch. PC TimeWatch, like many other programs, cannot work when the system is booted in Safe Mode.

We do have a fix for this issue but we don't want to make it public. If you are concerned by this problem, please email to support @ mainsoft.fr and we'll provide you with a solution.

Internet time counted down as soon as Windows session is opened

Admin — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 10:00:44 GMT

The Internet entry in the scheduler works like any other entry (Windows or a specific program). You can define both permitted time slots (as many as you want each day) and a maximum allocation per day or week. However, there's a particular problem with the Internet. Many users think that they are connected to a web site once the home page has been displayed. But the Web doesn't work this way. There's no idea of permanent connection. When your Web browser requests a page, the web server sends that page to your PC and you're immediately disconnected from the server afterwards - even if the physical connection is still active - until you request another page by clicking on a link in the page or by entering an URL manually. This makes impossible to measure how long the Internet has been actually used. The only thing that can be monitored is whether the Internet connection is available and ready to use. Not if it is actually used. If the user downloads two pages but spends 30 minutes reading each page, he will have been "connected" only during a few milliseconds but will have "used" the Internet during one hour. The Internet connection will have also been available during one hour and PC TimeWatch will count down one hour against the allocated time. No choice.

This is why the time is counted down by PC TimeWatch when the Internet connection is available, not when it is actually used. However, PC TimeWatch wouldn't count down the time allocated to the Internet if you disconnect your modem-router by using its software user interface (that is, if you logoff from your ISP). In that case, the default gateway entry is automatically removed, PC TimeWatch is aware of this and considers that no Internet connection is available.

So you can decide that you grant each kid an hour of Internet per day (using the Internet entry in the scheduler) while the permitted time slot is the whole day (no time slot would mean, that no access to the Internet is permitted during the whole day). But the allocated time might be quickly consumed without your kids having even launched Internet Explorer :-) .

Most users of PC TimeWatch proceed differently:

First approach:

You define which time slots in the day are permitted for Internet access and you don't set any limitation to the global allocated time. You are sure that your kids will not be able to use the Internet for a time that is longer than the sum of the specified time slots. Most of the time this is enough because many parents don't want their kids to spend time surfing the Web at any time in the day (there's a time for school duties, for sport, for web surfing,...).

Second approach:

You still define permitted time slots for the Internet entry but you add other entries in the scheduler for the Web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox,...) and for any other program that you want to restrict (MSN Messenger for example). This time, PC TimeWatch will count down used time against the global allocation for Internet Explorer or MSN Messenger only when these programs are running. So you can therefore say that Internet Explorer can be used only one hour each day at any time while still authorizing another Internet related program to run. If you combine these settings with time slots defined for the Internet entry, you can achieve what you want.

Third approach:

You disable Internet all together for your kid’s account and you create another account for him/her where Internet is allowed for the specified time slots and / or duration. This way, your kid will use this account only for accessing the Internet and no connection time will be wasted. With Windows XP, your kid can easily switch between both accounts. When he/she will be leaving the account for which Internet is allowed, the countdown will stop.

Hope this helps.

Kaspersky IS crashes PC TimeWatch

Admin — Sat, 26 May 2007 08:50:44 GMT

Thanks to a report from a PC TimeWatch user, we have been made aware that Kaspersky IS (and probably Kaspersky Antivirus too) is causing PC TimeWatch and the PC TimeWatch tray icon program to crash upon startup. This also happens with other software written in the Delphi language, which is the case of the PCTW user interface module.

If you are affected by this problem, please add pctimewatch.exe and pctwti.exe to the Kaspersky "white list" so that these programs are ignored by the Kaspersky antivirus software.

PS: If you are affected by this problem, please check whether you are running the latest version of KIS:

http://www.kaspersky.com/productupdates?chapter=186437046

Problem fixed by latest version of KIS.

You lost your PC TimeWatch Manager password

Admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:30:15 GMT

If you have forgotten your PC TimeWatch password, we recommend that you proceed as follows:

PCTW version earlier than 1.3 and non-registered users

1. Open a Windows session with an administrator account.

2. Stop the PCTW service by entering the following command at the command prompt (Command Prompt window: Start | Programs | Accessories menu):

c:\>net stop pctimewatch

3. Go to the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\MainSoft\PCTimeWatch folder and make a copy of the ptwatch.ptw file (this is your configuration file). NB: under Windows Vista, this folder is named C:\ProgramData\MainSoft\PC TimeWatch.

4. Email us (support @ mainsoft.fr - without the spaces) that copy along with your registration code (if you are a registered user) so that we can be sure that you are you .

5. Restart the PCTW service by entering the following command at the command prompt (or merely reboot the system):

c:\>net start pctimewatch

PCTW version 1.3 and above (registered users only)

Go to the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\MainSoft\PCTimeWatch folder (NB: under Windows Vista, this folder is named C:\Users\All Users\MainSoft\PC TimeWatch), make a copy of the ptwatch.sav file (this is your configuration file), and email us (support @ mainsoft.fr - without the spaces) that copy along with your registration code so that we can be sure that you are you .

We'll send you back the lost password.

If you can't see the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\MainSoft\PCTimeWatch folder in Windows Explorer, please make sure that it is setup to show the hidden files and folders (Tools | Folder options | View | File and folders | Hidden files and folders | Show hidden files and folders). Also, you check the "Show contents of system folders" options.

If you are still using Windows 9x / Millennium or if you have installed Windows XP over an existing version of Windows 9x / Millennium, the \All Users\Application Data folder might be located under C:\Windows\Profiles.

Weekly allocation reset day

Admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:29:12 GMT

PCTW resets the weekly allocations on sunday, 0h00. However, there's a problem with the week number computation algorithm used by PCTW. The result is that since January 1st, 2007, the weekly allocations are reset on monday at 0h00.

PCTW version 1.4.4.4 which is now available online fixes this problem. The allocations will be now reset on sunday at 0h00 whatever the current year. Since the installation of this new version resets all allocations, it is recommended to install it on a sunday or a monday.

PC TimeWatch and games requiring administrator privileges

Admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:29:47 GMT

Especially under Windows XP Home Edition, some of the users monitored by PC TimeWatch may complain that they cannot play some games if they don't have an administrator account. And giving them an administrator account is giving them the right to disable PC TimeWatch, which is not what you want.

This problem has been mentioned by Microsoft in the following article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307091

More sophisticated solutions are described below (credit given to Jimmy S.).

Before applying any of these solutions, you should be made aware that no game should normally require administrator privileges for normal use. The installation program might require such privileges but only temporarily (which means that the system administrator should install the game, not a limited user).

Playing games on the Internet under an administrator account opens a major security hole on your system. So you should first verify that the game actually requires an administrator account past the installation steps.

Solution #1: RunAsUser, SuperExec, RunAsSpc and Protection Manager utilities

These utilities have been designed just to solve this problem.

RunAsUser can be downloaded from:

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk/main.asp?content=runasuser

NB: PalmerSoft seems to be out of business now. The above link is currently broken.

SuperExec is available here (beware: SuperExec appears to have problems under XP SP3. A new version fixing these problems and offering a lot of new features will be made available shortly).

http://jc.bellamy.free.fr/fr/superexec.html

The page is in french but the program supports the english language and can be downloaded from this link:

http://jc.bellamy.free.fr/download/superexec/installse.zip

Launch the installer which allows you to install an english version of the software (page #3 of the wizard).

RunAsSpc is a german utility (english, german, spanish). It's also free for personal use but a reminder screen is displayed when the target application is launched. It doesn't create the shorcuts automatically like SuperExec but appears to work in all environments.

http://www.robotronic.de/runasspcEn.html

Protection Manager is a sophisticated commercial product specifically designed to solve this kind of problems and many others:

http://www.winternals.com/Products/ProtectionManager/Default.aspx

Solution #2: Jimmy's article
Some games will work with limited accounts after they have been installed and run once either using an administrator account, or by temporarily changing the limited user account(s) to an admin account in Control Panel / User Accounts, just for the purpose of running the game the first time in order to be able to install the necessary files and create the keys in the registry that it needs to function, but may not be able to due to the restrictive nature of limited accounts.

If that mouthful doesn't resolve the issue, use the "Run As.." command instead:

1. Click Start / Control Panel / User Accounts / Create a New Account / Name the Account: "able2play" (without quotes) / Next Pick: "Computer-Administrator" & Click "Create Account";

2. Click on your new able2play account and Create a Password for it;

3. When your limited user wants to play a game that requires Administrator privileges they can Right-Click the shortcut to that game / Click Run As... / "The Following User": able2play and enter the password. Simple as that!

I know what you're thinking: That defeats the purpose of the limited user account.
To secure the "able2play" account so that it can't be used to logon to the computer:

First add a shortcut to the windows logoff routine into the RUN key of the able2play registry. I made a reg patch to simplify this process if you wish to use it:

4. Logon to the "able2play" account,

5. <ONLY RUN THIS PATCH USING THE "ABLE2PLAY" ACCOUNT>
Save this patch to your drive and then doubleclick it to install it to your registry.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/nibblesnbits/OnlyRunUsingAble2PlayAccount.reg

*Instead of using the reg patch, click Start / Run / regedt32 / browse to:
[HKCU\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] and
Click Edit / New / String value / ValueName: logoff / Value data: logoff

NB (credit: philippe1): Please note that this step is actually not necessary. The new able2play account will not be added to the Authorized Users list by default unless the PCTW Manager explicitly adds this account to the list. So nobody will be able to logon using this account.

From now on, if anyone logs on with the able2play account, the computer will log them off immediately. They will not gain access to an administrators desktop! :-) .

Next you can hide the account so that it won't show up on the Welcome Screen:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_hide_users.htm (thanks Doug!).

You can also use the utility available on this page:

http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2006/09/hide-user-accounts-from-windows-xp.html

Direct link: http://www.intelliadmin.com/XPUserHide.exe.

--
Cheers, Windows XP MVP Shell / User
Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

Game FAQs: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;[LN];gms
Visit my Zone.com / Gaming Helpsite: http://nibblesnbits.tk or Call /
Contact MS Support at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=sz;en-us;top
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.

Solution #3: For advanced users of XP and Windows 2003 only: RunAsAdmin

This software is presented here:

http://www.harper.no/valery/CategoryView,category,RunAsAdmin.aspx#a79c17dba-9f6c-480e-a236-e11f671ca4bc

and can be downloaded from SourceForge:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/runasadmin/

It has been written to secure the XP environment. Once installed, all accounts, including administrator accounts, run by default in a restricted security context with limited permissions. Operations requiring administrator privileges need right elevation, like under Windows Vista.

This software can be used to solve the problem of games requiring administrator privileges. Once you have installed the software, you can setup all accounts to run unrestricted (they are restricted by default). They will therefore have their standard permissions enabled (you must do that for each account since options are stored on a per-user basis: login under the target account, set the unrestricted options in RunAsAdmin and logoff). When a limited user needs to run a program with administrator privileges, she can then do that from the RunAsAdmin tray icon or from the RunAsAdmin context menu in Windows Explorer. No password is needed. Please see the program's documentation.

However, RunAsAdmin is a low level software that is still in beta test. It directly replaces the standard shell and can therefore produce side effects. We have succesfully tested it here and it is apparently stable but you must be cautious and test thoroughly before adopting it. Only advanced Windows users should install RunAsAdmin.

Changes in the PCTW development schedule

Admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:28:48 GMT

The rapid adoption of Windows Vista by the PC manufacturers as well as the availability in the near future of retail versions of PCTW led us to modify our development schedule. Having a Windows Vista compatible version of PCTW appeared as a high priority. So we have focused our efforts on this particular point during the last weeks.

In about a week or less, a new version of PCTW functionnally equivalent to the current version but working under Windows Vista will be made available.

The new features currently under development will appear in a future version that should be made available before the end of the first quarter.

Confusing registration key and password during installation

Admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:28:24 GMT

We have observed that some users installing PC TimeWatch for the first time and already having purchased a registration key were entering this registration key in the password fields of the page of the installation wizard asking the user to provide a password for the PC TimeWatch Configuration Utility.

The installation program will never ever ask you to provide a registration key. What is requested from you (see the window text) is to provide a password that will be used to access the PC TimeWatch Configuration Utility (obviously, access to this program can't be granted to anyone). The password length must be between 6 and 50 characters.

If you enter your registration key in the password fields of this page, the installation program will crash (I must admit that such a situation has not been anticipated). We'll add a protection against this.

If you are already in this situation, please get in touch with us at support @ mainsoft.fr. We'll help you recover from this problem.

Minor problem with Internet bonus

Admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:28:01 GMT

If you give an Internet bonus to a user, PCTW will work as expected (almost) but will continue to issue warning messages as if the bonus was not given. The connection will not be closed anyway and the bonus will be taken into account. Then the warning messages will start again until the end of the bonus period.

This problem only affects the Internet entry and will be fixed in the next release.

Problem with CA Pest Patrol & AOL Safety and Security Center

Admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:27:38 GMT

If you are using one these programs (they actually share the same engine), the PC TimeWatch Configuration Utility may refuse to load or may crash with an error upon startup because these programs unduly consider all programs using the Armadillo /SoftwarePassport protection system as spyware.

Only Computer Associates (and possibly Silicon Realms Toolworks, the editor of Armadillo) can fix this. Meanwhile, you should add pctimewatch.exe to the list of programs excluded from control by Pest Patrol or AOL Safety & Security Center (please see the documentation of these programs). If you are familiar with editing the registry, you can directly make the following changes:

1. Go to registry key named HKLM\Software\ComputerAssociates\ITMRT
2. Go to the HookExclude subKey.
3. Add pctimewatch.exe to the list
4. Go to the InjectExclude subKey.
3. Add pctimewatch.exe to the list
4. Reboot

Potential problems with Windows 9x

Admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:27:10 GMT

If you get an error message related to the PC TimeWatch service (ptwsvc.exe) during the program installation or after an upgrade under Windows 9x, please upgrade to the latest version of PC TimeWatch:

http://www.mainsoft.fr/files/ptwsetup.exe

and re-install PC TimeWatch over the existing version.

Please note that as time passes, using PCTW to restrict access to a Windows 9x system becomes less relevant given the big limitations of Windows 9x about security.

We will probably abandon the support of this OS in future releases of the product. Technical support will still remain available for users of this OS, though.

PC TimeWatch and Windows Vista

Admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:26:48 GMT

PC TimeWatch version 1.4.2.0 is not compatible with Windows Vista and should not be installed under this OS.

PC TimeWatch version 1.4.3.0 offers a certain level of compatibility and works in slightly downgraded mode under this OS: the warning messages are not displayed.

Now that the final version of Vista is available to the developers, we'll start the necessary changes in order to make PC TimeWatch compatible with this new version of Windows.

Windows Vista is significantly more restrictive than XP regarding security. So the necessary changes are not trivial and must be tested thoroughly.

We plan to release a Windows Vista compatible version of PCTW when the new OS will be released to the retail channels, that is, during the first quarter of 2007.

The PC TimeWatch service doesn't start

Admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:26:07 GMT

If you observe that PC TimeWatch doesn't restrict anything at all and that the PC TimeWatch service doesn't start automatically upon system startup (ptwsvc.exe not present in the task list), this might be due to a timeout problem.

By default, Windows gives 30 seconds to a service to finish its startup operations when the system boots. If it doesn't receive a "startup completed" notification from the service within 30 seconds, it considers that the service cannot start. ptwsvc.exe starts quickly but needs to manipulate its configuration files in order to initialize itself. If for a given reason, disk access is blocked or slowed down during this period, the timeout may occur. This can happen, for example, if another already started service monopolizes the disk for its own needs. Normally, this kind of incident should be reported in the Event Viewer, System section.

This problem, if it ever happens to your system, can often be solved this way:

1. Make a backup of your PC TimeWatch settings (File | Backup menu).

2. Uninstall PC TimeWatch.

3. Restart the PC.

4. Re-install PC TimeWatch.

5. Reload your settings (File | Load from backup... menu).

Uninstalling / reinstalling might change the load order of the system services and possibly eliminate the timeout problem.

If the problem is still there, you may try to change (at least temporarily) the 30 seconds timeout value of your system:

1. Launch Regedit

2. Right-click on HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control and select New | DWORD Value

3. Name this new value ServicesPipeTimeout

4. Assign it a value of 60000 (decimal value - 60 seconds).

5. Reboot and test again.

If PC TimeWatch now works normally, you should now try to identify the service that is intensively using the disk during the system startup.

Users are missing in the Authorized Users list

Admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:25:42 GMT

By default, all local users are presented in the Authorized users list unless they belong to the Guests group. If legitimate accounts do no appear in this list or in the list displayed when clicking on the Add button, tehe are two things that you could check in Control Panel | User accounts:

1. Check whether the account type is not Guest (XP Pro).
2. Check whether the account type is not Unknown.

In both cases, change the user type to Limited (not to Administrator anyway) and restart PC TimeWatch. The users should now appear in the Authorized users list or in the list displayed when clicking on the Add button.

Also, please note that renaming an account through the simplified User Accounts interface of XP Home or XP Pro in the Control Panel can lead to some confusion. If you rename an account this way, the account name is changed only in the login screen. The system (and PC TimeWatch) are still "seeing" the old name. For example, if you have initially created an account as John and if you have renamed it to Bill, you will see Bill on the login screen but PC TimeWatch will still use the original name (John). So you may have the feeling that PCTW is not seeing this account. But actually, the settings specified for John will apply to Bill.