What does CS Computer Verifier do when you use the program?
Step by step
Explanation.
By Shane M.
Croft
When the program loads:
When the program loads it makes a call to do the database to load the list box with all the computer names that have been entered. If it is your first time running the program the list box will be empty.
Selecting computers:
When you choose to select computers a couple of things happen. The first is a call to ADSI 2.5 by Microsoft to load a selection box with any domains it can find. This is for you can choose computer names that are listed on a domain. You also have the option to put in specified computer names if it doesn’t show up in the selection box. After you have selected your computers the computer name list is saved to a file in the programs install directory. After this it will move to the “Storing Information on all selected Computers” section and load the computer list that you have just selected.
Storing Information on all selected Computers:
When this form loads a lot happens here. When you choose to start to saving information on the computers into the database it will first do two different things. The first thing it does is check and see is the computer is online, if the computer is offline then it will be removed from the list and not added to the database. The second thing that it does is check to make sure the computer name is not already in the database, if it is in the database it will be skipped and move to the next computer. After these two important steps are done it will make calls to WMI 1.5 by Microsoft to pull the information on the selected computers. You must have administrator privileges on all the machines to do this. After the information has been received it is saved to the database. When all is done it will show a window showing which computers where not added to the database and why they weren’t. If all computers were entered into the database you will not see the window.
Check computer Offline/Online Status:
When you choose this option a form will be loaded with all the computers in your database. After which you can check to see if the computers are online before you try to verify their information. When the program goes to check if the computer is online or offline it is simply seeing if it can get its IP address, if it can’t the computer is offline. Since getting the IP address doesn’t require administrator privileges this is the best way to check the online or offline status instead of pinging since it is more reliable.
View/Delete Saved Computer Information:
This selection will load all the computers from the database to a selection box, when you double click on the selected computer you can view it’s information. You also have two choices of removing the selected computer from the database or removing all the computers from the database.
Verifying Computer Information:
After you have the computer information stored into the database you can now verify at any time that the hardware settings that were saved are still the same. When the program goes to check the computers it will first load the save data and the make the same calls to WMI 1.5 by Microsoft as the “Storing information on selected computers” section. After it has received the information it then will compare the data and put an alert into the alert box letting you know what doesn’t match. That’s it, a great and simple way to keep an eye on your computers remotely and with no extra software to install.
Last Note:
CS Computer Verifier is only meant for NT 4 and Windows 2000 only as of right now. The reason for this is for two reasons. The first reason is with the security measures of NT and 2000 this program can be ran with out having to install client software. The second reason if for security, you have to be an administrator to get any of the information, which makes this program better since not just any body can use it.
Thank you.
Ó 2000 Crofts Software