15-Minute Reviews :: Access Boss v2.3.10.187

Hello all and welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s application is Access Boss version 2.3.10.187 by FSPro Labs – An application for restricting usage of workstations including scheduling and access limits.

Software Description

As Giveaway of the Day states:

“Access Boss is a great access management and time control utility that allows you to restrict the time when the specified group of users is allowed to log on and use a local or network computer.

Many parents found it to be a great to limit access to computer for their children. Unlike standard Windows XP logon time restrictions, Access Boss automatically forces users off preventing them from working overtime. All you need to do is just run the program and choose which users’ access time should be restricted. Simply mark the required hours of any day of the week as either ‘allow’ or ‘deny’. Additionally, you can set how long a user may access the computer every day.

The program agent runs as a part of operating system, so it’s impossible to detect and kill it with Task Manager. Additional security options make it very difficult to bypass Access Boss restrictions even for administrative users (non-administrative users are unable to bypass Access Boss restrictions at all).”

Quick Pros

• Installs system resource as system to minimize chance of disabling
• Capability to disable many features based on users, groups or other objects
• Scheduling restrictions to specific times for days of week
• Workday time restrictions helps minimize overtime by killing computer after specified time
• Remote access functionality to be able to alter configuration and read work time logs from afar
• Customizable grace time handy for development/design workstations
• Ability to see times objects are logged in in daily counts

Quick Cons

• Some controls wouldn’t disable fully until logged out and in
• Timer functionality should have option to count all time from first login of the day instead of only logged-in time
• Schedule block could have a little more finite control of times (Currently hour blocks)
• Still permits logins – Only gives you grace time from re-login
• Could be useful to have an override function for overtime or scheduling overriding

Expansion

Running a business these days is far more complex; There is so many chances for abuse of computers and work benefits from employees. This application offers a means to minimize overtime and worktime abuse by allowing time-based restrictions, as well as some other common controls.

The first major note about this application is that it installs not as a System Tray application or a service, but as a system resource, cutting back drastically on the ability for someone to be able to disable the application’s service. Mix this with the ability to set restrictions on users for task manager, registry editor, command line, control panel and disabling any drive letter (Preventing USB drives or even limit use of the CD/DVD drive and floppy drive) it would make the task of getting Access Boss down and out for the count very difficult at best. Many of the settings are very useful to help minimize ‘tinkering’ of a system, with the goal to keep the system uniform and minimize system breaking by inexperience (or experienced) computer users getting into options and settings they shouldn’t.

The power of this application is, however, the time and scheduling functionality. The time functionality is very useful; You can set a specific object (Whole computer, user or group) to only allow so much time logged in per day, or even further control by limiting the amount of time on specific days of the week. This could be used by many slightly larger businesses to minimize unauthorized overtime, especially for people who have a chronic issue maintaining their overtime; These days with many worklaws, there are a lot of places which even if overtime is not approved by a boss, that it is still required to be paid out; This could help significantly in a workplace needing this control.

On top of the daily timer, there is also scheduling blocks. You can build a schedule of acceptable computer usage times for objects that only allows usage of the computer during specific times; This could help with minimizing after-hours logging of time, or weekends when there should be no work activity. While likely the application would be used in an either-or state (Either timer or scheduler) there are cases where I could see both being useful; Not only to prevent unauthorized overtime, but also to restrict in ‘catching up’ on missed time during the day.

Another key feature of this application is the ability to manage the application remotely within the application itself; You can remotely manage another system with Access Boss on it with the built-in tools. This could be handy for businesses with a Human Resources department for setting up a new employee before their first day of work or when work duties change; Could be used by a boss to allow overtime for today (See below for my comments.) It makes this application usable for larger businesses without a significant amount of management time increase.

There are a bunch of options as well in this application that can pose useful; The most important in my opinion is the ability to change the ‘grace period’ on the system. The grace period is the time that the application displays a large message that they’re about to be logged out. The default is 60 seconds; In my opinion this may be too short, especially if running in a design or development shop, or another time-consuming production workspace. The grace time can be decreased or increased appropriately to suit these needs.

As an added bonus, not only does the application restrict time used of the computer, it also logs each object’s usage of the computer on a day-to-day basis; You can see that a specific user was only logged in for 5 hours one day; Handy for those tracking issues with specific users.

This all said, I did find some issues. First, if you are setting setting restrictions from the account you actually are setting restrictions on, remember to log out then back in; Not all the settings (Specifically ones based on the Start menu such as Run, Control Panel and so forth.)

I feel that the timer functionality should have the option to count either time that the user logged in that day, or the ability to count from the first time the user logged in that day. There are many workplaces I know that have a logged-in timeout (For when someone walks away to the fax machine – Secure the system) – This could mean that someone could actually log a lot of ‘work’ time in a day before their system locks down, just because of security precautions in place at the workplace. It also prevents people from working around the timer by logging out while they are doing something else. Timing from first login would be useful to ensure accurate time; Setting the timer for 8:30 allows for a lunch break in there as well. With that said, I feel that the scheduling functionality really needs more control over the timeblocks as well; Many likely would want more control than full hour blocks; There should be the ability to go to at least 1/2 hour blocks or even 1/4 hour blocks.

I must note; During testing, I found that the application allowed people to log back in after the system had locked them out on the timer functionality for a duration of the grace period. If you set the grace period longer than a minute, the grace period could become abused for those logging back in over and over to continue tinkering – Granted, it may be inconvienient if someone had to quickly grab a file or one last sentance on a project, it really should be an option to hard-lock the object when the time has lapsed.

There is one function I’d really like to see in this application; Granted, a boss or someone could remotely log in and change the timer today for overtime; There is a chance the boss would forget to set the time back down and end up with a headache. There should be the option for not only the boss or someone else in power to come into the office and extend the timer for one day, do it remotely, or even give the boss the capability to pre-generate a ‘list’ of one-time-use passwords that could be entered into the password window of Access Boss to extend the time by a certain amount, also allowing the overriding of the schedule for that time period as well. This would allow the power to truly fall in the hands of the management, rather than stressing that the system will be too restrictive.

Final Verdict

All-in-all, this application is extremely powerful for what it does. While improvements could be worked on to make this the killer workplace management application, it is quite functional as it is now. For free, it’d be good for a home user to restrict children’s internet usage or to help the home-workaholic (Or game-aholic) from becoming excessive with their activities (Install World of Warcraft usable from one account only and setting limits on that account is a great idea.) As for paying $29.95, this application is worth is in my opinion. If you could save even a few hours of unauthorized overtime for every install you make, it would definitely pay for itself.

Posted by BladedThoth on Sunday, July 22, 2007