Toolbar:
Menu: Policies - Policy Manager...
Policies are a powerful way to control what a student can and cannot do on their machine.
You can choose to block or allow specific applications, web sites and system settings. These can be applied on a permanent or temporary basic. If temporary, then the policy will remain in effect for the amount of time pre-specified in the policy set-up. If permanent, the policy will remain in effect on the computer to which it has been applied until it is removed. This means that anyone logging onto a machine with a permanent policy set will be affected by that policy.
The image below shows the Policy Manager with several policies created. This box will be blank when you first start up AB Tutor as there are no pre-set policies. The steps below will take you through the creation of a new policy.
Policies can be exported to a simple XML file for importing to other AB Tutor installations. If you are importing a policy file and the name of a policy already exists, then it will not be imported and the current policy with that name will remain unchanged.
To create a new policy:
Press Add New... to create a new policy Select the type of policy you wish to create
There are 15 types of policies you can create:
1. Block Internet Access - This works by blocking all access to specified Internet ports. 2. Block Web Sites - This allows you to filter specified web sites.
3. Block Applications - This allows you to control what applications are allowed to run. 4. Block Access to USB, CD, DVD drives - This allows you to control access to drives. 5. Block Access to Printers - Using this policy, you can disable access to one or many
printers.
6. Enable Privacy - This policy shows a small Icon in the remote users' system tray to indicate the Client program is running and whether the Tutor is watching. It also allows the remote user to block watching.
7. Keyword Monitoring - This policy monitors all keystrokes and notifies the tutor when set keywords are typed.
8. Microsoft Windows Registry Control - Allows specific components to be locked down via the Windows Registry. This option is intended for advanced users. See Appendix 1 - Registry Controls for more details.
9. Enable Logging - Log the remote users' activity (e.g. login, applications and web pages).
10. Mute Sound - Allows you to mute the master volume on the remote computers' sound card.
11. System Action - Allows you to execute a command on the remote machine (e.g. Shutdown, launch or close an application at a set time of the day).
12. Lock Computer - Allows you to apply the normal screen lock via a policy. (E.g. at a set time of the day)
13. Video Capture - This policy is used to record the screen of remote users.
15. Set System Proxy - This allows the client machine's proxy server settings to be set from AB Tutor.
Policy Name
This page of options applies to all policy types.
1. Enter a name to identify this policy (e.g. 'Block All Web Access')
2. Select For Specified Time if you want this policy to apply to all users temporarily. It will remain active until a command it issued from a Tutor program to remove it, or one of the following conditions occur:
Remove after - Enter the time in minutes for the policy to remain active after which it will get automatically removed.
Remove when user logs off - The policy will get removed automatically when the user logs off.
It does not get re-applied when the next user logs on or if the same user logs off and straight back on again.
3. Select Permanent if you want this policy to apply to all users permanently, either all the time or at specified times. It will remain active until a command is issued from a Tutor program to remove it.
4. If you are running AB Tutor as an Administrator, then you will also see the Administrator Security options
Protected - If this option is set, then tutors will not be able to apply, edit or remove this policy.
If remove re-apply after X mins - You often want to apply a policy that remains active except during a lesson. Previously, the tutor would remove the policy but forget to re- apply it at the end of the lesson. This option will automatically re-apply the policy with or without the tutor's intervention.
Or re-apply when user logs off - The policy will get automatically re-applied when the user logs off.
5. Choose an icon if you wish to add this policy to the toolbar. 6. Press Next
We recommend that you do not set any permanent policies close to the end of your trial of AB Tutor. Once the 30 days' trial has run out, the policies that you have applied will remain in force and cannot easily be removed. Therefore please make sure that you remove all permanent policies well before the trial expires.
Policy Time
If you select a Permanent policy, then you are given the option to control when that policy will be active throughout the day.
By default, the policy is active all day every day. If you wish to de-activate a policy during normal school hours, then:
1. Move the mouse over the box indicating the start time (e.g. Monday at 8 am)
2. Click the left mouse button and drag the mouse to the end time (e.g. Friday 4.30 pm) 3. Release the left mouse button.
You can also click and drag to colour areas back in again, if you want to re-add times to the policy.
Areas marked in white means the policy will be inactive, areas in green means the policy will be set. In the above example, the policy will become active at exactly 5pm Monday to Friday.
The day is broken down into blocks of 30 minutes, 48 in total, so you cannot specify times outside these values.