  Local computer installation - TerminatorX Home (and small Site) |
Included in this section:
The Setup program
The Setup program is similar for both the Home version of TerminatorX and the Site version Local Setup method. To obtain the Local Setup program for the Site version click here. The local setup is the normal method for use with the Home version.
With the Site License version it is likely that you have a large network with many workstations attached. In that case, it can be tedious to install TerminatorX locally on each workstation and updating would also involve changing the setups individually. Detailed instructions for the server installation are given from here onwards.
With either the Home Installation or the local installation of the Server version, you will see the opening screen which lets you choose which programs and web sites to ban:
On the left there is a list of groups:
Choosing Messengers for example gives a list of messenger programs:
To select a program to be blocked for your users, click on the box next to it. To block Yahoo Messenger, you just click the box next to it:
The 
button de-selects all the applications in the chosen group. The 
button ticks all the boxes in the group.
You can save and reload lists (xlist20.txt) of blocked applications using the File menu:
Setting the timing - how often TerminatorX looks for banned programs
Choose the intervals for scanning using the box provided:
Values allowed in the box are between 1 and 60 seconds inclusive. unless you have a slow computer, choose 1 second.
The value is the number of seconds between sweeps through all the user's open windows (their open applications) looking for banned applications and web sites. In the above picture, TerminatorX will look through all applications once each second and close down any applications that you have selected to block.
To add extra programs or web sites to the lists see the section at the end of this document.
To make exceptions where TerminatorX also blocks an OK web site or program see the section at the end of this document.
Applying the banned selection to a user or users
Clicking 'Next >>' saves the banned settings in TerminatorX's data file Xlist20.txt located in the Setup folder (usually C:\TXTrial2 for the trial version) ready to be applied to a set of users:
When you run the installer program on each computer, it will attempt to find all the users that have previously logged in. It will place these in a list:
You should make the Default user banned applications list (especially for Windows 98 based computers) contain those applications that a casual user should not be allowed to use. Make sure that you do set a ‘Default user’ list or anyone who bypasses the login box, especially on a Win98 computer, will have no applications banned.
Note that the Default user banned list is applied to anyone that you do not apply a different banned list to. |
Therefore if you do use the Default user settings, you will generally want to apply a blank list to the Administrator account and any other accounts that you wish to allow unrestricted access - see the next section "Installing for different users"
On the first use on a particular computer, you will need to choose a password at least 7 letters long. Enter it twice, in the two boxes provided:
Make sure that you write the password down somewhere safe so that you can retrieve it later should you forget it. You will need the password whenever you make alterations to any user’s prohibited applications list, or if you want to uninstall TerminatorX in the future.
Again, only on first use, you will need to provide a ‘Secret question’ and the accompanying ‘Secret answer’:
The question should be something that only you (not any other user) know the answer to. Should you forget your password and misplace the written down copy (unlikely but possible), you will still be able to retrieve the password by emailing Warren Software - see http://www.warrensoftware.co.uk/getpassword.htm
Click on the 
button to confirm the set of previously chosen applications to block for the selected users.
When the confirmation message shows, click on OK.
Installing for different users
You can use the 
button to retrun to choosing banned applications section, choose a different set of programs and then apply those to a different user or set of users.
Finishing
When you have finished choosing banned application lists and applying them to users, you can click 
. You will have to re-start the computer before TerminatorX will start banning the selections.
Remember that TerminatorX is invisble during use but
will close any banned web sites or programs.
Changing the selections or adding new users
You can change your choices of banned applications at any time in the future by running the Setup.exe program located in the C:\TXTrial2 folder. You will need your password.
Once you have completed the installation procedure, you can copy the files from the C:\TXTrial2 folder on to a CD or memory stick and remove the C:\TXTrial2 folder completely - it is not needed during the normal running of TerminatorX.
Installing TerminatorX on a different workstation
Once you have installed TermoinatorX on one workstation, copy the C:\TXTrial2 to CD or memory stick and transfer the whole folder to the new workstation. Run the Setup.exe file in the C:\TXTrial2 folder on that new computer, select the banned applications and apply them to the users as detailed above.
Uninstalling TerminatorX
You can uninstall TerminatorX for particular users or for all users. To uninstall, run the Uninstaller2.exe program located in the C:\TXTrial2 folder.
You will need the original password. Requiring the password stops anyone other than you from removing TerminatorX. To remove TerminatorX completely select the Completely remove TerminatorX from this computer tickbox. To just remove TerminatorX for certain users, select the users and click on the Uninstall button
Ban future programs as they become a nuisance
What to do if
- a new messenger becomes available
- your students or employees start using a program or web site that is not in the tickbox standard list
1. Looking at the window title and deciding on the text to block.
Run the application or look at the web site and note the title bar of the window. I will use Windows (or MSN) messenger as an example although this has already been included in the tickbox selection list. The window title bar looks like:
Please see some examples.
You will need to decide what part of the title is present whoever is using it. In this case the whole of the title is the same each time Messenger is run. Put that part between asterisks
i.e. *Windows Messenger*
- note that there are no extra spaces and that capital letters appear
for the W and the M as in the application's window title.
The asterisks (*) substitute for one or more letters so the above would also match:
How to use Windows Messenger - Microsoft Internet Explorer
if a tutorial was being viewed, and would close down the Internet Explorer window.Consider another example. Imagine that a new file sharing program becomes available called My New File Sharer and its window title looks like:
The session will change each time it is used. The login name can also change depending upon which student or employee is using it. The part that does not change is My New FS - note the capital M, N and FS. You place the unchanging part between asterisks to get:
*My New FS*
That is the text that you enter into the data generator program.
2. Putting the text into the TerminatorX Data Generator program
Using the My New FS example above, you can then add your banned application to an existing group as follows:
- Select the group which fits your new banned application (in this case the file sharing group).
- Click on the
button and enter the name of the entry.
and click OK.
- Then enter the text for that name:
and click OK.
The name of the entry My New File Sharer should now appear in the group:
3. Creating a new group
It could be that the new program or web site does not fit into an existing group. To make a new group you can by click on the 
button. This will ask you for a name for the group:
and click OK.
The new group will appear in the list: 
You can add entries to the group as detailed above in the sections above
What to do if TerminatorX also blocks an OK program or web site (optional)
Occasionally TerminatorX works too well and blocks something that you have not chosen. If the window title of a program or web site that that you did not intend to block accidentally matches one of the entries which are searched for, then TerminatorX will close that program or web site down.
For example, during a year when the Olympic Games are to be held, there may be legitimate interest in web sites about them. If the online games section is detecting Games as part of the window title, then "false positives" may occur and some Olympic Games web sites get shut down.
Please see some examples.
To rectify this you will need to start TerminatorX Data Generator 20.exe and choose the Exceptions group:
You can put extra entries in this section to specifically allow selected web sites or programs. To use the Olympic Games as an example, you could set up a new entry in the Exceptions group:
which we will set up to allow any window with Olympic or OLYMPIC in its window title
The entries will be *Olympic*,*OLYMPIC* as shown below:
The new setting will now show in the exceptions list:
