Visual Audit PRO 12

By Dale Farris, Secretary Golden Triangle PC Club August 2005 Program Overview When you think of the significant size of many of today's large corporate computer networks, the responsibility of information systems (IS) staff to support and maintain these large networks has become increasingly more complex. From the server side of the network, IS staff need to be able to centrally control desktop operations and function in order to prevent having to personally go to the desktop to perform these various support, maintenance, and repair functions. Today, many new server-side applications are available that are of much interest to IS staff that are always on the lookout for ways to perform their network tasks more efficiently and effectively. One of the many important, regular IS functions, auditing network PCs, can now be done much more efficiently through the use of one of these newly emerging server applications, Visionsoft's Visual Audit PRO 12. Visual Audit PRO 12 is a highly specialized application designed to help IS staff complete an audit of the computers on their network. This auditing process helps prevent expensive software license breaches and unnecessary hardware purchases. In addition, you can identify changes in the network PC setups, highlight lost or stolen equipment, as well as prepare accurate reports for management. Performing these audits provides an up-to-date list of all the assets on the network, and supports decisions that maximize the company's investment in information technology. With Visual Audit PRO 12, you can find out anything you want to know, from PC types, to how many PCs are on the network, to how many copies of Windows are installed on the network. All this data can be much more easily found by using this program. The alternative to using this systematic, network-wide approach is to manually walk around the network and personally analyze each desktop, which of course is time-consuming and ineffective, usually only results in finding parts of information, and is never-ending. Now however, with Visual Audit PRO 12, you can complete this necessary process much more quickly and at far less cost than having to depend on the labor-intensive, manual approach. What makes Visual Audit PRO 12 so super is its ease of use and the intuitive interface that makes first-time use a cinch. The Program is totally configurable, making the audit as simple or as detailed as you want. You can choose to collect variations of hardware, software, peripherals, setup files, user details, and more. On average, it will take about 40 seconds to audit a PC with the program, and once the collection process is complete, you just import the collected data into Visual Audit PRO's central database for extensive analysis, including PCs and software packages, or to globally view hardware and software on the network. For about 150 typical machines on a sample network, the program will take under 2 hours to complete the thorough audit. Auditing your PCs makes business sense. Keeping Track of IT assets is an essential part of modern business. Maintaining an up to date list of all the software and hardware in your organization is an absolute must and in addition to helping you stay legal, it also identifies and combats the massive problem in corporate UK of over licensing. Tackling these problems adds up to a more profitable business and helps your directors meet their legal obligations. Performing your IT audit with Visual Audit PRO does this and more! Maintaining an up to date list of all the software and hardware in your organization is an absolute must and in addition to helping you stay legal, it also identifies and combats the massive problem in corporate UK of over licensing. Visual Audit PRO gets to the facts fast! Conducting an audit with Visual Audit PRO is painless, fast and efficient. It gets the job done with the minimum of fuss, collecting only the information you require. Its easy to setup using simple wizards and with numerous ways to discover your PCs your audit will be underway in minutes, not hours. Each PC can be audited in less than 40 seconds on average, so within a very short space of time you will have collected details of all installed software, hardware, peripheral devices like printers, scanners, USB devices, portable and hand held equipment. Conducting an audit with Visual Audit PRO is painless, fast and efficient. It gets the job done with the minimum of fuss, collecting only the information you require. Its easy to set up using simple wizards and with numerous ways to discover your PCs your audit will be underway in minutes, not hours. This data is then imported into Visual Audit PROs central database where you can view your Organization from a single PC through to the global picture. Falling foul of software license infringement can be costly, not just in terms of fines and legal expenses but in disruption to your Company. Not being in total control of all your IT assets can lead to theft, misuse and abuse, all costing your business money. Super Included Features Audit Methods for every situation Easy Network Audits via Login Script Includes Audit on Demand, simply see a PC on the Network and audit it Email audits for remote PCs Walk round discs for stand alone PCs It's Incredibly Comprehensive! Identify all aspects of your PC Hardware Identify all installed Software Collect and identify contents of Zip and Archive Files Collect contents of System Files like config.sys, ideal for Help Desks Collect information on MP3s and movie files Audit Preferences Silent Audit option available - don't ask user for any details Collect Name, Location, Address, Telephone Ext plus 10 User definable fields Audit 3.x / 95 / 98 / ME / NT4 / 2000 / XP / Server 2003 Software Recognition - second to none! Identifies over 15,000 commercial programs and you can teach it custom software in seconds When you import your collected data into Visual Audit PRO's Central Database: View Individual PC Software View Individual PC Hardware View Individual PC System Files and Configuration View Global Software View Global Hardware Extract data to favorite reporting or helpdesk package NEW version 12.4 - Including Active Directory network browser and enhanced Report Management tool! No Hidden Extras Includes Unlimited Technical Support 12 Months Web Gold FREE updates and enhancements 12 Months FREE updates to product recognition library Built in License Manager Built in report generator Over 50 pre defined reports Extract data facility FREE Technical Support FREE Upgrades 24/7 Get More! Convenience of Operations The convenience of how this program works is one of the most important aspects of this important program. With the growth in computer networks, finding ways to maximize the operational efficiency of staff that support these networks is a constant challenge for IS managers. This program is a certainty for any network manager striving to keep the IS staff involved in more important network support and maintenance duties. Since the need to constantly keep a watch on what is on the networked PCs is so vital to any IS department, and because of the widespread nature of the location of the many desktops on networks, manually auditing all these PCs just does not make much sense. So, the investment in the nominal cost of Visual Audit PRO 12 will pay off many times over, as IS staff perform this vital network audit function from a central location. Basic Functions Visual Audit PRO 12 starts with the Audit Guide that steers you through the essential stages of performing an audit. The four basic steps are: Step 1, Select and Create Your Audit Type, Step 2, Perform the Audit, Step 3, Import the Collected Audit Data, and Step 4, View the Audit Results. You can create an email audit that will indicate to the identified persons the results of the audit of the selected machine (s), and the global software report visually displays all software installed on the audited machine, along with any license information. The hardware report will describe the type of hardware on the audited machine, and the program will then perform aggregate summary reports that are highly useful for management. The collection program and the centralized database make up the primary functions of the program. You create a collection disk that is used to audit the PCs on the network. This is a pretty simple process that is configurable and lets you identify the disk owners so you can trace the sending and returning of the disks. The audited data includes the gathering of information about the hardware on the machines, and will serve you well with this important information. The audit can be done with or without the user's knowledge, and once you have a baseline of knowledge about what is connected to the network, you can re-run these audits on a regular schedule to help keep up with any interim changes. The database then stores all the gathered information about the audited network. The larger the audited network, the longer this process will take. The reports will let you calculate any changes that have occurred since the last audit, which will show you what needs attention. When software is encountered that the program does not recognize, you can create an Alias to take care of this task. The range of built-in reports allows you to aggregate the data by site, department, or company. Visual Audit PRO was designed to be simple and intuitive enough for users to conduct audits of their PC’s whatever the size of their company. Starting from small server-less networks with only a few PCs Visual Audit PRO is scalable and powerful enough to conduct audits of many thousands of PCs across multiple domains and multiple continents. There is no ideal size and Visual Audit PRO's user base ranges from both extremes. You have a number of network audit options available which allow you to audit all your machines from a single central location. Ranging from ‘Point & Click’ Audit on Demand via network neighborhood or Active Directory to log in script initiated audits, with Visual Audit PRO there is no need to physically visit networked client machines helping to take the legwork out of the audit process, saving you time & money. In most cases, there is no need to visit each PC to install the client as this can be done automatically over the network (using the Audit On Demand feature) or the audit can run without an installed client service (if using login script). To install the client on a remote PC the user running Visual Audit PRO must have administrative rights over the remote PC (which, in most cases, means they must be a domain administrator, not just a local administrator). Should neither method be possible manual installation of the client service is still possible. The Visual Audit PRO login script based audits work well with Novell. However, the Audit On Demand feature is unlikely to work in NetWare environments. As of version 12.4, Visual Audit PRO can communicate with any PC currently listed within either Network Neighborhood or the current Active Directory Tree. To communicate with the PC is uses both Microsoft Network (smb) and TCP/IP and therefore any routers or firewalls etc should be configured to allow such traffic. Visual Audit PRO is designed to audit Windows based workstations and servers. Targeted Customers Obviously, this super professional auditing software is geared more to the interests of information systems managers and staff supporting computer networks. The larger the company and the computer network, the more need IS staff have for such programs as Visual Audit PRO 12 to help automate many of the routine network management tasks. When considering the need to keep track of and control what happens on the desktop, IS staff will certainly want to give this program serious consideration. With this program, IS staff can now perform the necessary desktop audit process from the server, saving much time and expense having to personally visit each desktop in the organization to accomplish this task. Suggested Recommendation For any IS team that has yet to invest in a professional audit tool, this new version 12 of Visual Audit PRO is a sure bet and will quickly provide a significant return on the nominal investment in the program with the tremendous savings in cost and time of IS staff that will no longer have to manually complete this vital network auditing task. Price $531.39 - 25-user license Note: This is the American dollar exchange for the £295.00 price, as of August 22, 2005. Larger corporate licenses are available. Please contact sales@visionsoft.com Minimum System Configuration Requirements Pentium 600MHz processor Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP, Server 2003 64MB RAM or higher Approximately 25MB free hard disk space (Plus approximately 1MB per audited PC) A suitable drive for removable media audits, i.e. floppy drive or USB storage device CD-ROM drive for software installation To use the Audit on Demand feature, a connection to a network that supports Microsoft Networking (NetBIOS/SMB) and TCP/IP is required (NT4 domain networks and 2000/2003 Active Directory networks are suitable in most configurations.) For login script based network audits, almost any network which supports login scripts and shared folders accessible via Microsoft Windows PCs are suitable (Microsoft Windows NT 3/4, Microsoft Windows 2000/2003 and Novell Netware 3/4/5 are suitable in most configurations.) To perform email based audits, MAPI compliant email clients which allow attached executable files to be executed will be required. Minimum system requirements for the Visual Audit Pro collection program: Microsoft MS-DOS 5 or above Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Server 2003 2MB available RAM (on top of operating system requirements) MS-DOS audits require 315k free base memory A small amount a free disk space (for temporary files) About Visionsoft Limited Visionsoft Limited produces leading edge security and professional audit software that is synonymous with quality and affordability. This British company has offices in the U.S., France, Australia, and of course, the U.K. The company currently has over 50,000 organizations as customers around the world. Contact Information Visionsoft Limited 115 Route 46 West, Suite F1000 Mountain Lakes, New Jersey 07046 973-335-6969 FAX 973-335-1544 support@visionsoft.com www.visionsoft.com