VNCScan 1.2 ReadMe
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Release Date: 7/22/1999
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Email stevebo@modempool.com for the zip password!

If my slaving over a hot compiler saved you some time and money, please share the wealth and send a couple bucks to:
Steve Bostedor (VNCScan)
503 McBride St.
Jackson, MI, 49203
Or at least send some email to stevebo@modempool.com and tell me to keep releasing my software.

What's New

Version 1.2 is mainly a bug fix release.  I've fixed all of the bugs that have been reported (which where only a few), and a few that where not reported.  Some of the bugs fixed include:

*	Sometimes, the program would bomb with a runtime error.  This error indicates that an invalid property was applied to a control.  That control was the progress bar control.  Instead of struggling with the MS Progress bar control, I just took it out in favor of textual feedback in a status bar.

*	The radio buttons to select EXT or INT did not save their position after closing the program and opening it back up.  I placed an entry in the .ini file for this.  It should remember, now.

*	When opening a saved scan, there was a blank space at the top of the list of clients.  I got rid of that for good.

*	Did some code optimizations to make the thing run a little quicker and smoother.  (Improved error handling)

I did add a little bit of new functionality in this release.  Here are a few of the new things added:

*	I used a new control developed by Philippe Green for gathering IP addresses for the scan.  This just makes the program look better, and lessens the chance of a typo. He made that thing in amazing 	time! (matter of a few minutes)

*	I added a new form for browsing the list of clients in a row, at the same time.  This new form is purely experimental, and not to be taken seriously unless enough people email me saying that it is the answer to world peace.  It does exactly what I need it to do, and I rarely ever use it.  Who knows, some of you may use it more, so email me if you do.  After obtaining a list of computers via scan or  loading a saved scan, click the File menu, and then choose browse.  If you want to turn off the warning box, turn off the tool tips in the Options dialog.  I sometimes get Java errors, so I made it so that you can double-click on the computer name to refresh the browser window for the client.

*	Added the ability to scan based on display number.  This will make it more friendly for Windows to *NIX scans.  It will not scan a range of displays, but it still offers you a little more flexibility. 

Notes

If you cancel a scan, you need to press the Set button again to enable another scan.  This also enables the option buttons for LAN and EXT.  
When you load a saved scan, including the default.log, it will try to guess what your last scan range was and fill in the IP boxes.  If it's not what you want, just change it.
If you click on my little logo, it opens a browser window conveniently to our web site.  ;)

A Note On Security

I received an email from a user that voiced concerns about the security of his network with a utility like VNCScan on the loose.  I hope that all of you have placed firewalls in front of the computers that have VNC Server installed on them.  The ports to block are the 5800-6100 range.  If a user can not get through the firewall to these ports, they can not detect a client running VNC Server, nor can they connect.  Also, please use secure passwords on your servers.  It is easy for someone to brute-force his or her way into your VNC Server if your password is simple.

The Future

I don't think that I am going to do any more updates on this utility unless something major happens or someone emails me with an idea that I cant refuse.  I am going to move on to working on other utilities.  Philippe and I are working on a client/server application that will aid in remote system inventory, troubleshooting, and security.  It'll be kind of like Intel's LanDesk product line, but with different features and not nearly as expensive.  Again, we're writing this for our selves and are probably going to release it to the public, god knows when.  We plan on tying this new app in with the VNCScan engine to provide an option of remote administration if trouble is detected.  Just as with VNCScan, you must get VNC from the original creators in order for this function to work.