EMCO Network Inventory - Release Announcements

Version 5.6.0 is available

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:38:00 GMT

Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 support

Starting from this version the application is fully compatible with Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2. It can work under these platforms to collect inventory information from remote PCs. Also application now can get inventory information from PCs running Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2.

Customizable report header

Customization options for integrated inventory report were extended to include company, author or any other information in a report header. Now any report page can include properties, defined on the Preferences dialog. And, of course, customizable header can be configured to be shown or hidden on a report, depending of your needs.

Data export and report for custom scan operations

Custom scan operations are very helpful when you need to find specific file system or registry entries on remote PCs. They used to detect unlicensed content (MP3 files, for example) across the network and other similar cases often. If scan operations detects a lot of entries, it's hard to process them using on-screen data viewer. But now you can export scan results into a various formats or generate an integrated report to process outside the application.

Improved inventory report

Integrated inventory report was reworked to optimize the report size. All unnecessary page breaks were removed. It helped to significantly reduce a wasted space.

New and improved features

Features below were firstly introduced or significantly improved in this release:

Improved inventory of memory banks to include information about both filled and empty banks and also information about bank capacity and installed memory.
Simplified notes creation process for selected PC
Improved data entering and modification on the Edit dialog
Improved log messages format and diagnostics
Improved integrated Help

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

Wrong list of machines in Application Count report
Incorrect processing of case-sensitive domain names
Possible Access Violation on the Edit dialog
Report generation failure for selected range of IP addresses
Problem with opening of Management Tools views
Incorrect processing of masks, defined for application names
Wrong extracting of environment variables from Windows Vista, Windows 2008 and Windows 7

Learn more: EMCO Network Inventory

Version 5.5.3 is available

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:15:00 GMT

Skip Admin Assurance option

A new option Skip Admin Assurance was added to scan settings section of application preferences. This option allows to control of remote scan operation behavior. When this option is disabled, application checks if used credentials have administrative access to remote PCs and execute an inventory scan only in this case. When option is enabled, this check is skipped to make possible retrieving of a part of inventory information without having an administrative access.

Inventory process improvements

The changed of both data collecting and file system scan processes are made to increase performance of the inventory process as much as possible for your network. Also some improvements were made to registry scan operations that also affects overall scanning performance in a positive way.

Processor usage is significantly decreased

Thanks to reworking scanning core module by optimizing existing and adding new more efficient algorithms of data collecting and storing the scan process became more friendly to your environment, because the processor usage has been significantly decreased. That makes it possible for you to fell even more freedom of working with your computer while the inventory takes place.

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

The problem of strong performance decrease in specific environments is fixed
Some diagnostic events were not written properly to application log
Errors happen during file system scan if drive is used as root search condition

Learn more: EMCO Network Inventory

Version 5.5.0 is available

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:24:00 GMT

Scan engine with hyper-threading technology

Remote PC scan engine was replaced by a new version with a special hyper-threading technology to eliminate latency and increase a scan speed. According with benchmark tests, new engine allows reducing the overall inventory collecting time in small networks on 15-20%, in large networks - up to 40%. New hyper-threading technology is used to increase performance of all remote operations, including inventory information extraction, remote file system and registry scanning.

Improved file system and registry scan operations

In this version, all file system scan operations are represented as scan tasks under one single node File System Scan in the Scan Operations section. Registry operations were regrouped as well and can be found under Registry Scan node. New scan options allow disabling detection of product name and version for files and also enabling recursive registry keys scan. Now remote operations use improved remote connection mechanism that helps to significantly improve scan performance.

New scan results look

File system and registry scan results have a new, improved look that has a few advantages. First, scan results are separated from the log information, so it's easy to navigate through results and check for errors. Second, scan status is displayed for each entry by a special icon, color and tooltip. Third, a special View switch at the top allows scan results grouping by criteria or PC to simplify results analyzing.

Optimized data forms

All application forms that are used to display a large amount of data, were optimized to reduce time required to open a form and render data. As a result, now Installed Apps, Fonts, Scan Results and other forms, can be opened within a few seconds even if they contain hundreds of thousands rows.

Export settings to configure stubs

On PCs that don't allow remote connection, inventory information can be collected locally by execution of so-called stubs and then imported to the central database. Stubs collect inventory information according with configuration specified in a special settings file. In this version, settings file can be generated automatically by using Export Stub Options dialog available through Export button on the Settings tab.

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

Inventory information collection through stubs
Wrong resolution detection for wide-screen monitors
Unclear error in the log if information about network printers can't be extracted
HTTP password encryption in Live Update connection settings
Scan operation cancellation causes an error

Learn more: EMCO Network Inventory

Version 5.4.1 is available

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:50:00 GMT

New Alternative Credentials interface

Credentials specifying process is improved to make it easy to fill all the authentication information you need by just several clicks. After each click on network element the pop-up dialog is shown to input the user name and password to use to access the selected network element. The alternative credentials interface is now represented by the tree with user friendly look and feel. The credentials tree can be easily built using the Machine Tree from management tab, including or excluding Machines themselves.

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

Possible Access Violation after opening database
Switching On/Off Auto Fetch and Auto Update operations problem

Learn more: EMCO Network Inventory

Version 5.4.0 is available

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:16:00 GMT

Performance improvements

The overall time required to collect information from remote PCs was significantly reduced due to the new data collection approach. Depending on particular environment now connection to remote PC and data retrieving can be executed up to 5 times faster than before.

New reports look

All reports available for Management Tools, including Reconcile Licenses, Change Log and other operations were updated to use the same style as Machine Data report.

Alternative credentials management

Alternative credentials management was improved to support complex network environments which have multiple domains and workgroups. To collect inventory information from every workgroup or domain you can configure separate administrative credentials that should be used to access it.

Extended NT platform support

Set of information collected from remote PCs working under Windows NT was extended. Collected data was extended by the information about System Accounts, Network Protocols and Fonts.

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

Wrong OS detection on remote PC where Windows 2008 or Windows XP x64 are installed
File export operation cancellation causes error on repeated execution
File system scan failure when wrong criteria is used
Remote Registry Service should be started automatically with configured credentials
Settings stored by using 'Remember my decision' dialog option are skipped sometimes
Machine summary area can't be scrolled by the mouse wheel

Learn more: EMCO Network Inventory

Version 5.3.0 is available

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:33:00 GMT

Starter edition available

The Network Inventory family was supplemented by a Starter edition. This edition is based on functionality of the Remote Audit product that was merged with the Network Inventory. The main purpose of the Starter edition is providing basic inventory and audit features, suitable for high-level asset management.

New look of the PC summary view

PC summary was reworked to highlight most important information. The information is grouped by the Software, Hardware and System categories, so you can quickly review PC's asset and easily find required data. A toolbar available on the view simplifies access to most frequent actions.

Improved report

Report was reworked to show information by the same way as it's represented on PC summary view. Information was regrouped and reordered to improve readability and save occupied space. One of the main benefits in the new report is using colors and icons to improve visual data representation.

Extended scan operations options

Scan operations used to search on remote PC's file system and registry were extended to allow using multiple conditions at once. Also scan tasks and scan results views have a new look.

Report Builder help and demo

Network Inventory installation now includes a help file and demonstration material for Report Builder. It will help you to create your own customized reports.

Defining options on Preferences dialog

Application options configuration was moved from the Settings tab to the Preferences dialog available from the main menu File > Preferences. This dialog allows you to define scanning and auto-processing conditions.

Report customization

The Machine Data report can be customized by adding your company name and logo to it. Also you can change a title, author, description and additional information displayed on the first page. Correspondent information can be defined on the Report tab of the Preferences dialog and used for report generation.

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

Scan operation results are deleted when PC is removed from the network tree
Overlapped Running Processes and Network Protocols in the report
Failed database export to Excel
Duplicated installed application entries
Potential access violation when export or report actions are executed for the network tree
Skipped first password character in the alternative credentials
Incorrect fileds saving in the Read Only editor

Learn more: EMCO Network Inventory

Version 5.2.5 is available

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:15:00 GMT

Professional and Enterprise editions

Network Inventory was split on two editions with different functionality and price. If you don't need full range of features you can select edition with less functionality and save costs.

Professional edition should be selected if you need basic inventory features - fast and detailed scan of all nodes on your network to collect different information about different machines.

Enterprise edition should be selected if you need extended functionality, such as custom reports with SQL support, installed application management and additional scan operations.

64-bit Windows versions support

A list of supported operation systems was supplemented by 64-bit platforms like Windows Vista x64 and Windows 2003 x64. Network Inventory was improved to work under these platforms.

User Account Control (UAC) support on Vista

You don't need to launch Network Inventory using 'Run as Administrator' command under Vista now, because it is automatically executed with administrative permissions. If you are not computer administrator, you will be prompted to enter administrative credentials.

Windows Vista and XP Look&Feel

User interface now has a same style as operation system, so it looks differently depending on operation system where application is executed. On Windows XP all controls have XP style, on Vista - Vista style accordingly.

Polished reports

Reports layout, data representation and fields alignment was improved. New reports look nicely and professionally.

Polished UI

Recent UI improvements were aimed at interface polishing and usability and include following:

New icons in the Machines tree. Now all nodes in this tree have icons
Controls alignment. Dialogs and forms were polished, controls were aligned
Dialog captions. Now dialogs contain captions, which describe dialog purpose and data input

Feature improvements

A set of functionality was significantly reworked and improved in order to increase performance and stability. This improved functionality includes following features:

Machine tree
Alternate credentials
Export operation
Reports generation
Enumeration wizard
Progress bars
Shares scanning
Custom scan criteria
Installed applications detection
Computers scanning
OS description, hard drive and running processes extraction

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

Fatal error after few scans in a row
Application close under non-administrative account
Access violation after machine deletion from the machine queue
Trial form progress bar works incorrectly on Vista
Antivirus warning appears at the program startup
Error in the feature 'Auto report to file'
Incorrect work of the Enumeration wizard

Learn more: EMCO Network Inventory

Version 5.0.0 is available

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:40:00 GMT

Windows Vista support

This version provides complete support of Windows Vista - you are able run Network Inventory under Vista or scan remote computers working under Vista. We are among pioneers in offering support for Windows Vista in network tools.

Extended Product ID list

List of Product IDs, extracted from remote computer was extended. Now it includes also Microsoft Office Product ID and Internet Explorer Product ID.

Enumeration Wizard

New Enumeration Wizard simplifies network scan and update operations, especially for new users, who are not familiar with Network Inventory. In order to launch wizard you should switch Network Inventory to wizard enumeration mode by clicking on correspondent toggle button in the toolbar. When wizard enumeration mode is activated, enumerate, fetch and update buttons are replaced by the one 'Enumerate via Wizard' button, which will guide you through each required step to get up-to-date inventory information.

Network protocols detection

Now Network Inventory is able to detect network protocols, which are used by remote computers and display this information in the special group of the inventory tree.

Report filters

Report filter feature allows you to create customized reports, which include only information that meets defined conditions. In order to create such reports select Reports > Machines Containing... item of the main menu. It will open the dialog, where you can define different conditions for data collected from remote computers. Generated report will include filtered data according to defined conditions.

Learn more: EMCO Network Inventory

Version 4.8.1 is available

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 16:12:00 GMT

Discovery of new inventory artifacts

List of inventory artifacts extracted from remote computers was significantly extended and now include following new data.

New OS data detected: OS Product ID; Running processes; Screen resolution; Services; Share Access List; ODBC connections; Task schedule; International settings.

New hardware data detected: BIOS version; CD/DVD drives; Memory slots; Network cards.

New software data detected: Office Product ID; Hotfixes.

Alternate credentials

Some types of data can be extracted only by privileged users. Network Inventory allows you to perform operations using different system accounts in order to have an access to different data. Alternate credentials can be managed on special tab Alt Credentials, located at the left area. On the Alt Credentials tab you are able to manage domains, accounts for these domains and select active account, which should be used for remote operations.

Auto fetch via IP range

Auto processing settings on the Options tab were extended. New option 'Fetch via IP Range' of auto-fetch settings allows you to define range of IP addresses and automatically fetch information about the machines from this range, that are newly added to your network.

Auto report to file

This is another setting on Options tab, which let you to define automatic actions. Using this option you able to activate automatic data exporting to file when enumeration, fetching or update operations are finished. For this option you can choose preferred file format.

SQL Query Builder

Those, who need extended information, can benefit from direct access to Network Inventory's data storage, that allows creating and executing any complex custom queries. This functionality provided by SQL Query Builder component, available as SQL Query Builder item in the main menu. This component allows you to use wizard to build queries visually or directly input SQL queries and execute them. Most popular queries are preconfigured, so you can immediately execute them.

Ping timeout adjustment

In some networks remote operations executed faster, then in other networks. If in your network you unable information from some computers, you can try to increase ping timeout time on the Options tab.

Extended licenses tracking

New settings were added to allow you effectively use licenses tracking features. These settings are available in the main tree under Management Tools > Installed Applications node.

Maintain Master List - allows you to define applications, which are treated as part of OS
Maintain License Cost base - allows you to set price for each license
Maintain Exclude List - allows you to select applications, which will be excluded from on-screen data and report

Learn more: EMCO Network Inventory