SUGGESTION: Improved "Status..." function

A further thought, or another version of the same scenario, was encountered today and inspired more thinking about possible ways to improve information delivery TO a fully authenticated End User after they successfully log on to the Sophos protected workstation.  Here is what I came up with:

I hope it solves the issue. This article clearly describes the steps, however, it may not always be possible to go to the SafeGuard Management Center (SGMC) and ensure a new certificate has been created and assigned to the user.

As a contract I.T. employee I do not have access to the SGMC, so being able to see something along the lines of:

GREEN certificate icon for 'Management Center' and a GREEN certificate icon for the 'SGN User' would be more helpful.

(eg. both certificates are valid; everything is good)

Informative combinations could be RED @ SGMC + GREEN at 'SGN User' (meaning the local User certificate does NOT match the SGMC), or ...

GREEN @ SGCM and RED at 'SGN User' (meaning a MC certificate with a more recent date exists on the Server; and synchronization is needed).

There may be instances when contract Technicians have are providing services while full-time employees are away from the office or otherwise engaged (therefore making the SGMC unavailable), but the Technicians need to continue working and supporting these protected clients.

The product simply needs to have a way of providing a User successfully logged on to Windows more information about their status, the status of the computer and the status of Sophos' synchronization with the SafeGuard Management Center - regardless of whether they are the 'SGN user (owner)' or not.  I do not feel it would compromise the integrity of the program by informing an End User 'Yes' they successfully authenticated this time, but 'No' their certificate is not current with the one presently on the SGMC.

Some End Users will, sooner or later, be provided with a Sophos protected computer and will be shown the absolute minimum amount of information necessary to access the computer.  Unfortunately this also means when something goes wrong, the same 'low information user' will be at their wits end to even competently describe the issue!  So, taking measures to "educate regarding the product as its used" can only benefit both the End User and the businesses deploying the Sophos SafeGuard solution.

~ Dennis C.

Virginia Beach, Virginia

ABC-TRP

A further thought, or another version of the same scenario, was encountered today and inspired more thinking about possible ways to improve information delivery TO a fully authenticated End User after they successfully log on to the Sophos protected workstation.  Here is what I came up with:

I hope it solves the issue. This article clearly describes the steps, however, it may not always be possible to go to the SafeGuard Management Center (SGMC) and ensure a new certificate has been created and assigned to the user.

As a contract I.T. employee I do not have access to the SGMC, so being able to see something along the lines of:

GREEN certificate icon for 'Management Center' and a GREEN certificate icon for the 'SGN User' would be more helpful.

(eg. both certificates are valid; everything is good)

Informative combinations could be RED @ SGMC + GREEN at 'SGN User' (meaning the local User certificate does NOT match the SGMC), or ...

GREEN @ SGCM and RED at 'SGN User' (meaning a MC certificate with a more recent date exists on the Server; and synchronization is needed).

There may be instances when contract Technicians have are providing services while full-time employees are away from the office or otherwise engaged (therefore making the SGMC unavailable), but the Technicians need to continue working and supporting these protected clients.

The product simply needs to have a way of providing a User successfully logged on to Windows more information about their status, the status of the computer and the status of Sophos' synchronization with the SafeGuard Management Center - regardless of whether they are the 'SGN user (owner)' or not.  I do not feel it would compromise the integrity of the program by informing an End User 'Yes' they successfully authenticated this time, but 'No' their certificate is not current with the one presently on the SGMC.

Some End Users will, sooner or later, be provided with a Sophos protected computer and will be shown the absolute minimum amount of information necessary to access the computer.  Unfortunately this also means when something goes wrong, the same 'low information user' will be at their wits end to even competently describe the issue!  So, taking measures to "educate regarding the product as its used" can only benefit both the End User and the businesses deploying the Sophos SafeGuard solution.

~ Dennis C.

Virginia Beach, Virginia

ABC-TRP