By Bob Currier
Network World, 8/3/98

It's rare for a new company to hit a home run with the first version of a new product, but that's just what Bardon Data Systems does with Full Control 1.5, which earns our World Class award for its ability to secure Windows 95 and 98 workstations that are shared by multiple users.

Full Control provides administrators with the ability to specify what programs can be run by whom, and how long users are allowed to stay logged on. The software validates users at logon time and prevents them from running programs for which they aren't authorized and from changing or deleting configuration settings.

Full Control can also monitor and log all Web browser activity, giving administrators the ability to see just where their users have been surfing, and, if misuse is detected, to lock out questionable sites.

We spent several days testing Full Control and despite our best efforts couldn't find a way to bypass its security features. Installation was smooth, reporting was excellent and the clone feature, which lets you take a snapshot of a preconfigured workstation and then distribute the image to multiple systems, worked like a charm.

We had only one quibble with the package's security features, in the area of password verification. Windows 95 allows users to enter any password they choose, including their user name and other easily guessed words. Full Control has no facility to tighten password security or to perform a password table scan and report insecure passwords.

Configuring security settings is simple, or at least it was for us after we learned a shortcut. The first time we used the program we added users one at a time to Full Control before we set them up on the workstation. This seemed to confuse the program. The setup process is much easier when you first add users via the Windows 95 Users applet in the Control Panel. At that point, clicking on Full Control's User Setup button displays a list of known Windows users. You select the user you wish to modify, then configure the user's settings from a plethora of options.

You can specify which programs users may run, how long they can stay logged on, how they should be logged off when their time expires, which files they can view or execute, whether their workstation's CD-ROM door should be locked and more. We weren't able to think of a restriction or access-limiting feature that wasn't provided.

The number of settings and potential combinations makes Full Control's cloning feature particularly useful. With it, you can define a master configuration and then clone the settings to as many systems as needed.

For example, suppose you had a pool of PCs and a pool of temporary workers, each with a different user name and different assigned applications. Each temp might use any PC on any given day. You'd set up each user on one machine, then clone all the settings to either an installation diskette or a shared directory on the network, from which you could manually install the software to all the PCs in the pool. Full Control would then configure each user's desktop appropriately during logon.

We found cloning worked well. We were also pleased with Full Control's flexible reporting tools. You can opt to log all user activity to a file, then create reports that include user names, program names, the amount of time each task is used and the order in which events occur. You can also graph the top 10 items in a report as a pie chart. You can view and print reports based on entries in the log file, or you can view the log file data in a NotePad window.

If you need a report that isn't provided, Full Control allows you to define searches on all users or on individual users. You can also convert the text-based log file into a spreadsheet or database program.

Installation options are numerous, ranging from a manual install at a single workstation to unattended automated installation using command-line parameters within a batch file. The program won't install files without telling you where they're going, nor does it change any system files other than the registry. Full Control backs up the existing registry files at the start of each session, making it easy to roll back to the most recent settings.

The documentation supplied by Bardon consists of a black and white staple-bound booklet with the installation diskette attached to the last page. The manual is well-written and informative, but the appearance really detracts from the otherwise professional nature of Full Control.

Full Control is an excellent tool at any price and an amazing value at $49.95 per workstation. Its ease of installation, incredible number of configuration options and the unobtrusive way in which it works makes it a must-have for anyone who manages Windows 95 and 98 workstations.