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OptiTune v6.6 Released, adds Enhanced Monitoring and Alerting, other improvements

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We are pleased to announce the release of OptiTune Version 6.6

OptiTune v6.6 adds the following new features and updates:

  • Enhanced Monitoring and Alerting – We’ve added 27 new alert types to OptiTune, all of which are actively monitored and generated in real time. The time it takes from the event occurring to an alert being generated is typically less than 15 seconds. Most of the new alert types are configurable, for example you can create an alert for when a specific Windows Event Log entry is created. The new alert types include:
    • Battery Level
    • Cpu Usage
    • Disk Active Time
    • Disk Latency
    • Disk Queue Length
    • Disk Space Free
    • Disk Space Used
    • Disk Transfer Rate
    • Event Log Entry
    • Memory Usage
    • Monitoring Script Result
    • Network Transfer Rate
    • Performance Counter
    • Process Cpu Usage
    • Process Memory Usage
    • Process Started
    • Process Stopped
    • System Resume
    • System Shutdown
    • System Sleep
    • System Startup
    • System Uptime
    • User Logon
    • Windows Service Added
    • Windows Service Removed
    • Windows Service Startup Type Set
    • Windows Service Status Changed
  • Computer Display Name – You can now edit a computer’s display name directly from the management console, without having to rename the computer in Windows. The display name entered will be used throughout the OptiTune management website, even in the title bar of the OptiTune Remote Connect application. Changing the display name of a computer in OptiTune will not change the computer’s name in Windows. It is also useful if you have large number of computers with auto-generated computer names.
  • REST API Improvements – Several new resource types were added to the OptiTune REST API, including those for the Windows Event Log, Local Users, Computer Display Name, and a description field for every alert type in OptiTune.
  • Windows Defender Integration – OptiTune now integrates with Windows Defender on Windows Server 2016 and 2019, in addition to all Windows desktop operating systems (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10).
  • New Default Windows Update Reboot Setting – For a newly created organization in OptiTune, the default setting to reboot after installing Windows Updates is now set to ‘Never’. Previously, it was set to ‘If Needed’. With this setting, when Windows needs to reboot after installing an update, the OptiTune agent won’t schedule a reboot, rather Windows itself will prompt the user to reboot.
  • Faster Computer Reactivation – Previously, if you retired a computer in OptiTune, there was a delay of up to 4 hours for the computer to show up again after reactivating it. Now, that delay is only 2 minutes.

OptiTune v6.5 Released, adds Windows Event Log and Local Account support

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We are pleased to announce the release of OptiTune Version 6.5

OptiTune V6.5 adds the following new features and updates:

  • Windows Event Log Support – OptiTune now lets you view Windows Event Log data on all managed computers, even when the computers are offline. You can filter or search for events, and also see summaries of various types of events. Go to “Monitoring” > “Windows Event Log” > “Settings” to enable this new feature.
  • Local User Account Support – All local user accounts are now shown in the “Local Users” tab on the computer details page. You can also view a summary of all local users across a group of computers, to see which computers have a particular user account, for example.
  • New Data Export Types – Under “Server Settings” > “Data Export”, you can now export windows event log information, or local user account information in .csv or .xml format.
  • Performance Improvements – Several server and client side performance improvements were made to handle higher numbers of agents per server.
  • The system serial number/asset tag is now shown at the top of the computer details page.
  • The navigation menu on the left hand side was refined to include navigation icons, and sub sections.
Windows Event Log Overview
Windows Event Log Summary

OptiTune v6.4 Released, adds Multi-Monitor support, Free Remote Connect Access for End Users

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We are pleased to announce the release of OptiTune Version 6.4

OptiTune V6.4 adds the following new features and updates:

  • Multi-Monitor Support in Remote Connect – OptiTune now lets you view and interact with any remote monitor during a Remote Connect session. By default, it will show the primary remote monitor, but you can also view all monitors at once, or any other remote monitor. As with the rest of OptiTune, it works on Windows 10 or Windows Server 2019, as well as operating systems all the way back to Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 R2.
  • Free Remote Connect Access for End Users – With more and more workers working from home, we’ve received many requests to allow end users to use OptiTune Remote Connect to connect to their own computers. Normally, administrators use it to provide remote assistance to end users, or connect to a server. Now, you can create a “Remote Access” user type which is restricted to only using Remote Connect on a single computer, or group of computers you designate. This is included at no extra charge. Full auditing and monitoring comes standard, so you can see which users are using this feature.
  • Streamlined Connection Experience – After installing the updated Remote Connect client software, when you initiate a remote connection to a computer you will no longer be prompted to download an “.otc” connection file, rather the browser will prompt you to open OptiTune Remote Connect immediately (by using a custom URL scheme).
  • File Transfer Improvements – When using the file transfer feature in Remote Connect, you can now view all removable drives, CD/DVD drives, and network drives on your computer and the connected computer. The time it takes to move around the remote file system was also improved on networks with high latency.
  • New Monitoring Event Types – You can now receive alerts when an administrator or end user uses OptiTune Remote Connect, as well as the Remote Command Prompt, Task Manager, PowerShell, or System Services Tools.
  • Remote Connect Performance Improvements – The Remote Connect frame rate has significantly increased (up to 120 fps in some cases), as well as the time it takes to establish a connection. You can now connect to a computer on the local network in less than 1 second.

OptiTune v6.3 Released, adds integration with CCleaner Business Edition, other improvements

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We are pleased to announce the release of OptiTune Version 6.3

OptiTune V6.3 adds the following new features and updates:

  • CCleaner Business Edition Integration – OptiTune now includes an integration with CCleaner Business Edition. CCleaner is one of the most popular PC cleaning and optimization utilities, with over 2.5 billion downloads and 5 million installs per week.
    • Deploy – After purchasing a CCleaner Business Edition license, you can use OptiTune to deploy CCleaner to one or more groups of computers in OptiTune.
    • Configure – Select which cleanup items to run by default, exclude specific cookies, directories, or files from cleaning.
    • Run – Create a schedule for when to automatically run CCleaner, or run it anytime on demand, using the “Run CCleaner” system task.
    • Report – View how much data CCleaner has cleaned up each month, and see breakdowns by cleanup item type. You can also view detailed cleanup reports for any computer, and aggregate views for groups of computers.
  • New System Tasks – Previously many types of tasks were scheduled only through “Settings” in OptiTune. There was no easy way to run these tasks on demand, without modifying the schedule in the appropriate settings page. Now, you can run most tasks at any time, for a single computer or group of computers. New System Tasks include:
    • Check For Windows Updates – Checks for windows updates, and refreshes a computers available windows updates
    • Install Windows Updates – Installs all Mandatory and Important updates
    • Endpoint Protection Full Scan – If a supported antivirus product is installed, run a full scan and report the results
    • Endpoint Protection Quick Scan – If a supported antivirus product is installed, run a quick scan and report the results
    • Endpoint Protection Signature Update – If a supported antivirus product is installed, run a signature update and report the results
    • Refresh Computer Details – Immediately refresh the hardware, software, and endpoint protection information for a computer
    • Run CCleaner – If CCleaner Business Edition is installed, run it according to the existing configuration, and report the results
    • Notify User – You can now create your own system task to show a message box to the logged on user. This is useful if you want to show a message to many users about unscheduled downtime, etc…
  • Self Hosting Improvements – When self hosting the OptiTune Management Server, you can now configure the agent polling intervals in the web.config file.
  • Other Improvements – Other performance improvements were made throughout the management website.

OptiTune v6.2 Released, adds REST API, web hooks, other improvements

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We are pleased to announce the release of OptiTune Version 6.2

OptiTune V6.2 adds the following new features and updates:

  • REST API – OptiTune now includes a comprehensive REST API which lets you automate actions in OptiTune, or integrate your own custom solution or product with OptiTune. For example, your web app can now make simple HTTP calls to create and deploy script tasks, or see which computers are online, etc… This opens a world of possibilities both for IT Departments and Managed Service Providers that want more automation and reporting options.
    • Swagger/Open API 2.0 Specification – The OptiTune REST API is fully documented with a Open API 2.0 file, available at https://manage.opti-tune.com/swagger. This allows you to auto-generate client libraries (C#, Powershell, PHP, Typescript) for using the REST API.
    • Complete Functionality – The OptiTune REST API is one of the most comprehensive in the industry, allowing you to automate almost anything that can be done in the management portal. It includes support for over 61 resource types, and 181 methods. Our competitors’ APIs are much smaller by comparison.
  • Webhooks – While the REST API allows you to make outgoing calls to get information or take action in OptiTune, we’ve also added Webhooks that allow your website or product to be notified when certain events take place. For example, when a new computer is added to OptiTune, your website can be notified automatically through a URL you provide. This allows you to create a more responsive integration between your website and OptiTune, and eliminates the need to poll for changes.
  • New Relay Servers – New relay servers were added in the following geographic locations, to better facilitate OptiTune Remote Connect hosted connections in these regions:
    • Quebec City, Canada
    • Paris, France
    • Frankfurt, Germany
    • Zurich, Switzerland
    • Dubai, United Arab Emirates
    • Johannesburg, South Africa
  • Computer Metadata Export – You can now export computer metadata in .csv or .xml format from “Server Settings” > “Data Export”.
  • Windows Update Group Policy – New settings were added to Windows Update Group Policy, which allow you to set a WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) server through group policy, as well as configure a group name to be sent to the WSUS server.
  • New “Monthly on Weekday” Schedule Item – When creating a schedule in OptiTune, you can configure a schedule item for the the first, second, third, fourth or last weekday of the month. For example, you can configure the OptiTune agent to install windows updates on the second Tuesday of each month, or a script task to run on the last Sunday of each month.
  • Other Improvements – Other performance improvements were made throughout the management website, in particular loading the “Monitoring” > “Settings” page could take too long for large organizations.

OptiTune v6.1 Released, adds site branding, vanity domains

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We are pleased to announce the release of OptiTune Version 6.1

OptiTune V6.1 adds the following new features and updates:

  • Site Branding – OptiTune now lets you brand the entire OptiTune management website with your own logo, product name, colors, images, and other elements. It will even let you upload custom .CSS files to fine tune the look and feel of the management website.
  • Multi-Brand Support – Not only can you upload one set of branding materials for your company, but you can create multiple brands in OptiTune, in one organization. Larger organizations can create branded OptiTune sites for each division, region, or department. Managed Service Providers (MSPs) may choose to create branded management portals for important clients, or create one brand for each service offering.
  • Vanity Sites – With each brand you create in OptiTune, you can choose a unique vanity domain name, based on a selection of available root domain names, for example: https://mycompany.rmmportal.com
  • Full Brand Customization – You can customize any of the following brand elements. Or, just provide your own Title and leave the defaults selected.
    • Domain Name
    • Title
    • Subtitle
    • Front Page Logo
    • Main Page Logo
    • Logo Display Options
    • Title Font Size
    • Subtitle Font Size
    • Tab Color
    • Button Color
    • Tab Color
    • Link Color
    • Heading Color
    • Highlight Color
    • Page Background Color
    • Content Header Color
    • Sidebar Background Color
    • Browser Icon
    • Front page background Image
    • Front page CSS style sheet file
    • Main page CSS style sheet file
  • Brand Preview – Preview the brand as you make changes, by pressing the “Preview” button while you edit a brand.
  • Brand Color Palette Generation – If you are not a design expert, provide a single brand color and OptiTune will generate the remaining colors based on predetermined intensity levels, yielding professional looking results every time.

OptiTune v6.0 Released, completely revises UI and brings other improvements

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We are pleased to announce the release of OptiTune Version 6.0

OptiTune V6.0 adds the following new features and updates:

  • Updated User Experience – Completely revised the style of the management website with a more modern look and feel, and a new OptiTune logo. A new chart library was used to generate vector (SVG) charts instead of images. The new management website looks great on high DPI monitors and devices.
  • Support Center Updates – The OptiTune Support Center desktop application was also updated to work better on high DPI monitors, and includes new artwork for all icons.
  • OptiTune Agent Telemetry – When an agent disconnects unexpectedly from the management server, more accurate information will be displayed.
  • Backend Improvements – Significant performance improvements and refactoring on the backend allows an OptiTune management server to handle 12X more agents without upgrading the server hardware. Complete agent reports can now be processed in as little as 0.01 seconds. Time to retrieve agent configuration was also improved by 10X. A single OptiTune management server can now handle hundreds of thousands of agents.
  • Remote Powershell – The remote powershell will now correctly handle international unicode charaters, both for input and output.
  • Remote Command Prompt – The remote command prompt will now correctly handle international unicode charaters, both for input and output. You do need to type “chmod” first to change the code page if you are using an international keyboard.



OptiTune v5.9 Released, adds Realtime Agent Telemetry, Revised Login Experience

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We are pleased to announce the release of OptiTune Version 5.9

OptiTune V5.9 adds the following new features and updates:

  • OptiTune Agent Telemetry – The OptiTune agent now sends back detailed status information to the management server, which you can view in the computer details page under the “Agent Status” section. If you have ever wondered what exactly the OptiTune agent is doing at any time, you can now see detailed status information updated in real time. Agent Status items include:
    • Connection State (Connected, Disconnected)
    • Last Agent Activity (Started, Running Task, Idle, Sleeping, Resumed, Shutdown, etc…)
    • Polling Interval
    • Work Queue Information – shows all work queues that the agent is processing, including the main work queue and four realtime queues. Now you can see exactly which tasks the agent is executing in real time, and their results without going to the deployment history page.
    • Agent Log – shows the last 1000 lines in the OptiTune agent log
  • Updated Login Experience – Revised the layout and style of the entry pages to the management server. The login, registration, and welcome pages were all revised. They use a new responsive design which works better on mobile devices.

OptiTune v5.8 Released, dramatically improves Remote Connect experience

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We are pleased to announce the release of OptiTune Version 5.8
OptiTune V5.8 adds the following new features and updates:

  • Remote Connect – The Remote Connect application was significantly reworked for performance and responsiveness.  You will need to reinstall the Remote Connect viewer on your PC.  All managed PCs are automatically updated to the latest version.  Several areas of Remote Connect were improved:
    • Increased frame rate – Remote Connect now supports showing the remote desktop at up to 60 fps.  The overall experience has improved dramatically.
    • Color Depth – You can now choose which color depth to view the remote desktop, including 24-bit, 16-bit, 8-bit, and 4 or 2-bit gray scale.
    • High DPI Support – Remote Connect works with high DPI displays, both as a source and destination
    • Scaling – Several new options for scaling the remote desktop were added, including:
      • Actual Size – Show the remote desktop at actual size
      • Fit to Window – Zoom or shrink the remote desktop to fit the current window
      • Shrink Oversized – Only shrink the remote desktop to fit the current window
      • Zoom 50-400% – Zoom the remote desktop by the selected amount
    • 4K Monitor Support – Remote Connect now works correctly with 4K monitors, both as a source or destination
    • Save Configuration – Configure the default scaling options and color depth for the remote desktop.  This configuration is saved for the next time you run Remote Connect
    • File Transfer – When starting the File Transfer tool, it now navigates to the previous remote and local paths (stored per computer).  This setting can be changed as well in the Options dialog.
    • Parallel Compression – Remote Connect now includes parallel compression algorithms, allowing it to use multiple CPU cores
    • Copy and Paste – You can now copy and paste text between the local and remote computers, and vice versa
    • New Relay Servers – When connecting to a computer separated by multiple firewalls, a relay server is used to host the connection.  The relay server software was rewritten for improved performance.  New regions were also added for Australia, India, Japan, and South Korea, for a total of 16  distinct geographic regions.
    • Windows XP Support – Remote Connect continues to support Windows XP and Server 2003 R2 computers (and the embedded versions of these operating systems).
    • Bug Fixes:
      • Fixed several issues with displaying the remote cursor
      • Fixed an issue when connected to a Hyper-V host, and viewing a guest operating system, keystrokes would not be sent on Windows 2008 R2 hosts to the guest operating system
      • When changing sessions (e.g. when switching users or logging off), the new session’s desktop is now shown more quickly
  • CloudBerry Backup Integration – Fixed an integration issue with CloudBerry Managed Backup.   Previously the integration would sometimes fail to receive backup status when the CloudBerry Backup agent’s company name or product name was customized in the CloudBerry management portal.
  • Other Fixes – Several other fixes are included with this release:
    • Fixed an issue where you could not connect to a destination computer through the Remote Command Prompt, Powershell, or Remote Connect if the computer was in the process of restarting or shutting down.
    • Various other fixes and performance issues were addressed in the OptiTune agent

OptiTune v5.7 Released, adds CloudBerry Managed Backup Integration

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We are pleased to announce the release of OptiTune Version 5.7
In partnership with CloudBerry Lab, OptiTune V5.7 adds the following new features and updates:

  • CloudBerry Managed Backup Integration – OptiTune now fully integrates with CloudBerry Managed Backup.  You can use OptiTune to deploy the CloudBerry Managed Backup Agent, configure the agent, and view detailed reports on each computer’s backup jobs.  You can also view backup summaries for groups of computers, and detailed backup job histories.
  • Bring Your Own License (BYOL) Support – OptiTune will also integrate with existing CloudBerry Managed Backup installations, and does not require that you purchase CloudBerry Managed Backup through OptiTune, or deploy the backup agent through OptiTune.
  • Special Offers on CloudBerry Managed Backup – CloudBerry Lab is also offering OptiTune customers a 30% discount on its managed backup product, CloudBerry Managed Backup.  To purchase new CloudBerry Managed Backup licenses, visit the “Backup” > “Special Offers” page in the OptiTune management console.