Release notes for UXM Desktop Agent.
2022
2022.03.14
New UXM Desktop agent features:
- Default install path is C:\Program Files\Systemslab, C:\Program Files\MCG will be re-used if upgrading older agents.
- Process monitor - Enabled ETW tracing on Windows 8+ and capturing ForegroundInfo and Input/Message delays to detect applications that are freezing often.
- Endpoint monitor - Send all IP/MAC addresses, detect if WiFIi/LAN is used andif user is on VPN, resending endpoint info on network changes.
- IE11 - Capture visited FQDN and send to UXM via Low Mandatory Level NamedPipe.
- HTTP Client - Send MultiMessage each minute with all messages to avoid HTTP Headers overhead when sending multiple messages to UXM collector each minute.
Bug fixes:
- Keyboard monitor - Disabled AttachThreadInput and GetFocus, it caused delays in programs that communicates with monitored programs via SendInput Windows Messages. (Barcode readers, Browser Integrations, 3D Mouses with Macro/Hostkeys)
- Automation UI/MSAA: Disabled UIAutomation from ObjectShow events, it causes Excel to use 100% CPU and freeze for 3 minutes when working with filters in large 10MB Excel files.
- Curl monitor - Limit logs and response data to 10KB to avoid sending 300~1000 KB logs at each failed Curl run.
- NamedPipe - Use OverlappedIO IPC instead of CompletionRoutines to avoid handle leaks that where detected on large Citrix servers with many daily connecting users, currently fixed to maximum of 25 PCAgentUI.exe processes that can communicate with PCAgent.exe service.
- Perfmon monitor - Clear old counters before re-adding to avoid handle leaks.
- Use RAII to avoid HANDLE leaks in Process monitoring.
2021
2021.12.06
New UXM Desktop agent features:
- Migrated CPU/Memory and crashes to Endpoint monitor that monitors all Endpoint metrics to avoid needing to setup and maintain 2x separate EventLog and Perfmon monitors.
- Citrix/RDS: Collecting channel metrics to detect why latency is slow or unstable.
- Active Directory: Collecting user information from Active Directory when user logs on.
- Logon timings are calculated for Local, RDP and Citrix logons including sub timings for GPO, Profile and Logon script.
2021.08.24
New UXM Desktop agent features:
- Updated code signing certificates.
- Only remove Chrome extension on upgrade/uninstall if it was forced installed to avoid conflicting with GPO's that's deploying the UXM Chrome extension.
- Role, ParentRole and State are now recorded in english and new Localized fields are added. Ease the profile creation for supporting Windows 10 in multiple languages.
The localized language is determined by Windows 10 language settings and installed language package.
Desktop Transaction Profile Recorder
- Increased logging, log files are stored under C:\ProgramData\MCG\UXM PC Agent\Logs.
- Added status of PCAgentUI.exe process that measures transaction, making it possible to restart it when profiles are updated.
2021.08.04
New UXM Desktop agent features:
- New Desktop Transaction Profile Recorder for easing the transaction testing and creation.
- Start/stop profile transaction events in different applications, makes it possible to start measuring in Chrome and finish when Word has loaded document.
- Disable ObjectNameChange, ObjectValueChange, ObjectFocus via profiles for IE and other apps where the events causes delays in collection/timings.
- Gzip/Deflate data send to Splunk HEC collector
Beta features:
- Logon calculation for Desktop/RDP/Citrix
- Battery wear
- MSI installer - Please note that old EXE installer have to be uninstalled first, there is no migration path, so is mainly used for new customers.
2021.06.09
UXM Desktop agent fixes:
- IIS collector fails with HTTP Error 411. The request must be chunked or have a content length when sending files.
2021.05.21
UXM Desktop agent fixes:
- Configure capture FQDN flag send to browser extensions.
- Foreground info polls every 5 seconds and checks if apps is hung / not responding.
- Capturing last_reboot from WMI.
- Allow agent to send log files when requested.
2021.03.23
UXM Desktop agent fixes:
-
IE11: Support enhanced protected mode
- Unique machine UUID was re-read and appended to each night making it longer
2021.02.17
UXM Desktop agent fixes:
- Process monitoring has been moved to Process monitor task and optimized to send top 5 cpu utilizing processes and monitored apps.
- Curl monitor - Curl has been upgrade to version 7.75.0 and issues with parsing status_code and timeouts have been fixed.
2021.01.29
UXM Desktop agent features:
- Generate and send unique machine UUID to replace nodeKey in future version.
- Sending data as HTTP1.1 instead of HTTP1.0
UXM Desktop agent fixes:
- Security Vulnerability: Service path was unquoted, see: https://www.commonexploits.com/unquoted-service-paths/
- ForegroundInfo: Incorrect mapping to Installed programs if programs where installed under C:\ or C:\Program Files.
Chrome/Firefox browser extension:
- Sending info about host/endpoint that browser runs on and user executing browser.
- Support for sites running CSP (Content Security Policies), extensions now send info in content_script.js to avoid being blocked.
- Detects if user are unable to connect to website (DNS error, TCP Timeout, etc)
2020
2020.12.21
UXM Desktop agent features:
- License compliance: Info about application running in foreground is collected every 30 seconds for license compliance analytics.
Chrome extension features:
- Info at browser start about loaded profiles.
- Logged in username is send from Endpoint extension it's installed at, if UXM Desktop agent is installed.
- 4xx and 5xx errors is captured and send.
Fixes:
- Chrome extension breaks ServiceNow/MS-CRM due to Array.prototype override.
- Poco updated to 1.10.1
- OpenSSL updated to 1.1.1g
2020.09.08
Fixes:
- Fixed issue with Chrome and Internet Explorer detection, checking via AppPaths.
Features:
- Added support for Windows 7.
- Added option to install Internet Explorer 11 add-on.
2020.08.27
Fixes:
- Fixed issue with custom display scaling causing UXM Desktop to detect clicks in incorrect places.
- Fixed bug in Office 365 apps that caused Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint to hang in rare cases when clicking new top ribbon.
- Fixed issue with curl/http scripts that timed out because console output was to long.
Features:
- Collecting Service Tag from machines via WMI Win32_ComputerSystemProduct.
- Collecting Windows 10 version for compliance reports.
2020.05.05
Fixes:
- All files within the UXM Desktop agent are now digitally code signed to avoid issues with anti-virus products. (Cisco AMP for example)
- Browser extensions didn't receive configuration if 20 urls where being monitored, switched to binary communication between NativeMessageHost and browser to avoid issue.
2020.02.19
Fixes:
- Only remove Firefox add-on and Chrome GPO policies when upgrading/uninstalling agent, to avoid conflict with removing domain GPO policies when agent stops.
- Always add NativeMessageHost for Chrome and Firefox so browser add-on/extension can be installed manually and still communicate with UXM Desktop agent.
2020.01.07
Features:
- Ping Monitor: Added TCP Ping test that measure the TCP connect latency to a server and port. The TCP Ping can go through firewalls that blocks ICMP Pings because it uses the hosted applications port.
2019
2019.11.06
Features:
- Browser plugins: Updated design of Chrome/Firefox option for monitored urls and added possibility to debug JavaScript and capture usernames from HTML.
Fix:
- Fixed issue where 32 bit applications on 64 bit systems could crash on Mouse clicks when Desktop UI monitoring was enabled. This was caused by our application requesting Automation UI info from clicked object, have disabled Automation UI capturing on Mouse and Keyboard events and are relying on Win32/MSAA event data that's not so intrusive on the monitored application.
2019.09.19
Features:
- Added EventLog monitor to capture Crashes, Outlook Add-in timings and GPO load times.
- Silently install Firefox addon and Chrome extension without requiring input from user.
2019.08.27
Features:
- Added ping monitor and support for CRON expressions for all monitors.
- Updated installer to Inno Setup 6 and bundled Firefox plugin.
- Switched to Visual Studio 2019.
2019.05.16
Features:
- Added ProcessPath filter to split up monitored transactions into Prod, Test, UAT if the applications have the same ProcessName.
- Gathering and adding the ClientIP/CitrixGUID to each measured transaction result.
Fix:
- Lowered PCAgentUI logging to 2 files of 1 MB to avoid filling up the log path C:\ProgramData\MCG\UXM PC Agent\Logs with 600+ log files on Citrix/RDP servers.
2018
2018.12.21
Features:
- Added monitors for PerformanceCountrers, Citrix Latency and Services status on computer.
- Added Citrix Latency measurements from WMI.
Fix:
- Disabled get_value calls to Microsoft Accessibility API on FOCUS events, caused DevExpress to fire 6x events to the XtraGrid component.
2018.07.18
Features:
- Added capturing of UIAutomation information like AutomationId to workaround issues with popup windows that have empty or dynamic titles.
- Enabled Double-Click event capturing again, also tries to capture LeftMouseUp event to see what happens after button is clicked.
- Added win32_name capturing via GetWindowText on clicked hWnd, to capture what was clicked. Use in Login dialogs where window disappears and program freezes when loading main window. This causes Accessibility API to fetch incorrect information, because of the delay in getting access to program under test.
- IE/Chrome plugins are not disabled as default.
- Updated Desktop monitor so it can live see if profiles are triggered and working.
Located under C:\Program Files\MCG\UXM Desktop Agent\Recorder\DesktopMonitor.exe
2018.06.08
Security:
- Added Agent Key to support multiple customers on same Splunk installation. Has to be setup in Splunk app administration first.
2017
2017.01.17
Fix:
- Proxy PAC file - Use first server if multiple proxy servers is returned.
2016
2016.12.01
Fix:
- Improved calculation of Dynamics Navision response times when it freezes, event's received before Navision froze would make the measured result 40% faster then the real user experience.
- Fixed issue in Windows 10 where PCAgentUI.exe processes didn't launch, because user wasn't logged on fast enough during PC startup/login.
Feature:
- Added option for recording Windows Title and using UIA/MSAA Properties as Identifier in Splunk data. This enables the PCAgent to make User Behavior Analytics to see what users are clicking in the application.
2016.04.13
Feature:
- Added IE and Chrome browser plugins for monitoring SaaS solutions like Timelog, ServiceNow.
2015
2015.09.23
- Release for public with AutomationUI monitoring for Desktop clients like Outlook, Word, Excel.