New App: Disk Health Monitor

[FoolishTech]

I'm finally cranking out another app that has been an idea on the back burner for some time now.

Disk Health Monitor

This is a real-time monitor, folks, with a tiny footprint. The purpose is to alert you (via system tray pop-up and/or EMAIL) when a potential disk error condition is logged in the NT Event Log, indicating a failing hard disk or a partition that needs some chkdsk TLC.

How it works:

1. The application can be configured to start with Windows automatically.
2. Since disk errors may occur before this application can start, the event log is scanned up to the last system startup and an alert is given if one or more disk errors were detected.
3. After the startup scan, the real-time event log monitor is started.
4. Currently, there is no way to STOP the monitor except by ending task in Task Manager. This will be fixed in a future release.

Which events trigger the alert:

• Event Sources: Disk, DMIO, or chkdsk with the words "harddisk" and either "error", "corrupt", or "bad block" in the Event Description
• Event Source: NTFS with the words "corrupt" in the Event Description
• For testing purposes, any event with the text "fake disk alert" in the description.

Testing:

As I described the last bullet point on what triggers the alert, I have designed it to also alert you when it detects "fake disk alert" in any event description. To test, (I know you are a D7 user, right?) you can fire up D7's Internal Event Viewer (click D7 button > D7 Event Viewer) and write a test message with that event description. This way you will be able to see the balloon pop-up from the system tray and test your email settings, while seeing the sample email.

I wrote the app both for my own personal main computer, (because I am paranoid about my data) and to ultimately use on client's workstations and servers as a partial remote monitoring benefit which I can offer my clients.

Currently in BETA, I am personally testing this app on my own gear and a few select clients' systems, but I could always use a few extra BETA testers! This community has been wonderful at reporting bugs and feature suggestions with D7, (I can't thank you all enough for the progress that I have made with D7 due to your help) and I'm hoping to get a little of that with this app as well.

So if you feel like running a BETA app on your setup, and think it may be useful, then check it out! Install it, try it, see what happens! Otherwise if you're interested, but not quite BETA-interested, then I'll understand and report back here when the app is out of BETA.

Use on a server OS is not allowed until the app is out of BETA.

Oh yeah, the license. It's FREE for personal use, and will remain so even after BETA is finished, with no nags or ads! I will require a license for commercial use once I get the app out of BETA and add a few more features to make it worth it.

NOTE: With this BETA release, there is no method to actually shut down the monitor, you must end task via Task Manager - be sure and do this before you attempt to uninstall it!!! Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause!

EDIT: Ignore previous note, left for reference! Here is how to exit the monitor now. Free version: App may be stopped completely by double clicking the tray icon and choosing to exit. Commercial version: App has same option, but also the option to disable the tray icon, and with it the notifications and the ability to easily shut it down.

Thanks for looking!

 

[PaulRome]

Downloaded and installed. Will let you know if there are any issues.

P.S. I may be able to get you the licencing fee after xmas.


Thanks

 

[FoolishTech]

That was quick Paul!

I almost forgot to add *testing* functionality.

If you write an event with D7, with the event message "fake disk alert" it should trigger the alert from Disk Health Monitor. Then you can get a sample of the balloon pop-up and an email sample.

For that to work, though, you'll need to redownload the app. I just uploaded the one with the testing functionality prior to posting this message.

Simply kill the app via task manager, and install it over the top of itself to preserve your config.

 

[FoolishTech]

Just uploaded a new build.

Double-click the tray icon to access event history, config, and to stop the monitor.

 

[Larry Sabo]

I gave the prior version a try but didn't receive an e-mail as a result of the test, so must have screwed up the setting. However, if I were to put this on a customer machine, I wouldn't want to use my customers smtp because I'd have to ask permission to use her mail account password. Any chance you could make it easy to set up for hotmail or live pop, so I could use my own hotmail account without violating the customer's sense of privacy? Overall, I like the idea for the tool, except it showing in Systray. Would be good to be able to hide it to avoid having to explain what it is after they have forgotten my explanation.

Also, during the prescan, I saw a balloon message about prior disk error entries in Event Viewer, but it would be good if they were flagged or logged for my review without having to scan Event Viewer to locate them. Didn't look for/at a log file that may have been created, so excuse the suggestion if they are there already. Would be good to include the log in the e-mail, too, if possible.

[Edit: just noticed you already included an event log.]
[Edit 2: Just installed latest version and see very helpful settings for setting up gmail pop smtp use. Thanks! Would be nice if it let you configure the mail settings once for fast and easy set-up on customer PCs. Heck, would be super if I could custom-configure it and e-mail it to a customer for them to install, so I don't need to visit or remote in, and the e-mails would identify the customer because that's how I pre-configured their copy.]
[Edit 3: It's terrific! Got the e-mail and it includes the event that triggered the e-mail. Another super tool, Nick!]

 

[FoolishTech]

Overall, I like the idea for the tool, except it showing in Systray. Would be good to be able to hide it to avoid having to explain what it is after they have forgotten my explanation.

The ability to hide the tray icon will be available in the commercial version. Free for personal use version will have to endure!

Would be nice if it let you configure the mail settings once for fast and easy set-up on customer PCs. Heck, would be super if I could custom-configure it and e-mail it to a customer for them to install, so I don't need to visit or remote in, and the e-mails would identify the customer because that's how I pre-configured their copy.

That will also be addressed with a commercial version. Still working out the details, but essentially (like with dSupport) I'll probably create a custom installer for users with your config INI already bundled in.

The only catch is, the unique PC Identifier won't be very unique if bundled in the installer, so it will have to be put in after the install by you (or your customer, if you do the email route).

I will have the installer automatically prompt you for the PC Identifier instead of launching the full configuration screen, and it will simply say something like "Please Enter Your Customer Name" or something to that effect.

[Edit 3: It's terrific! Got the e-mail and it includes the event that triggered the e-mail. Another super tool, Nick!]

Thanks for trying it out!!!

BTW @ ALL: I got a PM about the Email Config not having a way to TEST SETTINGS before leaving the config page, so I have placed a SEND TEST EMAIL button on the Email Config page in a new build I just uploaded as of the time of this post.

 

[Xander]

Did I mention how familiar this sounds, Nick?

 

[Larry Sabo]

The only catch is, the unique PC Identifier won't be very unique if bundled in the installer, so it will have to be put in after the install by you (or your customer, if you do the email route).

I will have the installer automatically prompt you for the PC Identifier instead of launching the full configuration screen, and it will simply say something like "Please Enter Your Customer Name" or something to that effect.

Can you not just pick it out of

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\ComputerName\ComputerName

perhaps? (No idea why it's nested like that, but it is.)

 

[FoolishTech]

Can you not just pick it out of

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\ComputerName\ComputerName

perhaps? (No idea why it's nested like that, but it is.)

Well, in the email I do display the computer name, but I don't feel that is enough to uniquely identify a PC, and I'm looking for actual customer name (e.g. John Doe III, or ACME, Inc.) in addition to the computer name.

I'm just planning for multiple clients using the app and I don't want to guess who my client is through computer names like "Sally-PC" or worse like "user-8675309"

Now, that did give me an idea. I could pre-populate the field making it easier to deal with, by grabbing a value from here:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion

but the question is, do I snatch the RegisteredOwner or RegisteredOrganization value? It's rare that is filled out during Windows OOBE anyway so more often than not they will be blank or contain values like "User" or "Owner" ...

Did I mention how familiar this sounds, Nick?

You did now

 

[Xander]

I'm having my "TLC" (eHousecall) script email me using the @ComputerName-@Username in its header. Since I'm usually only doing one at a time, it's no big deal.

I might go back to my old method of keeping a reg key of "UniqueName" in the registry and if it's blank, prompt for it and save that value for future reference. That way, when I run the program for the first time, I can fill in something like "Smith, John 905-555-1212" rather than getting an email with the subject of "User-PC -- Owner".

You could, likewise, have your program, when first run, prompt for Last/First name and phone number and save that.

 

[Knightsman]

Not sure what the cost of the license will be but I can do this with GFI for 10cents a month.

 

[FoolishTech]

Not sure what the cost of the license will be but I can do this with GFI for 10cents a month.

Then I'm sure you'll have nothing else to post in this thread! Thanks, move on.

 

[Knightsman]

Then I'm sure you'll have nothing else to post in this thread! Thanks, move on.

I can if I want to.....Just putting a competitors price out there for you to see, but of course, someones gotta be a jack ass, and be offended or whaterver you decided to be with you rude post.

I was more than willing to check the program out if the license was in par with competitors, like active, whose price is $5.99 for a full license. But surely not anymore.

 

[FoolishTech]

I can if I want to.....Just putting a competitors price out there for you to see, but of course, someones gotta be a jack ass, and be offended or whaterver you decided to be with you rude post.

I was more than willing to check the program out if the license was in par with competitors, like active, whose price is $5.99 for a full license. But surely not anymore.

First, my price is FREE for personal use, can't beat it, and that's all I know at the moment. Second, I don't care what someone else's price is, that isn't what this thread is about.

Also, don't talk to ME about being RUDE!!! Take a look at yourself!

Please move on and troll somewhere else.

 

[FoolishTech]

You could, likewise, have your program, when first run, prompt for Last/First name and phone number and save that.

Got it. You are always pushing me for more Here's the deal now:

Free version: still uses the PC Identifier in the config for whatever you need to put there (e.g. "My Home PC Upstairs") - no need to have client name/phone number in the personal use version because you already know who you are!

Commercial version: does not use this identifier in the config (as I will provide a custom installer with your prefs already bundled in)... so instead on first run it prompts for Client name, phone number, and a PC description (which can include a location, e.g. "PC in the front office.")

So depending on version, your emails will contain either the identifier or the client info. They will both of course contain the computer name.

 

[Knightsman]

First, my price is FREE for personal use, can't beat it, and that's all I know at the moment. Second, I don't care what someone else's price is, that isn't what this thread is about.

Also, don't talk to ME about being RUDE!!! Take a look at yourself!

Please move on and troll somewhere else.

How was I rude?

Troll? Where? I see a reply to your ridiculous attempt at being a smart ass.

Free for personal use? How does that help us, this forum is for computer tech that would use it in a commercial environment.

your going to come on here and try to sell a product and when someone presents a similar product that's superior and you act like a jerk. But im the one being rude.


Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

 

[FoolishTech]

How was I rude?

If you don't know, then I don't know HOW to help you see it!!!

your going to come on here and try to sell a product and when someone presents a similar product that's superior and you act like a jerk. But im the one being rude.

Yes, actually you are... and I just asked you to move along, because you have NOTHING to add to this thread except adverts to your own GFI services. Get lost with that ****!

Oh, and just because you are obviously not even reading my OP, I'm not selling something ... yet. What I'm doing here is trying to get like minded individuals who may want to use this to give me feedback and suggestions on MY product (not yours, not GFI, etc.)

You are not one of those like minded individuals, and you still have NOTHING to contribute, yet you persist in spewing your garbage all over my thread. That makes you a troll.

If you have a problem with me, then why don't you take it up with ME and not everyone else reading. PM me. Otherwise get lost and quit with this "don't mess with me or I'll argue with you over the internets" mess.

 

[Knightsman]

If you don't know, then I don't know HOW to help you see it!!!




Yes, actually you are... and I just asked you to move along, because you have NOTHING to add to this thread except adverts to your own GFI services. Get lost with that ****!

Oh, and just because you are obviously not even reading my OP, I'm not selling something ... yet. What I'm doing here is trying to get like minded individuals who may want to use this to give me feedback and suggestions on MY product (not yours, not GFI, etc.)

You are not one of those like minded individuals, and you still have NOTHING to contribute, yet you persist in spewing your garbage all over my thread. That makes you a troll.

If you have a problem with me, then why don't you take it up with ME and not everyone else reading. PM me. Otherwise get lost and quit with this "don't mess with me or I'll argue with you over the internets" mess.

Your insane...literally. you ruined your own thread being a tool about what I said. Period. Have a good day.

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

 

[FoolishTech]

Your insane...literally. you ruined your own thread being a tool about what I said. Period. Have a good day.

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

I would appreciate it if you didn't post in my threads in the future.

 

[FoolishTech]

Just uploaded v1.0 FINAL. The app is no longer considered BETA.