Upgrade from Version 6, 7, 8 or 10 to Version 11.78
Existing Secure Desktop customers with version 6.xx, 7.xx, 8.xx or 10.xx can upgrade to 11.78 by contacting Visual Automation with your existing serial number. The part number is SDU-11-001 and is priced at $125.00 US, per unit.
Buy Upgrade Now
Please provide your existing Secure Desktop license numbers when placing an upgrade order.
Upgrade from Version 11.xx to 11.78
https://visualautomation.com/download/sdup1178.zip (27M)
New Features for 11.78
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Startup tab
- Added checkbox labeled "Show Minimized Windows at the Bottom of the Screen"
- The Secure Desktop Wallpaper was covering up the minimized windows
- This checkbox will provide a 100 pixel gap so that minimized windows are viewed and interactive
Changes for 11.77
- Secure Desktop Tools | Windows Shell tab
- The Explorer and Secure Desktop buttons are toolbar buttons
- The toolbar has been expanded in size to try to correct a display issue reported by customers
- Most customers will not see a visual change
- Re-compiled with new version of compiler
Changes for 11.76
- Serial Number and Copyright update
- Re-compiled with new version of compiler
New Features for 11.75
- Tested in Windows 10 October 2022 Update, Version 22H2
- Updated Secure Utilities to 11.65
- Re-compiled with new version of compilers
- Made small change to autoclose the new tabbed File Explorer in Windows 11 22H2
New Features for 11.74
- Tested in Windows 11, Version 22H2
New Features for 11.73
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Secure Desktop 11\sAdmin.exe /Shell sDesktop
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Secure Desktop 11\sAdmin.exe /Shell Explorer
- These are the same command-line switches that are called from:
Secure Desktop Tools | Windows Shell tab | [All Users] section
- Now slightly modified
- Setting sDesktop or Explorer only sets the shell registry value if not already set to respective shell
- Now optional 3rd parameter LogOff
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Secure Desktop 11\sAdmin.exe /Shell sDesktop LogOff
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Secure Desktop 11\sAdmin.exe /Shell Explorer LogOff
- If LogOff command-line parameter is used, a Forced LogOff is executed immediately after setting the shell
- There is no prompt to the user: the shell is set and the user is logged off
New Features for 11.72
- Re-compiled with new version of compiler
- Updated Secure Utilities to version 11.60
New Features for Secure Utilities 11.60
- Added new registry setting checkbox to disable Default app dialog
- When you install a new app that can open a file type that already has a default app association, a dialog will be displayed named "How do you want to open this file?" when launching the file
- This registry setting disables this behavior
- Secure Utilities | Administrator tab | [All Users] section | Default button | Default App tab
- Disable Dialog - How do you want to open this file? checkbox
- This checkbox sets registry value:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\NoNewAppAlert
- Added new registry setting checkbox to disable the Lock Screen
- Secure Utilities | Administrator tab | [All Users] section | Logon button | Lock Screen tab
- Disable Lock Screen checkbox
- This checkbox sets registry value:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization\NoLockScreen
- Improved sLogOff screen saver user interface
New Features for 11.71
- Added two checkboxes to Secure Desktop Tools | Windows Shell tab | Supervisor button | When Logged In tab
- Disable Setting and Disable Dialog checkboxes
- Just as you can temporarily disable the Window Wizard when Logged In
- Configurations within Setting and Dialog can also be temporarily disabled
- A false "File Not Found" error was created in sWall in version 11.70, this has been fixed
- Removed the icon from Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Autostart tab
- This improves the tab display in Windows 10
- Fixed a display issue with toolbar buttons in the Secure Desktop shell application, in Windows 10
New Features for 11.70
- Window Wizard has new feature to send a key to a message window
- Send the Enter key (Ok or default button)
- Send the Esc key (Cancel button)
- Send Alt + N (No button)
- Send Alt + Y (Yes button)
- Send Alt + A (Abort or Yes to All button)
- Send Alt + R (Retry button)
- Send Alt + I (Ignore button)
- Send Alt + O (No to All button)
- Send Alt + H (Help button)
- Window Wizard detects a message window as a window with no Min or Max buttons in the upper right corner
- sWall (wallpaper) folder path will now expand environment variables, such as %username%
- Environment variable expansion has also been added to sCopy, sExplore, sImage, and sNote in Secure Utilities 11.56
New Features for 11.65
- Added new tab named Administrator to Supervisor dialog
- Secure Desktop Tools | Windows Shell tab | Supervisor button | Administrator tab
- Require Run As Administrator to launch Secure Desktop Tools
- Run As Administrator is automatically applied when launching Secure Desktop Tools from Tools toolbar button
- When launching sTools.exe from the Start Menu or File Explorer or elsewhere, Run As Administrator is required
- Enhanced automatic Registry Export feature
- Previous to this version, the registry export was saved to a specific file name
- In 11.65 and later, the file name contains the user name and the date/time
- Secure Utilities 11.55 Registry Export has this enhancement also
- Re-compiled with new versions of compiler
- Secure Desktop EXE files are now more secure
- Secure Utilities 11.55 has this enhancement also
New Features for 11.60
- Added new tab named Autostart to Options
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Autostart tab
- List of registry entries are automatically started by the Explorer shell for currently logged in user or the machine
- Checked registry entries will be started by Secure Desktop when started as the Windows shell
- Checked registry entries are started when the registry key name is exactly the same as when Autostart was configured
- If the registry key name is the exact same for the first several letters of MicrosoftEdgeAutoLaunch in the registry as it was when Autostart was configured
- Enhanced Audit feature as follows:
- Any application started by Secure Desktop, or failing to start, is now logged to the audit file
- This information specifies the application and application parameters
- Several more error messages are now logged to the audit file
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Shutdown tab
- Can now set the default option in the Shut Down Dialog
- Added error messages for a failure of file folder creation
New Features for 11.51
- Tested in Windows 10 November 2021 Update, Version 21H2
- Copyright update
New Features for 11.50
- Windows 11 support
- New Segoe UI Variable Text font
- Fully tested in Windows 11
- Windows version information updated
- New Keyboard Shortcuts Added
- Secure Desktop Tools | Option button | A..Z 0..9 tab
- Disable [ ] . ' without any Ctrl, Shift and Alt Modifiers
- Disable Shift + [ ] . '
- Disable Shift + 0..9
- Disable - = \ ; , / ` with any combination of Ctrl, Shift and Alt Modifiers
- This new functionality may prevent the input of invalid characters
- Read-Only text fields now have border
- Info dialog slightly re-designed
- Fixed Icon import issue with 64-bit Win32 applications
- Fixed More button issue with different monitor display resolutions
New Features for 11.30
- Windows Server 2022 support
Changes for 11.22
- Fixed an issue within Secure Utilities
- Fixed an issue with sExplore.exe
- Recommended update if using the sExplore.exe utility
New Features for 11.21
- Secure Desktop Yes/No Dialogs now default to the No button, rather than Yes
- Secure Desktop 11.20 had a file version issue that have been corrected
- This is a recommended upgrade if using Secure Desktop 11.20
- Tested in Windows 10 May 2021 Update, Version 21H1
New Features for 11.20
- Added feature to answer No to a Confirm Save As Dialog
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Dialog button | File Open/Save As tab
- Fixed a small bug introduced in version 11.15, recommended update if using 11.15
New Features for 11.15
- Improved fonts throughout Secure Desktop
- Created solution for user that needs "all access"
- Secure Desktop had a feature for Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8
- Start Explorer in Addition to Secure Desktop (Current User) checkbox
- This feature was removed due to architecture changes in Windows 10
- New utility added to Secure Utilities 11.30
- Added sMenu Start Menu utility, named sMenu.exe
- This utility displays most or all Start Menu and Desktop shortcut icons for the currently logged in user
- Launch sMenu.exe from Secure Desktop to provide "all access" for a user
- Secure Utilities 11.30 included with Secure Desktop 11.15
- Improved the Base Folder feature for File Open/Save As Dialogs
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Dialog button | File Open/Save As tab | Set Base Folder for all File Open, Browse and File Save As Dialogs
- This is a recommended update if using this feature
New Features for 11.14
- Added mouse click option for tray icons
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Icon tab | Disable Mouse Click for Tray Icons checkbox
- Mouse click option for the tray icons were removed in 11.00, now available again
New Features for 11.13
- Changed installation script to record the installation folder in the registry
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Icon button | Icon button | bottom row of icons
- The currently saved icon index should have been highlighted when the Icon dialog was displayed
- This has been fixed
- Re-compiled with new versions of compilers
Changes for 11.12
- Serial Number and Copyright update
Changes for 11.11
- Tested in Windows 10 November 2020 Update, Version 20H2
- Fixed an issue in older versions of Windows 10
- Detected 32-bit versus 64-bit Windows incorrectly
- This affected any registry setting
- Recommended update for all customers
New Features for 11.10
- Added Disable Clipboard Feature
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Icon tab | checkbox list | Disable Clipboard checkbox
- Added Shell Switch feature to sAdmin.exe
- Configure icon in Secure Desktop Tools with command field set to:
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Secure Desktop 11\sAdmin.exe /Shell Switch
- Check the Run As Administrator checkbox for this icon
- When the user clicks on this icon:
- The user will first see a UAC prompt (Administrator privileges are necessary)
- The user will be asked if they want to switch the shell from Secure Desktop to Explorer
- Or from Explorer to Secure Desktop
- Finally, the user will be asked if they want to logoff from Windows
- Re-compiled with new version of compiler
Changes for 11.03
- Fixed small installation scripting problem with installing Secure Utilities
Changes for 11.02
- Small problem with sdesktop.dll fixed, introduced in version 11.01
- If using 11.01, please upgrade to version 11.02
- Tested in Windows 10 May 2020 Update, Version 2004
Changes for 11.01
- Version 11.00 of Secure Desktop was not compatible with the first build of Windows 10
- This has been corrected
New Features for 11.00
- Removed legacy Windows support
- Window 10, Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 support only
- New support for Windows 10 on ARM using X86 emulation
- No support for Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10 in S Mode
- Secure Desktop 10 is available for purchase to support legacy Windows
- Secure Desktop 10 will receive fixes as needed, but no new features
- Removed Internet Explorer specific features
- Secure Desktop 10 is available for purchase to support the legacy browser Internet Explorer
- Classic Windows Platform Browsers (New Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Brave, Firefox, Opera) can be launched
- UWP Browsers (Old Microsoft Edge) can not be launched
- Removed Internet Explorer URLs and system-wide keystrokes from Audit feature
- New Secure Utilities 11
- Secure Utilities is a new package of utilities
- This is version 11 because some of these utilities have shipped in previous versions of Secure Desktop
- Secure Utilities is available as it's own package
- Secure Utilities 11 is included with Secure Desktop 11
- Window 10, Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 support only
- Secure Desktop utilities such as sExplore, sCopy, sNote and sLogOff are now packaged into Secure Utilities
- New utilities include a new sControl, sEject and sRun
- New sControl launches the system Control Panel dialog
- New sEject launches the system Eject Device dialog
- New sRun launches the system Run dialog
- New sUtility provides utility help and registry setting utilities
- Secure Desktop Tools Administrator tab Logon and Drives functionality now part of Secure Utilities (sUtility.exe)
- Removed Timed and Shutdown tabs from Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Icon button
- Please consider using the Windows Task Scheduler for timed application starts
- Small visual improvements throughout
- Removed ability to disable 'Alt' keystroke by itself
- Removed ability to disable the Left Mouse button
- Removed feature to Set Shell to Explorer for [All Users] and Log Off
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Shutdown tab
- Removed mouse click option for tray icons
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Icon tab | Disable Mouse Click for Tray Icons checkbox
- Mouse clicks are always disabled for the tray icons
- Removed Disk and Memory monitor features from Secure Desktop shell status bar and audit feature
- Data in sAudit RSS XML files is arranged differently than Secure Desktop 10 and earlier
- Secure Desktop Tools - Secure Desktop tab - Dialog button - Console tab
- Added the ability to auto close Windows Terminal if it is the topmost window
- User Interface Improvements
- Secure Desktop and Secure Utilities are now DPI Aware (Dots Per Inch)
- Icons and images within applications look better on high resolution monitors
- Removed On Screen Keyboard buttons
- Removed Control Panel, Eject Device and Program Run toolbar buttons
- New Secure Utilities applications can be launched as regular applications instead
- Configuration file sdesktop.xml compatible
- Secure Desktop 11 is file configuration compatible with Secure Desktop 7, 8 and 10 for all retained functionality
- Secure Desktop launches Classic Windows applications (CWA) Only
- A Classic Windows application uses the Classic Windows Platform (CWP) (e.g., COM, Win32, WPF, WinForms, etc.)
- A Universal Windows app is built on the Universal Windows Platform (UWP)
- The UWP requires the Explorer shell on Windows 10
- Secure Desktop provides security by replacing the Explorer shell
- Universal Windows apps (UWA) are not supported
- Tested on Microsoft Surface Pro and Microsoft Surface Pro X
Upgrade from Version 10.xx to 10.99.03
https://visualautomation.com/download/sup10993.exe (12.7M)
Changes for 10.99.03
- Improved the Base Folder feature for File Open/Save As Dialogs
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Dialog button | File Open/Save As tab | Set Base Folder for all File Open, Browse and File Save As Dialogs
- This is a recommended update if using this feature
Changes for 10.99.02
- Serial Number and Copyright update
- Re-compiled with new version of compiler
New Features for 10.99.01
- Tested in Windows 10 October 2022 Update, Version 22H2
Changes for 10.98
- Added error messages for a failure of file folder creation
New Features for 10.97
- Tested in Windows 10 November 2021 Update, Version 21H2
- Fixed Icon import issue with 64-bit Win32 applications
- Fixed an issue with sExplore.exe
- Recommended update if using the sExplore.exe utility
- Copyright update
Changes for 10.96
- Re-compiled with new versions of compiler
- Serial Number update
- Secure Desktop 10 is not designed or tested for Windows Server 2022
- Secure Desktop 10 is not designed or tested for Windows 11
Changes for 10.95
- Improved the Base Folder feature for File Open/Save As Dialogs
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Dialog button | File Open/Save As tab | Set Base Folder for all File Open, Browse and File Save As Dialogs
- This is a recommended update if using this feature
Changes for 10.94
- Re-compiled with new versions of compilers
Changes for 10.93
- Serial Number and Copyright update
Changes for 10.92
- Tested in Windows 10 October 2020 Update, Version 20H2
- Re-compiled with new version of compiler
Changes for 10.91
- Re-compiled with new version of compiler
Changes for 10.90
- Tested in Windows 10 May 2020 Update, Version 2004
Changes for 10.89
- Fixed an error related to the clipboard in Secure Desktop Tools
- Small change related to clicking on the keyboard button in the Password dialog in Secure Desktop Shell
Changes for 10.88
- This is a recommended update if using features:
- Disable Right Mouse button
- Auditing
- Fixed problem with disabling right mouse clicks and other mouse buttons
- Small changes made to Tray Icon Notification area
- Fixed small problem with clipboard copy/paste functionality
- Fixed a problem with the Audit feature
- An sAudit XML file could become corrupted if the power to the computer is interrupted during a "write" operation
- Now, when an sAudit XML file has an error, it is renamed as possibly corrupt
- A new sAudit XML file is created and the audit function is resumed
- Added a feature to Dialog
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Dialog button | Popup Menu tab | Close Popup Menus with Class Name #32768 when Visible checkbox
- If checked, Secure Desktop sends an Escape key to the menu, so that it immediately closes.
- This is for context menus (right mouse button) and also classic menus, such as click on File in Notepad and other older applications.
- Added a feature to Settings
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Setting button | File Explorer tab
- Added ability to close windows with class name of NativeHWNDHost if top most
- This will close windows such as Map Network Drive and Add Network Location
- Fixed a problem:
- Secure Desktop Tools | Administrator tab | Supervisor button | Calculation Passwords tab
- If there is no PIN number and any of the checkboxes are checked, an error message will appear when clicking OK
- User should not be able to append calculation passwords with no PIN specified
- If a no PIN situation exists in an existing configuration, the Secure Desktop Shell will not append a calculation to passwords
- Windows Shell tab All Users section field was not read-only
- Safe Mode tab All Users section field was not read-only
- USB tab All Users section field was not read-only
- Secure Desktop shell tabs defaulted to the name Group 0, etc. Changed to Tab 0, etc.
- Secure Desktop shell error messages now have the same title as the Secure Desktop shell
- Fixed a problem with:
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Icon tab | Hide the Tab Bar if only the First Tab is Enabled checkbox
- The Use Default Settings checkbox in Secure Desktop Tools was sometimes not properly hiding/showing checkbox based on Default user selection
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Dialog button | File Open/Save As tab | Disable File Editing Features in File Open, Browse and File Save As Dialogs checkbox
- Fixed an issue with disabling the right mouse button when dialog was not yet on top
- Fixed an issue with disabling search in newer versions of Windows 10
Changes for 10.87
- Administrator tab All Users section field was not read-only
- Help text for All Users Logon dialog had incorrect font
- Fixed small enable/disable issue in Windows Shell tab
- Re-compiled in new version of compiler
Changes for 10.86
- Fixed a small problem with dragging a shortcut into Secure Desktop Tools
- Introduced in version 10.85
- Recommended upgrade if using Secure Desktop 10.85
- Re-compiled in new version of compiler
New Features for 10.85
- Tested in Windows Server 2019
- Tested in Windows 10 Version 1903 and 1909
- Re-compiled with new version of compilers
- Fixed a small bug with Audit with Enter key forcing a keystroke log
Changes for 10.84
- Improved the File Open/ Save As Base Folder feature
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Dialog button | File Open/Save As tab | Set Base Folder checkbox
- Improvement should eliminate crash that some customers reported
- Recommended update if using this feature
New Features for 10.82
- Removed use of Delete key in several Secure Desktop file utilities
- sCopy, sExplore and sNote
- Other Default Key Handling removed also
New Features for 10.81
- Enhanced sExplore.exe
- Now there are 2 panes with a splitter in between
- Left pane is a tree view of folders
- Right pane is the list view of files and folders
- Fixed a copy/paste error in sTools regarding the Run As Administrator checkbox
- Fixed a small problem with the new sCopy utility
- Fixed a problem with Exit toolbar button when clicking the No button
- Recommended upgrade if using version 10.71 or later
- Re-compiled with new version of compiler
New Features for 10.80
- New sCopy.exe utility
- Securely provide a method for a user to copy data files
- Simply specify a source folder, destination folder and wildcard filters via command-line
- User can not navigate up from folders, but can navigate to sub-folders
- User is prompted if data file to be copied already exists in destination folder
- Minor changes made to sDesktop.dll
- Re-compiled with new version of compilers
Changes for 10.77
- Re-compiled with new version of compiler
- Tested in Windows 10 Version 1809
New Features for 10.76
- Can now configure warning message in the Secure Desktop Auto Logoff screen saver
- Secure Desktop Tools | Administrator tab | [user section] | Logon button | Auto Logoff tab
- New End User License Agreement built into the install program. Please read before Secure Desktop installation
Changes for 10.75
- Windows 10 update changed the on screen keyboard
- The onscreen keyboard button in Secure Desktop stopped working because of this Windows 10 update
- In Windows 10, Secure Desktop now launches the older on screen keyboard (osk.exe)
- In Windows 10 64-bit, this is accomplished using a new Secure Desktop file named sKey64.exe
Changes for 10.74
- Fixed a problem with the Always-On-Bottom setting when used with Wallpaper
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Icon tab | Secure Desktop Window pull-down
- When this was set to Always-On-Bottom with this checked:
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Startup tab | Display Wallpaper when Secure Desktop is the Shell checkbox
- A flickering of the Secure Desktop shell window would happen
- The Secure Desktop shell window and the Wallpaper were fighting for the bottom of the z-order
- This has been fixed.
Changes for 10.73
- Fixed small problem with Window Wizard
- If matching a window title did not contain a '-', but Before or After dash was selected
- Window match would potentially fail
- This has been corrected
- And the user interface will now prevent that configuration
New Features for 10.72
- Added new command-line parameters to sva1072 setup for silent install
- /USERNAME="User Name String"
- /ORGNAME="Company Name String"
Changes for 10.71
- In rare cases, the right mouse button was enabled when it was configured to be disabled
- This happened when a delay was set for icons in the Startup tab
- All delays in Secure Desktop have been improved, including:
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Icon button | Startup tab
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Icon button | Shutdown tab
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Window button | Close A Program During Shutdown radio button
- Fixed a problem related to disabling the Alt key that caused problems with the keyboard and mouse
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Key..Mouse tab | left checkbox list | Alt checkbox
New Features for 10.70
- Tested in Windows 10 Version 1803
- Secure Desktop Tools | USB tab
- Added Local Group Policy Editor button when in Windows 7 or 8
- This is a 2nd method as an alternate to the existing method for Windows 7 or 8
- Windows XP has the original method only
- Windows 10 has the 2nd method only
- Added option to disable the Keyboard button in the Password dialog
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Icon tab | checkbox list
- Fixed a problem with the Keyboard button in the Password dialog in Windows 10
- Added a feature to Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Setting button
- Added new tab named Internet Explorer
- If checkbox is checked, Secure Desktop will close any window with IEFrame class (Internet Explorer)
- Added a read-only field to the Secure Desktop shell Info dialog to show the full path to sdesktop.xml
Changes for 10.69
- Disable File Editing Features in File Open, Browse and File Save As Dialogs
- Fixed a problem with disabling the Address Bar
- Recommended upgrade if using this feature
New Features for 10.68
- Added a new feature to Disable File Editing Features in File Open, Browse and File Save As Dialogs
- Now a Base Folder can be set for all File Open, Browse and Save As Dialogs in Windows 7, 8 or 10
- When a new dialog is opened, the Base Folder is presented
- The user can navigate to sub-folders, but not above the Base Folder
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Dialog button | File Open/Save As tab
- Also, fixed small bug with Set Shell to Explorer for [All Users] and Log Off checkbox
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Shutdown tab
- This is a recommended update if using either feature
New Features for 10.67
- The included sExplore.exe and sNote.exe utilities now have a 3rd file view option
- In addition to Small and Large Icons, there is now a Detail view
- This presents the files/folders in a spreadsheet type of view
- The 4 columns are Name, Size, Item type and Date modified
- By clicking on the column header, the files/folders can be sorted alphabetically or chronologically
New Features for 10.66
- The included sExplore.exe utility is no longer a single instance application
- Multiple sExplore.exe instances (windows) may be opened at the same time
- This enables the ability to cut/copy/paste files using Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V from one instance to the other instance
New Features for 10.65
- New Secure Desktop Shutdown feature:
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Shutdown tab
- New checkbox: Set Shell to Explorer for [All Users] and Log Off
- If checked, a new option will appear on Windows Shutdown dialog
- This will require an Admin UAC prompt in Windows 7/8/10
- Registry will be set to Explorer.exe and the User will be Logged Off
- Our sExplore.exe utility has new command-line parameter of /p
- A new Print button will be added to the toolbar
- One or more selected document files can be printed to Default printer
- Small documentation updates to sManual.pdf
New Features for 10.60
- Windows Server 2016 support
- Minor user interface change to:
- Secure Desktop Tools | Option button | Audit tab
New Features for 10.57
- Tested in Windows 10 Fall Creator's Update
- The following checkbox now disables Ctrl-V while the File Open Dialog is top most window
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Dialog button | File Open/Save As tab | Disable File Editing Features... checkbox
Changes for 10.56
- Fixed a problem introduced in version 10.55
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Dialog button | File Open/Save As tab | Disable File Editing Features... checkbox
- Recommended update for customers using version 10.55
New Features for 10.55
- Added support for Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server due to multiple customer requests
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | System and Dialog button features are now available in Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server
- Previous versions of Secure Desktop automatically enable/disable the ability to for hidden files to be displayed
- This has been removed as many antivirus products protect this registry value
New Features for 10.51
- Windows 10 Anniversary Update changed the on screen keyboard
- The onscreen keyboard button in Secure Desktop stopped working because of this change
- This has been corrected
- The Windows 10 version information in Secure Desktop Tools and Secure Desktop Shell will now display one of the following:
- Fall Creators Update
- Creators Update
- Anniversary Update
- November Update
- Initial Release
Changes for 10.50
- Removed support for Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server
New Features for 10.33
- Added the ability to immediately close the File Properties Dialog
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Dialog button | File Properties tab
New Features for 10.32
- New enhancement for Dialog feature introduced in version 10.30
- This pertains to Disable File Editing Features in File Save As Dialog
- File name field is no longer disabled
- Instead, the ": ; \ |" keys are disabled
- So only a file name may be inputted, not a drive/folder/filename
New Features for 10.31
- Added option to hide the Universal Time from the Status Bar
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Icon tab | checkbox list
New Features for 10.30
- For Windows 7, 8 and 10: Two new buttons added to user configuration - Setting and Dialog
- The Setting feature provides a method to immediately close many setting-related editing apps, should they be opened by any application
- The Dialog feature provides a method to immediately close dialogs such as File Open, File Save As, Print, Run and Internet Options
- The Dialog feature also provides a way to disable file editing features in dialogs File Open, Browse and File Save As and printer editing features in Print
- Secure Desktop shell timer loop is now significantly faster
- Tested in Windows 10 Creators Update
Changes for 10.26
- Re-compiled with new version of compilers
Changes for 10.25
- Re-compiled with new version of compiler
New Features for 10.24
- When clicking an icon, Secure Desktop will change the mouse pointer to the Busy (hourglass) before launching the application
- After launching the application, the mouse pointer will be restored to what it was at the time the icon was clicked
Changes for 10.23
- Fixed a problem related to launching Internet Explorer introduced in Secure Desktop 10.00
- Recommended update for anyone using Secure Desktop 10.00 or later if launching Internet Explorer
Changes for 10.22
- Fixed another problem related to Canadian Multilingual Standard Keyboard layout when Keystroke auditing was enabled
- This fix slightly changed the format of the keystroke audit file
Changes for 10.21
- Fixed a problem with Start Explorer in Addition to Secure Desktop checkbox for Windows XP, 7 and 8
- Removed Start Explorer in Addition to Secure Desktop checkbox feature for Windows 10
- This feature is not technically possible in Windows 10
- Added documentation to clarify that applications started with Run As Administrator checkbox are in a different security context
- Disabled hot-keys or mouse buttons will not be disabled for these applications due to the different security context
New Features for 10.20
- Added Ctrl-Ins and Shift-Ins to list of hot-key combinations that may be disabled
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Key..Mouse tab | Disable Windows Hot-Keys list
New Features for 10.12
- Tested in Windows 10 Anniversary Update
- Application files and installation files are now dual signed (sha1 and sha256)
Changes for 10.11
- Fixed a problem related to Canadian Multilingual Standard Keyboard layout when Keystroke auditing was enabled
- Fixed a problem related to Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Icon button | Import button | Browse button
New Features for 10.10
- Date/Time information within the audit XML files now shows Local time in addition to Universal Time (UT)
- Date/Time information within the sdesktop.xml file now shows Local time in addition to Universal Time (UT)
- Audit XML file names continue to be in Universal Time (UT) format
New Features for 10.00
- Windows 10 Support
- If Mission-Critical, Consider Using Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB Edition
- Also Supports Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8
- 32-bit Classic Windows Application
- 64-bit Aware
- New Setup Program
- Now Using Inno Setup instead of Wise installer
- Setup program is now signed
- Setup files are now smaller
- User Interface Improvements
- Design improved for Touchscreen
- New Icons throughout
- On Screen Keyboard Support
- The Edition of Windows 7, 8 or 10 is shown with version (Home, Pro, Enterprise, etc.)
- Configuration XML File Management
- Copy HostName.DomainName/UserName to Default
- Edit UserName
- Ignore HostName.DomainName option, UserName Only for Lookup
- Duplicate Existing HostName.DomainName/UserName
- Auto Backup sdesktop.xml
- Manual Backup and Restore sdesktop.xml
- Same sdesktop.xml file as Secure Desktop 7 and Secure Desktop 8
- Auto Export Registry Subkeys Modified by Secure Desktop
- Feature available for Windows 8 or Windows 10 only
- Added sNote.exe utility for viewing and printing text files
- Launch sNote.exe with a command-line parameter of a file path surrounded by quotes
- Example: sNote.exe "C:\Users\User Name\Documents"
- The sNote.exe left pane will display files and folders in that path. No right mouse clicks
- Navigate down in folders, but not higher than initial path
- Optional second parameter is a wildcard filter (default is *.txt)
- Example: sNote.exe "C:\Users\User Name\Documents" "*.txt"
- Optional third parameter is /NOPRINT to remove the print button
- Alternate optional third parameter is the name of the printer to use instead of the Default printer
- Disable Task Manager and Shutdown in Ctrl-Alt-Delete screen for All Users
- Secure Desktop launches Classic Windows applications (CWA) Only
- A Classic Windows application uses the Classic Windows Platform (CWP) (e.g., COM, Win32, WPF, WinForms, etc.)
- A Universal Windows app is built on the Universal Windows Platform (UWP)
- The UWP requires the Explorer shell on Windows 10
- Secure Desktop provides security by replacing the Explorer shell
- Universal Windows apps (UWA) are not supported
- Browser Support
- Secure Desktop 10 has specific features to lock down Internet Explorer 11
- CWA Browsers (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera) can be launched
- UWP Browsers (Edge) can not be launched
- Tested on Microsoft Surface Pro
Upgrade from Version 8.xx to 8.28
ftp://visualautomation.com/sup828.exe (18M)
Secure Desktop 8 Revisions
New Features for 8.28
- Added option to hide the Universal Time from the Status Bar
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Icon tab | checkbox list
Changes for 8.27
- Fixed another problem related to Canadian Multilingual Standard Keyboard layout when Keystroke auditing was enabled
- This fix slightly changed the format of the keystroke audit file
Changes for 8.26
- Fixed a problem with Start Explorer in Addition to Secure Desktop checkbox
- Application files are now dual signed (sha1 and sha256)
Changes for 8.25
- Fixed a problem related to Canadian Multilingual Standard Keyboard layout when Keystroke auditing was enabled
Changes for 8.24
- Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Options button | Key..Mouse tab | left checkbox list | Ctrl-Shift-Esc checkbox
- Ctrl-Shift-Esc (Task Manager) does not disable correctly in certain situations
- If this is checked, Secure Desktop will now automatically close the Task Manager if it is displayed
Changes for 8.23
- Fixed a problem with Supervisor Calculation Passwords
- Recommended update for anyone using this feature
Changes for 8.22.2
- No code changes, small change in installation
Changes for 8.22.1
- No code changes, small change in installation
Changes for 8.22
- Fixed a small bug in sExplore.exe where the user could potentially navigate above the initial folder
New Features for 8.21
- Added keyboard shortcuts to the Secure Desktop and Explorer shell buttons in sTools.exe
- Made a small change to sWall.exe to insure that it is at the bottom of the z-order (in the background)
New Features for 8.20
- Now supports Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2
- New sExplore.exe file
- Launch sExplore.exe with a command-line parameter of a file path surrounded by quotes
- Example: sExplore.exe "C:\Users\User Name\Documents"
- The sExplore.exe window will display files and folders in that path. No right mouse clicks.
- Navigate down in folders, but not higher than initial path.
- Optional second parameter is a wildcard filter
- Example: sExplore.exe "C:\Users\User Name\Documents" "*.doc"
Changes for 8.12
- Fixed an error when using feature "Start Explorer in Addition To Secure Desktop"
- This error occurred when using this feature on a Windows Server product with Terminal Services
Changes for 8.11
- Fixed an error in version 8.00 where "Always On Bottom" feature did not work quite right
- Recommended update for anyone using "Always On Bottom"
New Features for 8.10
- New wallpaper feature via Secure Desktop Tools | Secure Desktop tab | Option button | Startup tab | Display Wallpaper when Secure Desktop is the Shell checkbox
- Specify any jpg, jpeg, png or bmp file
- New 64-bit version of sControl.exe (Control Panel), named sControl64.exe
- All components optimized with newer compiler versions
Changes for 8.03
- Increased the height of the Secure Desktop shell
Changes for 8.02
- Fixed an error in version 8.01 where command-line arguments were truncated when importing from a shortcut file (*.lnk)
- Recommended update for anyone using version 8.01
New Features for 8.01
- When importing icon data from a shortcut file (*.lnk), Secure Desktop now converts any short path name to a long path name
- This is important in the 64-bit windows, as there are two Program Files paths, one for 32-bit applications and the other for 64-bit
- One short path might start with C:\PROGRA~1\ and the other with C:\PROGRA~2\, but the system may change the order, so a long path name is more accurate
New Features for 8.00
- Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 Support
- Also Supports Windows XP and Windows 7
- 32-bit Windows Application, Does Not support Windows Store Apps (Metro)
- 64-bit Aware
- Design improved for Touchscreen
- On Screen Keyboard Support
- Tested on Microsoft Surface Pro
- Same Configuration XML File as Secure Desktop 7
- Secure Desktop 8 locks down Internet Explorer 8-11
Upgrade from Version 7.xx to 7.54
ftp://visualautomation.com/sup754.exe (8.3M)
Secure Desktop 7 Revisions
New Features for 7.54
- Re-wrote Automatic Logon to save Password encrypted to the registry. Recommended update for anyone using Automatic Logon.
New Features for 7.53
- Autologon has been greatly improved for Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit
New Features for 7.52
- Toolbar buttons in Secure Desktop Shell can now be activated using the keyboard only (Alt-S for Super, Alt-A for Audit, etc.)
New Features for 7.51
- Added "Content Advisor Settings" button in Secure Desktop Tools | Administrator tab | Internet Explorer button | Approved Sites tab
- Removed Secure Desktop Shell console window (bug created in 7.50)
New Features for 7.50
- Added Internet Explorer version 10 support.
- Secure Desktop 7.50 now supports Internet Explorer versions 8, 9 and 10 only.
New Features for 7.44
- Added ability to disable Switch User (sTools | Administrator tab | [All Users] Logon button | Ctrl-Alt-Delete Dialog tab).
- Added ability to disable Ease of Access (Utility Manager in XP/2003), same location as Switch User feature.
- When disabling Favorites and Tools Buttons in Internet Explorer 9, the remaining Home button would display Favorites. This has been fixed.
- When loading user configuration by domain/username, Secure Desktop now looks for an exact string match that is case insensitive.
New Features for 7.43
- Added Space and Enter key to list of keys to disable. For some software, selected button may trigger again using spacebar or enter key.
- For the Internet Explorer (IE9) dialog box, Secure Desktop disabled Ctrl-P if Start in Full Screen mode was checked. Now Ctrl-P is only disabled if Disabled Favorites and Tools Buttons is checked.
New Features for 7.42
- Added ability to disable LogOff and Shutdown in the Windows Security Dialog (sTools | Administrator tab | User Logon button | Ctrl-Alt-Delete tab)
Changes for 7.41
- Fixed a problem related to the hot-key to bring the Secure Desktop shell to the top of the z-order. This was an intermittent problem possibly related to Internet Explorer 9.
New Features for 7.40
- Can now disable Ctrl-Alt-Delete in Windows 7 and other newer versions of Windows by re-mapping keys system wide.
- Fixed a small problem with timed application launches.
New Features for 7.31
- Some customers reported a boot up delay with Secure Desktop as the shell. This no longer happens.
New Features for 7.30
- Added Internet Explorer 9 support.
- Fixed small naming bug with tab 9.
- When choosing to launch the Explorer desktop in addtion to Secure Desktop, in 64-bit Windows, would launch 32-bit Explorer.exe. This has been fixed.
- Dropped Mozilla Firefox support.
Changes for 7.25
- Fixed a small user interface problem with the window wizard.
Changes for 7.24
- Secure Desktop is now Theme aware. Errors would happen in Windows Classic mode of Windows 7. This has been fixed.
- Fixed a problem with un-installing Secure Desktop in Windows 7.
Changes for 7.23
- Disabling Ctrl-Alt-Delete is not available for the 64-bit version of Windows XP.
Changes for 7.22
- Fixed problem with some passwords not working after upgrading from 7.00-7.11 to 7.20-7.21.
New Features for 7.21
- Now tested in 32/64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, Windows 7, and Windows 2008 Server.
New Features for 7.20
- Secure Desktop 7.20 is designed and tested for Windows XP (32-bit) and Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit).
- Windows Vista support has been dropped.
Changes for 7.12
- In Secure Desktop Tools | Manage Users, if your computer names were longer than the width of the two lists, you couldn't read the full user name. Now there is a horizontal scroll bar.
Changes for 7.11
- Using the Window Wizard, if the minimize and/or maximize system menu items are removed, the minimize and/or maximize buttons in the upper right corner will be disabled.
- If you remove one or the other, the buttons will be visible but disabled.
- If you remove both minimize and maximize, the buttons will no longer be visible.
New Features for 7.10
- Internet Explorer 8 Support
- Added ability to force a window to be "Always-On-Top" using Window Wizard.
- Added Shift-Right Mouse click support to sControl.exe.
Changes for 7.01
- Icon tooltips may be causing an error, slight change was made to try to correct this.
- If a value in the sDesktop.xml file should have been an integer, but wasn't, an error would occur. This has been fixed.
- If Secure Desktop tried to start a program that didn't exist, an error would occur. Because Secure Desktop may be running in a 24/7 unattended environment, error boxes would pile up resulting in an eventual crash. These error messages have been removed.
- Clicking on an empty icon slot would cause a File Not Found error. This error has been removed.
- Clicking on a tab that was password protected would always result in an Incorrect Password error. This occurred because sTools was not encrypting the password, but sDesktop assumed that it was encrypted. This has been fixed, but customers should re-enter all tab passwords, causing them to be saved correctly.
Upgrade from Version 6.xx to 6.86
https://visualautomation.com/download/updsd686.exe (4.5M)