Disable bottom bar in Android Honeycomb tablets with SureLock
Wondering how to disable that annoying status bar in the bottom of HoneyComb Tablets aka Android 3.0! Well, SureLock comes with option to disable the bottom bar in tablets running Android HoneyComb OS which allows you to run your favorite applications in full-screen which complies with SureLock's settings(To make your application compatible with SureLock's full-screen implementation, there might be a few changes required in your application too. Contact us for details) . Here's how you can get away with bottom bar.
Before & After Disabling Bottom Bar
- Launch SureLock on your HoneyComb Tablet and access the SureLock's Settings Screen using admin password
- Go to "SureLock Settings"
- Enable "Disable Bottom Bar" option
- SureLock prompts to restart itself. Tap on "Restart"
- There you go. Bottom bar is disabled after SureLock relaunches.
Steps to Disable Bottom Bar in SureLock
Disabling bottom bar can be quite helpful in scenarios where end-users are provided with restricted usage of devices and complete kiosk experience is required.
Author: Panshul Srivastava
42Gears Mobility Systems
To learn more on how to secure and manage Android and Windows Mobile/CE devices efficiently, visit us at www.42gears.com
Modifying how to access SureFox Settings
A common problem faced by end-users of SureFox was unintentionally bumping into SureFox's admin password screen thereby disrupting the application flow.
Worry no more. SureFox now comes with an option to customize the way you access administrator settings. Here's how you can do the same:
- Access the SureFox admin screen using your password and follow as shown in steps below:
Steps for SureFox
- In Misc Settings, you can find the options to modify the settings to access Administrator's Password Prompt.
- Number of Taps: Change the Number of Taps required on screen to open the Password Screen for Admin
Edit "Number of Taps"
- Access Settings Timeout: Change "Access Settings Timeout" to control the time(in seconds) after launch of SureFox within which the Admin can try to access Password prompt for Admin Setting
Edit "Access Settings Timeout"
- Number of Taps: Change the Number of Taps required on screen to open the Password Screen for Admin
That's it. Your SureFox's admin screen is restricted according to the settings you configure and reduces the chances of unintentional launch by end-user.
Author: Panshul Srivastava
42Gears Mobility Systems
To learn more on how to secure and manage Android and Windows Mobile/CE devices efficiently, visit us at www.42gears.com
Modifying how to access SureLock Settings
A common problem faced by end-users of SureLock was unintentionally bumping into SureLock's admin password screen thereby disrupting the application flow.
Worry no more. SureLock now comes with an option to customize the way you access administrator settings. Here's how you can do the same:
- Access the SureLock admin screen using your password and follow as shown in steps below:
Steps for SureLock
- In Misc Settings, you can find the options to modify the settings to access Administrator's Password Prompt.
- Number of Taps: Change the Number of Taps required on screen to open the Password Screen for Admin
Edit "Number of Taps"
- Access Settings Timeout: Change "Access Settings Timeout" to control the time(in seconds) after launch of SureLock within which the Admin can try to access Password prompt for Admin Setting
Edit "Access Settings Timeout"
- Number of Taps: Change the Number of Taps required on screen to open the Password Screen for Admin
That's it. Your SureLock's admin screen is restricted according to the settings you configure and reduces the chances of unintentional launch by end-user.
Author: Panshul Srivastava
42Gears Mobility Systems
To learn more on how to secure and manage Android and Windows Mobile/CE devices efficiently, visit us at www.42gears.com
How to control users from accessing certain features in SureMDM Web Console?
As an administrator you might have a need to restrict other users in your account to only a few features. e.g. a user A could be allowed to push files to remote devices but is not permitted to locate the position of devices on map. Or a user B could remotely lock the devices but is not allowed to remotely wipe the device.
SureMDM now has a new feature using which SureMDM administrator of an account can control permissions for other users. As an Administrator you can configure the permissions of an existing user or while creating a new user.
Steps to set User Access Permissions
1) Click on User Management button on top of the SureMDM console
2) List of all users is displayed
3) To modify permission of an existing user:
a. Select a user and press Edit.
b. On next screen, last row shows the permission status. To configure the permission, click on Modify button.
c. Select the permissions you wish to grant the user and press OK.
4) To add a user with limited permission:
a. Click on add user
b. Enter user credentials. To configure permissions, click on Modify button.
c. Select the permissions you wish to grant the user and press OK.
After login the user will be able to use only the permitted features.
To learn more about SureMDM, please visit the product page.
How to wirelessly send files to multiple Android devices?
Problem of sending files to multiple devices seems difficult but not if you use SureMDM. Here is what you need to do:
* Login to your SureMDM Web Console
* Create an Install job. Name it say MyFile. Include the file that you want to send. Specify the path where you want to copy the file to. e.g. /sdcard/
Transfer files to devices over Wireless
* MyFile Install job is created on the SureMDM server
* In the SureMDM console, select a device or a group of devices and Apply the MyFile job that you just created. Its not important for devices to be online when a job is applied.
* Devices will receive the job whenever they come Online and the file is copied to the specified path on them.
As you see SureMDM provides a very easy method to push files to may be hundreds of Android devices with just a few clicks. To learn more about SureMDM and its other features visit the product page.
Tablets for Education & Learning
Tablets for Education and Learning in schools
Tablets have filled the gap between mobile phones and laptops. One can easily carry them almost like a personal cell phone and can do useful work on them almost like a laptop. Tablets have created a new category of technology products and have been rapidly accepted by consumers as well as enterprises.
Tablets are also been looked upon as a perfect medium to deliver information in classrooms as they are very easy to use with a short leanring curve. Even young students can quickly learn how to get most out of tablets, thanks to modern UI design that is used these days to develop applications.
There are many advantages of providing tablets to students:
• Interactive delivery of information: Students learn easily if they have access to videos and audio content related to the topic being taught in the class. Say the topic is about solar system. Students would be more interested if they could see a video about how planets revolve around the sun and their position rather than just reading about them.
• Quick Tests: Teachers can quickly determine if the class has understood a topic by taking quick tests. Results will be available as soon as test is completed.
• Access to Library: Students can look up on their devices if a particular book is available in the library. The books can also be issued right from the device itself.
• Take Surveys: Schools can easily run a school wide survey on mobile devices with better accuracy of results.
• Quiz Programs: Random Quiz programs can be organized irrespective of where the students are. This can be a lot of fun for students.
• School Events, Notices, News, Exam schedules, Bus schedules etc: All such information can be readily made available to students on their tablets. No more regular visits to the notice boards.
• Availability of educational Tools such as Dictionaries, eBooks, Tutorials, Technical Papers etc
More Advantages:
• Reduce use of printed sheets (Go Green) and Save cost of textbooks
• Faster information exchange between students, teachers and school authorities.
• Students carry less weight to school (Good for young students)
Challenges:
Though mobile devices are powerful and have lots of positive features the same power can be easily misused by the students. Ensuring effective use of mobile technology is a concern for school authorities like;
• Schools have to ensure that stuends do not download malware and other illegal content on the devices
• Schools have to maintain other aspects of the hardware and software on the device
42Gears Mobility Systems provides all the necessary management and security tools that a school need to effectively deploy and manage mobile devices. Click http://www.42gears.com to learn more about our products.
Remotely update SureLock configuration on mobile devices in the field
SureLock recently introduced the ability to export its settings to a file. This settings file could later be imported on any number of devices. What this means is an administrator can now configure and test his SureLock configuration on one device. Once he is satisfied with the device lockdown achieved and feels the configuration is ready for final field deployment, he can export this setting to a file and copy this settings file to his other devices and import it from within SureLock. Entire lockdown configuration gets cloned on new devices, within seconds.
Now we have taken SureLock Import/Export settings to another level by enabling Administrator to remotely change SureLock configuration on devices in field without requiring any user intervention.
SureLock can now be configured to periodically look for new configurations from a path. This path can be
- a local path on device. In this case, administrator can push new configuration files to the device remotely using some MDM solution (like SureMDM) and SureLock will pick up the new configuration from this file automatically.
- a remote http url. In this case, administrator can just upload the new settings to his web server and SureLock will download the new configuration directly from the website.
In both methods, there is no user intervention required from the end-user. All surelock devices, will detect the presence of a new configuration and apply it.
Following steps are required to configure SureLock to periodically look for new configurations:
- Goto SureLock Settings -> Import/Export Settings
- Under Automatic Import section, make sure "Enable Automatic Import" is checked.
- Tap on "Automatic Import File". Enter the full URL of the settings file on your server e.g. http://www.42gears.com/surelock/mysettings.settings. Alternatively, you can also specify a local file path e.g. /sdcard/surelock/mysettings.settings.
- Tap on "Periodic Check". Enter the periodicity in minutes, with which you want SureLock to poll for new settings.
- Thats it. SureLock is all set to automatically update itself from your server whenever you put new settings there.
In order to obtain the settings file from a Gold device follow the steps below:
- Goto SureLock settings -> Import/Export Settings
- Under "Export Settings" section, tap on Export to File. Enter the local file path where you want to save the settings (Note: this path should be a LOCAL file path.)
- SureLock should successfully export its current settings to this path.
We completely understand the Enterprise Mobility requirement where IT administrator can feel the need to modify the security lockdown configuration of the device whereby some rogue application needs to be blocked or some important application needs to allowed. Bringing back devices from field to do these modifications has huge costs involved, reduces mobile workforce productivity and most importantly, halts your business. This is why we feel, this new feature in SureLock will bring huge benefits to Enterprises and reinforces our commitment to make our customer's business more successful.
42Gears Mobility Systems is the leading vendor of mobility managament tools helping companies manage and secure their fleet of mobile devices such as Smartphones and Tablets. Learn more about our products.