Installation window

You may choose the Acronis component to install it on the selected computer. First, you install Acronis License Server to manage corporate licenses, and the Console to manage the networked computers. The Agent then may be installed locally onto each networked computer, or remotely from the Console window.

Console main window

The main Console window allows you to install the Agent or the License Server onto remote computers. Computers with the Agent installed appear in the Network list. Having connected to any of them, you can perform remote operations on these computers: launch immediately or schedule spyware removal tasks, install and enable/disable the Spyware Shield for proactive protection from spyware installation, install the Pop-up Blocker to ban annoying pop-ups while surfing the Internet, update the Spyware Base from Acronis web-site. The Tasks area displays the operations, scheduled or currently executed on the selected computer.

Wizard Welcome Window

The user-friendly Wizards help you configure the settings of any remote operation, including the Acronis components remote installation.

Selecting remote computers to perform a task

Any remote operation can be configured for a group of remote computers. The Wizard displays a list of connected remote computers, where you can check one, selected or all available machines to perform the task.

Scan modes

There are two modes of spyware search. Smart scanning (used by default) searches for spyware only in the most likely locations, including system, user profile and temporary files folders, as well as in the system registry. This mode is used for a quick PC check.
Deep scanning searches all folders on the PC hard drive, using an extended algorithm for spyware scanning. This way could take much more time depending on the capacity of the PC hard disks.

Scheduling tasks on remote computers

The administrator can schedule spyware removal and spyware base update group tasks for selected remote computers on a regular basis without user intervention. Acronis Scheduler is flexible enough to arrange for tasks launch with different periodicity.

Entering User name and Password

Acronis Privacy Expert Corporate fully supports all security standards used in Windows. For the remote computers, running Windows NT, 2000, XP or Server 2003, you will have to specify the name of the user that owns the executed task; otherwise, no scheduled execution would be available.

Scripts

When the task configuration is completed, Acronis Privacy Expert Corporate displays the description of operations to perform. At this step you still can click Back to make changes in the created task. Clicking Proceed starts the task execution (if the task should be launched immediately) or distribution (if the task is scheduled for delayed launch) to the remote computers.

Viewing logs

The administrator can view Acronis Privacy Expert Corporate working logs on remote computers. Logs are created for spyware removal and spyware base update operations. They provide information about performed operations and their results, including reasons for failure, if any. The left panel of the log-browsing window features the log list, while the right one shows selected log contents. Log settings are used to keep track with different degrees of detail.

The Quarantine

To allow viewing and recovery of the objects, deleted by spyware removal operations, they are not lost forever, but stored on the user's computer in a special folder, referred to as the Quarantine. The administrator can open the Quarantine list remotely, examine it and restore any of the deleted objects, in the unlikely case it would be useful.

Spyware database update

Offering the timely and reliable protection from new spyware released as often as every day, Acronis maintains the Spyware Definitions Updates service on Acronis website. The system administrator can start or schedule the update task on remote computers by means of the Console in the same way as spyware removal task.
The spyware definitions updates service is available only for registered users of Acronis Privacy Expert Corporate.

Settings, available to local users

Though Acronis Spyware Shield and Acronis Pop-up Blocker can be installed only remotely, from the Console window, setting up their options is referred to a local user. Right-clicking on the Spyware Shield or Pop-up Blocker icons in the system tray will invoke a window, where the user can choose enable or disable the feature, set its options or exit and remove the icon from the system tray.

Spyware Shield: the alert box

The Spyware Shield prevents spyware from being installed to users' computers. It constantly monitors running processes and alerts the user due to any suspicious software activity such as trying to change the Windows registry and to launch at startup. The alert box contains the detected process essence and two buttons to enter the user's decision: Block or Allow the detected action. To permanently block or allow that action, the user checks Remember event box. The Shield will repeat the remembered decision each time the same activity is detected, not warning the user any more. The list of remembered events is available for editing in the Spyware Shield Advanced options.

Spyware Shield options: Known threats or All suspicious activity

If the user selects Known threats only, Acronis Spyware Shield will warn the user only about known spyware activity. "Known spyware" means spyware, listed in the product's database.
If All suspicious activities is enabled, Acronis Spyware Shield will warn the user about all suspicious programs or processes activity. Since certain system changes are useful and should not always be blocked, this setting is recommended for experienced users, capable to identify the detected process.

Spyware Shield options: Advanced Options

Here an advanced user can individually enable or disable any Spyware Shield option. All options are enabled by default, providing the highest possible level of protection.

Acronis Pop-up Blocker: General settings window

While browsing some Web sites, you might have unwanted pop-up windows open along with the window you want. Generally, pop-ups contain bothersome advertising. They slow down the Internet connection and increase the traffic you pay for. However, on some Web sites pop-ups are used to provide extra information or as locations where the user inputs information, registration data, for example.

Acronis Pop-up Blocker: White list window

The user can configure Acronis Pop-up Blocker to allow pop-ups appearance from trusted web-sites by adding these sites' URLs to the White list.

Acronis Pop-up Blocker: Black list window

Some web-sites not only generate pop-ups, but deliberately lead the user to other places, opening lots of new windows. To withstand it, the user may add the insecure site's URL to the Black list. Then the numerous unwanted links will be blocked, even if the user is misled to this site by a search engine or an unintended click.

Creating a bootable media with Acronis Drive Cleanser

Many operating systems do not provide users with sufficient data destruction tools, so deleted files can be restored easily by simple applications. Even a complete disk formatting cannot guarantee permanent confidential data destruction.
Acronis Drive Cleanser offers assured and permanent data destruction on selected hard disks and/or partitions. The program utilizes a number of the most popular data destruction methods, complying with national standards including U.S. Standard DoD 5220.22-M. You may want to create your own method as well, or load a method from an .alg file.
Using the Acronis Privacy Expert Corporate, you can create bootable diskettes or CD with Acronis Drive Cleanser. These diskettes or CD will allow you to destroy data on any PC easily and permanently, even if it does not have Acronis Privacy Expert Corporate installed.

Secure data destruction with Acronis Drive Cleanser

Acronis Drive Cleanser has a wizard that scripts all hard disk operations, so no data destruction is performed until you execute the complete script. At any moment you can return to the previous stages to select other disks, partitions or data destruction methods.

Viewing the result of data destruction

After data destruction procedure is finished, you can estimate its result reading and displaying the data of the wiped disk/partition, using Acronis Disk Editor tool. The picture you might see depends on the data destruction method. But what you actually see are disk sectors filled with either zeros or random symbols.