Popup graphic after login?

Codyy · November 2015

I'd like to have a graphic appear after login and then fade away after 5-10 seconds that reminds users of a certain policy we have. We currently do this through a group policy text dialog box that appears before login but it's so small and bland that most users don't even notice it. I've researched and haven't found a way to do this but I've been in other organizations that had a graphic like this so I know it's possible. I guess I could drop a jpeg in the startup folder, don't see management buying off on that one though.

Any input is appreciated.

Robertf969 · November 2015

Could use python to write a logon script. Im way to tired right now to write one but if you google it you should find something.

TheFORCE · November 2015

It would be very annoying to users if you were to do that. Your idea is good, policies need to be in place for various things but a policy that is shown as an advertisment constantly after logon is just annoying.
Besides that, it would only apply for 1 specific policy. I'm sure your company has other policies as well. Are they not as important?

You would have better luck and it would be more convincing to management if you were to actually create a way for all policies to be maintained, read and enforced.

You could add those policies to your learning site or your intranet, send a communication email to remind users and hold them responsible for reading the policies. If you do it via a learning site or your intranet you could even log which users have read which policies and which policies have not be read at all. I don't know what industry you are in but by doing it that way you also comply with regulations and management loves to say that they comply with regulations.

elTorito · November 2015

Every organization is different in regards to what is considered acceptable practise. I'd argue that if the risk of damage is high if your end users do not follow company policy, then a popup message at logon is justified. As always, try to walk the middle ground. A one-time popup would be a good compromise, IMO.

The company Intranet page, in my experience, is kind of a hit or miss when it comes to relaying important news. At my workplace, people are terribly selective about reading the Intranet. News items that have to do with salary usually get a 100% page hit ratio, while IT news is usually skipped or skimmed over.

If you're using desktop workspace management software such as RES PowerFuse or Workspace Manager, a one-time popup is easy enough to execute. If Windows tooling is all you have, you might try developing a PowerShell script that: 1) Sets a user registry key value if the user clicks on the "OK" button (rather than Cancel); 2) At next execution, check if the registry value is present. If so, do not execute. If not, show the popup again.

If you're using a company-enforced desktop wallpaper, you can also use that to convey an important message.

Codyy · November 2015

Appreciate the replies. I should have been more clear, this is coming down from management so not my idea, I'm just responsible for figuring out the tech stuff. Usually I'd be against these kinds of things because they can be annoying, though I did an in-person survey throughout our building to see what users thought about the current reminder. Surprisingly, the majority actually liked the popup because it reminded them of the policy, though some said they would like to see the dialog box size increase because it's easy to miss. This aligns with what management wants so now it's just implementing it. Thanks.

Just to give everyone a better idea, it's a reminder to turn off WiFi/Bluetooth on electronic devices. It's difficult to enforce with the tools we currently have so we rely on user integrity more than anything. We can't exactly make people show us their devices. We're looking for a tool to help enforce, just trying to find something that fits the budget. If anyone has recommendations on a tool I'd definitely appreciate the input.

Plantwiz · November 2015

@Codyy,

You are in a tight spot. Try to educate management that policies that cannot be inforced are a joke (in a very PC manner) and encourage training or get yourself (or someone on your team) into the department meetings to continue to educate the importance of what your team is expected and why they want what they want.

Micromanaging is painful for all involved. I strongly recommend that if there is not a whole company meeting, that at the various team meetings IT gets 3-5 minutes to talk about what is happening of just a quick training at each one. Little more positive.

TheFORCE · November 2015

Codyy wrote: »

Just to give everyone a better idea, it's a reminder to turn off WiFi/Bluetooth on electronic devices. It's difficult to enforce with the tools we currently have so we rely on user integrity more than anything. We can't exactly make people show us their devices.

Why do you want users to turn off their wifi/bluethooth in the first place? Is this on their personal devices or is this on company devices? On premise or off premise?

Codyy · November 2015

TheFORCE wrote: »

Why do you want users to turn off their wifi/bluethooth in the first place? Is this on their personal devices or is this on company devices? On premise or off premise?

Personal devices, on premise. I started this position last week and from my understanding this has been going back and forth for a while as to why wifi/bluetooth should be off. I haven't heard a good reason. Does it make sense to me? Not really. What makes sense to me is no personal electronic devices period considering the environment, but that's not going to happen anytime soon from what I can tell.

Sorry I don't want to come off as rude but the purpose of this thread wasn't really to go back and forth about the policy and how much sense it makes. I totally get it and know where you're coming from. But as you know sometimes management decisions do not make sense to us techies and at the end of the day they pay me to do as told. I can't overly-question their decision, especially being the new guy, I've been told to come up with a graphic of some sort so that's what I'll do. As I mentioned in an earlier post, surprisingly the majority of people I talked to actually liked the reminder, so I don't feel too bad about creating something annoying.

Plantwiz · November 2015

@Codyy,

Actually, being the 'new guy/gal' gives you the right to ask intelligent and provoking questions about your work environment. You are coming in with fresh eyes and, at the very least, need to learn the culture. This is why I suggested you are tactful about your approach and still recommend and education piece.

I do not think anyone is outwardly stating to 'skip' the project, simply you are asking folks from around the globe, with varying levels of experiences and expertise from many different job sectors (all involving IT) so when you hear, 'that (idea) is lame' it doesn't necessarily mean you should skip it, but might mean that in real world production is unsuccessful as many folks here have likely tried it out in the past....hence their comments. WIth that, you have some perspective to go back to management and rather than being a 'yes man/woman' can handle the conversation intelligently and possibly offer up a solution that WILL be successful.

Point is, pop-up screens, in my experience (and it spans a few decades) end-users do not use them. Education reaches more people and is longer lasting. YMMV.
(and I had one (pop-up) we developed for W95 and W98 and eventually dropped it because it was more bother and not serving its purpose).

Qord · November 2015

If it really needs to be a pop up, a powershell script run on login might be the easiest answer. How informative or complex do you want this to be? For a generic pop up:

$popup = New-Object -ComObject Wscript.Shell
$popup.Popup("Please remember to turn off wifi/bluetooth",0,"Wireless Policy Reminder",0x1)

If you wanted one of those sys tray pop ups this should work:

[system.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms') | Out-Null           
$balloon = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon            
$path = Get-Process -id $pid | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Path            
$icon = [System.Drawing.Icon]::ExtractAssociatedIcon($path)            
$balloon.Icon = $icon            
$balloon.BalloonTipIcon = "info"            
$balloon.BalloonTipText = "Please remember to disable all wifi and bluetooth on personal devices"
$balloon.BalloonTipTitle = "Policy reminder"            
$balloon.Visible = $true            
$balloon.ShowBalloonTip(10)

The "gotcha" here would be the need to change the powershell execution policy on all affected client machines so they run the code. This should be doable through group policy though.

EDIT: Just to add some fun to this, you can also pull in an image file to display. Change the path to the image you want and this will display it for 5 seconds before closing it:

[void][reflection.assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
$file = (get-item 'C:\Users\joemama\Pictures\capture.png')
$img = [System.Drawing.Image]::Fromfile($file);
[System.Windows.Forms.Application]::EnableVisualStyles();
$form = new-object Windows.Forms.Form
$form.Text = "Policy reminder!"
$form.Width = $img.Size.Width;
$form.Height =  $img.Size.Height;
$pictureBox = new-object Windows.Forms.PictureBox
$pictureBox.Width =  $img.Size.Width;
$pictureBox.Height =  $img.Size.Height;
$pictureBox.Image = $img;
$form.controls.add($pictureBox)
$form.Add_Shown( { $form.Activate() } )
$form.Show()
sleep 5
$form.close()

I don't know if we can make it fade out, but challenge accepted!

Priston · November 2015

Do they have a sign on the entrances to the building indicating your entering into a no wifi/bluetooth zone?

Popup graphic after login?

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