Aloye has provided documentation to the following companies that detail very specific technical issues that prevent the applications from working properly when run in a secure domain environment using non-administrative accounts.
· MBUsa
· Chrysler
· Ristken Software
Aloye has also provided documentation to the companies listed here showing what must be done to move these applications into compliance with industry standards for software development as detailed in the Microsoft Windows XP Application Specification.
MB NetStar Browser Helper Object Version 4 – Details of this problem can be viewed at http://www.masano.com/netstarbh4issue/netstar4issue.html
MB Financial ePad .NET Signature Component - Description Pending
Chrysler Star Parts Application – Description Pending / In-House Solution In Progress
Due to the nature of the Chrysler Star Parts Application, this problem can be easily solved using a custom designed Application Launching Subsystem
Ristken Software Smart Agent Version 4.4.2 - Details of this problem can be viewed at http://www.masano.com/ristkenissue/SmartAgent442Issue.html
The previous version of the Smart Agent that existed prior to the February 2008 update worked without incident.
Did the team who wrote the previous version follow the Windows XP Application Specification?
Or did the previous version of the application work without incident by “accident”?
Wendy Brewer from Ristken Software has verbally confirmed that the February 2008 Smart Agent Application makes use of a completely different Active-X Control. The Active-X control that is currently in use now, is not the same Active-X control that was in use in the earlier version of the Smart Agent Application.
The list of the specific best practices that should be applied to each of applications and active-x controls are listed below.
Windows XP Application Specification Version 2.3 – April 2002
Version (Current)
Chapter # 3 -
Data and Settings Management – The Whole Chapter
| 3.1 | Default to the correct location for storing user-created data | |
| 3.2 | Classify and store application data correctly | |
| 3.3 | Deal gracefully with access-denied scenarios | |
| 3.4 | Support running as a Limited User | |
| F1.6 | Use SHGetFolderPath to determine special folder paths | |
| F1.11 | Do not run as LocalSystem |