AED Setup 4

Setting Up Your Active Earth Display

Installing the Restart Script.

When the display operation is tested, reliable, and setup the way you want it, and you are ready to put the display into use, we advise taking one last step to make the PC more secure. 

In order to prevent someone from getting access to the Desktop of the PC if the browser should crash, there is a script which will be used to invoke the browser repeatedly forever, as in:

The script puts up a DOS window that says  “press any key to begin” and then when you press a key it launches the browser.  If you quit the browser, you will again see the script's window, which now will say “Close this window to stop relaunch of browser.”  If you do not act within N seconds, the browser relaunches and you are back in the AED. The default number of seconds to wait is 7 (seven) but that should be lowered after you become familiar with the operation of the script.

Installation

  1. Obtain the run_aed.bat file from here and place it on the Desktop of the AED account.

  2. Edit the file with Notepad and go to the last line, where you'll see: 

             :: (simulate a task with 7 secs PING delay)

            ping -n 7 127.0.0.1 >NUL

    In the lines above “7” is the number of seconds. You can change it now, or just make a note that you have seen this number and know how to find it and change it.

  3. Test the script by double clicking it. You should be taken into Internet Explorer to your home page, the AED display.  TIP: You can drag the run_aed.bat file and hold it on top of the Start menu and wait a second, and the Start menu will expand and allow you to carefully drop the icon into the lefthand column of frequently used programs.  Now it will appear in the Start menu as well as on the Desktop.
  4. In case of a power outtage or other failure, and the PC were to reboot, a user might somehow be able to login to the AED account (only if you failed to set a password). It might not be a bad idea to set up the AED account to run the script automatically. To start a program each time you start Windows, first right-click the Start button, and then click Properties.
  5. On the Start Menu tab, click Classic Start menu, and then click Customize. This changes the style of the Start menu.
  6. Click Advanced.
  7. In the Start Menu folder, find the shortcut to the program you want to start each time you start Windows, and drag it to the Startup folder located in the Programs folder.

When you feel the setup is correctly done, one of the last things to do is go back to change the AED account to be of type "Limited" instead of "Administrator". This will help limit any damage a person could do if they gained control of the PC while it was logged in as the AED user.

Your Active Earth Display is now ready to use.