Terminating Applications with Alarms

While ActivTrak’s Blocking feature can prevent users from accessing specific websites, Terminate Alarms will stop the usage of specific applications or close the browser if certain keywords or conditions are met. This can limit activities that are unproductive, inappropriate or likely to compromise company data.

Terminate alarms will work similarly to other custom alarms in that you will first need to select the conditions that will cause the Alarm to trigger. Once the desired conditions are created, simply turn on the terminate action and the Alarm will close any application that meets those conditions.

NOTE: If you are using a discreet/silent deployment method, terminating may not be the ideal action. There is no mention of ActivTrak or indication as to why the application was closed, but users will notice and may question whether something has been installed on their computer.

In the example below, the goal is to stop employees when they try to access Dropbox.com, where they could potentially upload and share sensitive company documents.

Example with Detailed Steps:

1. Navigate to Alarms > Configuration using the left menu.
2. Click the green "+ Create New Alarm" button in the top left corner.
3. Name the alarm and choose what type of alarm it will be. For this example, we named it "Dropbox Alarm" and selected "Activity".
4. The terminate toggle can only be used when "All Users and Computers" has been selected under the top "Group Alarm" section. To terminate only for a specific user/computer, add a condition (example included below).
5. Fill out the condition(s) for which you want the application to be terminated. For example,

• Field = Url
• Operator = Contains
• Value = Dropbox

6. Scroll down to the “Terminate” toggle and turn it on. (Terminate alarms also pair nicely with Email Notifications and/or External Notifications, so toggle any other desired actions during this step.)

7. Don't forget to check that the "Activate Activity Alarm" toggle in the upper right is green, and then click the green "Save" button next to it.

This example alarm will now shut the browser any time any of your monitored users access a url that contains "dropbox". Note: If the application triggering the alarm is a browser, the ENTIRE browser will close, not just the tab or window that met the condition(s).

Other examples:

Terminate both the web and desktop app versions of Zoom when accessed:

• MATCH ANY
• Condition 1: Field = Url | Operator = Contains | Value = zoom
• Condition 2: Field = Executable | Operator = Equal To | Value = zoom.exe

Terminate the browser after a specific user has spent 5 minutes on Facebook:

• MATCH ALL
• Condition 1: Field = Url | Operator = Contains | Value = facebook
• Condition 2: Field = Duration (seconds) | Operator = Greater Than | Value = 300
• Condition 3: Field = User | Operator = Equal To | Value = username

Learn More:

• Creating Custom Alarms
• Setting Up Webhooks with Alarms
• Contact Support