Notifications Management

The following sections detail the Notifications Management policy settings to configure a set of information notifications displayed by ActivClient to the end user.

Important:

Restart Workstation

For the Notifications Management policy changes to be applied, you must restart the workstation.

Blocked Card Manager message (Windows 7 and earlier - Deprecated)

Description:

Specifies the message displayed to users when a smart card with a blocked Card Manager is inserted.

Note: To be displayed properly, the message must not exceed 243 characters.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the default text is displayed.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default text, "Your smart card's Card Manager is blocked; please contact the person or organization who gave you this card.", and can be updated

  • Disabled

Blocked Card Manager message (Windows 8 and later)

Description:

Specifies the message displayed to users when a smart card with a blocked Card Manager is inserted.

Note: To be displayed properly, the message must not exceed 60 characters.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the default text is displayed.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default text, "Please contact your administrator to unblock your smart card.", and can be updated

  • Disabled

Blocked Card Manager title (Windows 8 and later)

Description:

Specifies the title displayed on Windows 8 to users when the Card Manager is blocked

Note: To be displayed properly, the message must not exceed 40 characters.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the default text is displayed.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default text, "Card Manager Blocked", and can be updated

  • Disabled

Card Auto-Update Alert duration (in seconds)

Description:

Defines for how long (in seconds) the Card Auto-Update Alert is displayed.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the Card Auto-Update Alert is displayed for 5 seconds.

The minimum value allowed is 1 second.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default value, 5, and can be updated

  • Disabled

Card Auto-Update Alert message (Windows 7 and earlier - Deprecated)

Description:

Specifies the message displayed to users when a card auto-update request is available.

Note: To be displayed properly, the message must not exceed 243 characters.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the default text is displayed.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default text, "Smart Card Update ActivClient has detected that an update is available for your card. Please click the link below in order to proceed with the update.", and can be updated

  • Disabled

Card Auto-Update Alert message (Windows 8 and later)

Description:

Specifies the message displayed on Windows 8 to users when a card auto-update request is available.

Note: To be displayed properly, the message must not exceed 60 characters.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the default text is displayed.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default text, "Please log on to the My Digital ID Card portal to update your card.", and can be updated

  • Disabled

Card Auto-Update Alert title (Windows 8 and later)

Description:

Specifies the message displayed on Windows 8 to users when a card auto-update request is available.

Note: To be displayed properly, the message must not exceed 40 characters.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the default text is displayed.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default text, "Card Update available.", and can be updated

  • Disabled

Delay before checking expiration after card insertion (in seconds)

Description:

Defines for how long (in seconds) ActivClient should wait after smart card insertion or Microsoft Windows logon/unlock before checking for smart card or certificate expiration.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, the delay is 20 seconds.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default value, 20, and can be updated

  • Disabled

Display Card Expiration notification

Description: Defines if the Card Expiration notification is displayed to users when their smart card has expired or will expire soon. If this setting is not configured or disabled, the Card Expiration notification is not displayed.

A setup preference also exists for this setting, which might affect the behavior if this policy setting is not configured.

The goal of this setup preference is to enable you to install ActivClient with the US Department of Defense configuration option and automatically have access to the specified configuration, without having to configure additional policies:

  • If the US Department of Defense configuration option is selected in the ActivClient setup and if the Display Card Expiration notification policy is not configured or disabled, then the expiration notification is displayed.

  • If the US Department of Defense configuration option is not selected in the ActivClient setup and if the Display Card Expiration notification policy is not configured or disabled, then the expiration notification is not displayed.

  • If the Display Card Expiration notification policy is Enabled, then it takes precedence over the preference set in the ActivClient setup.

Display Certificate Expiration notification

Description: Defines if the Certificate Expiration notification is displayed to users when their certificates have expired or will expire soon. If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the Certificate Expiration notification is not displayed.

A setup preference also exists for this setting, which might affect the behavior if this policy setting is not configured.

The goal of this setup preference is to enable you to install ActivClient with the US Department of Defense configuration option and automatically have access to the specified configuration, without having to configure additional policies:

  • If the US Department of Defense configuration option is selected in the ActivClient setup and if the Display Certificate Expiration notification policy is not configured or disabled, then the expiration notification is displayed.

  • If the US Department of Defense configuration option is not selected in the ActivClient setup and if the Display Certificate Expiration notification policy is not configured or disabled, then the expiration notification is not displayed.

  • If the Display Certificate Expiration notification policy is Enabled, then it takes precedence over the preference set in the ActivClient setup.

Display New Card window on card insertion

Defines if users are prompted to initialize their smart card as soon as the non-initialized smart card is inserted into the reader. It is advised to disable this setting for deployments with ActivID Authentication Server or ActivID CMS, as these products manage the PIN instead of ActivClient.

If this setting is disabled or not configured, then ActivClient does not prompt users to initialize their smart card.

Expiration notification period (in days)

Description:

Defines for how long (in days) the card or certificate expiration warning is displayed once the smart card or certificate has expired.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the notification period is 5 days.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default value, 5, and can be updated

  • Disabled

Expiration warning message

Description:

Specifies the message displayed when the user's smart card or a certificate has expired or will expire soon.

Note: To be displayed properly, the message must not exceed 190 characters.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the default text is displayed.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default text, "Contact the person or organization who gave you this smart card.", and can be updated

  • Disabled

Expiration warning period (in days)

Description:

Defines for how long (in days), before smart card or certificate expiration, the warning message should start to be displayed.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the message starts to be displayed 60 days before expiration.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default value, 60, and can be updated

  • Disabled

Hide Blocked Card Manager message when a smart card with a blocked card manager is inserted

Description:

Defines if the Blocked Card Manager message is displayed when users insert a smart card with a blocked Card Manager.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, the message is displayed when users insert a smart card with a blocked Card Manager.

Hide No Smart Card Reader Alert

Description:

Defines if an alert to inform users that no smart card reader is connected to the workstation is displayed.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the alert is displayed when no reader is connected.

Locked Card Message (Windows 7 and earlier - Deprecated)

Description:

Specifies the message displayed to users when a locked smart card is inserted and that cannot be unlocked with ActivClient (static unlock code or challenge/response unlock are unavailable).

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the default text is displayed.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default text, "ActivClient has detected that the inserted smart card PIN is locked. Please contact the person or organization who gave you this card ", and can be updated

  • Disabled

Locked Card Message (Windows 8 and later)

Description:

Specifies the message displayed to users when a locked smart card is inserted and that cannot be unlocked with ActivClient (static unlock code or challenge/response unlock are unavailable).

Note: To be displayed properly, the message must not exceed 60 characters.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the default text is displayed.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default text, "Please contact your administrator to unlock your smart card", and can be updated

  • Disabled

Locked Card Title (Windows 8 and later)

Description:

Specifies the title displayed to users when a locked smart card is inserted and that cannot be unlocked with ActivClient (static unlock code or challenge/response unlock are unavailable).

Note: To be displayed properly, the message must not exceed 40 characters.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the default text is displayed.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default text, "PIN Blocked", and can be updated

  • Disabled

No Smart Card Reader Alert duration (in seconds)

Description:

Defines for how long (in seconds) the No Smart Card Reader Alert is displayed.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the alert is displayed for 5 seconds. The minimum value allowed is 1 second.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default value, 5, and can be updated

  • Disabled

No Smart Card Reader Alert message (Windows 7 and earlier - Deprecated)

Description:

Specifies the message displayed to users when no smart card reader is connected to the workstation.

Note: To be displayed properly, the message must not exceed 243 characters.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the default text is displayed.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default text, "Card Reader Not Detected ActivClient was unable to detect a smart card reader connected to your computer. Please verify that your smart card reader is properly connected.", and can be updated

  • Disabled

No Smart Card Reader Alert message (Windows 8 and later)

Description:

Specifies the message displayed on Windows 8 to users when no smart card reader is connected to the workstation.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the default text is displayed.

Note: To be displayed properly, the message must not exceed 60 characters.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default text, "Please check your card reader connection.", and can be updated

  • Disabled

No Smart Card Reader Alert title (Windows 8 and later)

Description:

Specifies the title displayed on Windows 8 to users when no smart card reader is connected to the workstation.

Note: To be displayed properly, the message must not exceed 40 characters.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, then the default text is displayed.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default text, "Card Reader Not Detected", and can be updated

  • Disabled

Prevent Unlock Card window prompt when a locked card is inserted

Description:

Disables prompting users with the Unlock Card window when users insert a locked smart card if this feature does not suit your deployment (for example, if you do not provide a card unlock service via the telephone).

If this setting is disabled or not configured, then ActivClient prompts users with the Unlock Card window.

Unattended Smart Card Alert

Description:

Defines when to warn users if their smart card is still inserted in the smart card reader at log off or screen lock.

ActivClient can be configured to notify user at log off and screen lock, at log off only, or never.

ActivClient offers audio-only notification (three beeps).

If this setting is not configured or disabled, users are notified of the unattended smart card at log off and screen lock.

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – displays the default value, 'At log off and screen lock', and can be updated with a value from the drop-down list:

  • Only at log off

  • At log off and screen lock

  • Never

  • Disabled

Unattended Smart Card Alert Sound

Description:

Specifies the full path to an audio file (.wav) to be played when a smart card is still inserted in the smart card reader at log off or screen lock.

If this setting is not configured or disabled, users are notified of the unattended smart card by the default sound (three beeps).

Possible Values:

  • Not Configured

  • Enabled – enter the full path to the audio file to be played

  • Disabled