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Hi,
I know that disabling notifications in node.cfg has been removed in V8 for security reasons, but there are some cases where it would be useful, for example for headless stations like display screens in public areas with no keyboard or mouse.
This is not really a security issue if it can only be disabled by choice on the server side when there is no real user in front of the server.By the way I hardly understand why you can hide the system tray icon and not the notifications.
The scenario you described is very clear, and, indeed, such notifications can be “disturbing”, for example in a video where just a random set up of ads are displayed, so with no user interactions. We can easily add an option to the server to disable all such notifications, but whether this can be a potential security threat must be considered carefulyl, such as if a user might surreptitiously enable such an option, with the owner of the computer being unaware of it.
But one thing we want to understand, to fully “get” the scenario we are talking about. Are these headless computers used to display ads or something similar? If they are headless, to whom is the screen output being displayed, who is going to see these screens? (screens that are not there, given that these machines are headless).
And also, if there is not any physical screen, the user who’s watching the computer output is supposed to be only a remote user…
But if it’s like this, why? I mean…To resolve your problem, and to give to users “a solution” that is applicable to all your similar cases, we need to perfectly understand what your “specific case” is šWhy it’s possible to hide the icon in the system tray and not the notifications…
Well, because the notifications are there exactly to inform the LOCAL user, or anybody connected, that there is now somebody else looking at what YOU, the user, are doing. It’s a serious and important security feature!
The fact there is NoMachine running, and so the NoMachine icon is in the system tray, i.e NoMachineĀ is running, but not currently “exporting”, not showing the screen to somebody else, it’s a much less critical situation. This is why we allow people to do that. But we don’t omit to tell people “Hey, beware! Somebody is looking at your screen!”.
Look at any other remote desktop system, like the one of Apple Mac or similar. You can’t even disable the tray icon and even less so (like in our case) the “Somebody is connected” icon or the “Somebody connected” popup.
Look at the problem from this other standpoint: me, in my company, set NoMachine to stay hidden and to never say to the user in front of the screen that somebody connected. I can use NoMachine as a powerful spying tool, and see what everybody is doing, at any time, without the user in front of the computer ever knowing. It would make NoMachine a powerful tool to commit a crime.
Hi Britgirl,
thanks for your answer.
In fact, I run a VR arcade location. Each VR station has a display screen, that shows a video diaporama of game trailers when no one is playing, and mirrors the game view when a player is in game.
There is no keyboard or mouse on the VR stations, and I use NoMachine to connect remotely to the stations for maintenance or technical support during gameplay.
As the display screens can be seen by spectators following the game, it would be nice if I could disable the notifications when I connect to the stations during a game session… even though this is not really an issue.
Marc
Hi, sorry for taking so long to get back to you. Your need is of course a valid one in the light of how you are using NoMachine (thanks for explaining by the way). We could come up with a “special mode” for your case. But it needs careful thought, also because there are no doubt more of these special cases like yours that we should consider as well.
The main problem is that we don’t know how to “plug”, to “fit” this particular use mode in the normal functioning of NoMachine.Ā If the special mode was activated (like I explained earlier) you may end up using this computer, configured in this “special mode”, and so be unaware that somebody is “controlling” what you are doing, is watching you working whilst you’re doing your stuff, accessing your private data etc.
A possible way could be to distinguish between players and viewers. Those who are just viewing don’t need to see the notifications, after all they’ve connected to view the game, or they are watching the monitor content, not interacting with it.
Anyway, you’ve certainly given us food for thought and we’ve taken it on board.
Please see https://forum.nomachine.com/topic/disable-of-balloon-notifications-in-v8-not-available#post-40204 and also this thread to which you posted your follow-up. Are you using NoMachine in the same way as described in the this topic?
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