Eddie 2.1beta available

[Ansuz 5]

 

Some feedback (Windows 2.1 client)

 

 

Hello!

 

• 'Cancel' command in connection phase is already implemented in 2.2 beta.
• System Tray Icon behavior will be optimized to standard conventions in the next beta release.
• Logs options to save to file (with a simple rotation solution) will be implemented in the next beta release.
• At the moment we renamed the 'Connected since' to 'Connection time'. What do you mean? You would like it to be more visible like the bandwidth speed?
• Commands for direct connection/disconnection from the tray area menu will be implemented in the next beta release.
• Hanging / disconnecting & reconnecting: This is more complex, we need investigation. Have you checked the 'Switch DHCP to Static' option? This option cause some synchronization problem from AirVPN client versus Windows Network detection/availability.

 

Kind regards

 

Hi!

 

Sorry, I didn't respond to this sooner, I forgot about this thread and I just saw your comment.

 

Version 2.2 was a big improvement!

I know changes like this take development time, so I'm sure some of these changes were on the way to being made before my comments.

 

 

Regarding "Connected since" vs "Connection time":

 

This was a minor issue just related to English grammar and interface polish.

 

The line showing the connection time and the the connection was made has two pieces of information:

1. A timer counting up showing connection time followed by...
2. The date and time the connection was made

As an example, when I see it say Connected since: 00:05:10 - Sunday, July 06, 2014 9:00:00 AM, I read it as "Connected since five minutes, ten seconds, Sunday, July 6..."

 

But saying "Connected since five minutes, ten seconds" doesn't make sense because five minutes ten seconds is the connection time.

On the other hand, saying "Connected since July 6..." is correct.

 

Since the connection time was shown first, the grammar error was quite noticeable.

 

 

That's why I suggested at the time separating the two pieces of info into two separate lines:

 

Line 1:  Connection time: 00:05:10

Line 2:  Connected since: July 06, 2014 9:00:00 AM

 

 

In version 2.3 it now says Connection time:  00:05:10 - Sunday, July 06, 2014 9:00:00 AM

 

This is grammatically correct in both cases because "Connection time" can mean two things in this context:

1. How long the connection has been running (00:05:10)
2. The time that the connection was established (Sunday, July 06, 2014 9:00:00 AM)

So how you it now is perfect.

 

Having it in two lines would make it a bit more readable (I don't find having it in one line a problem), but that's an aesthetic/design decision.

 

If you're trying to reduce the amount of vertical space the UI uses, you'll want to have it all on one line.

If vertical space isn't an issue, it might make it look neater and the information easier to spot to have it on a second line.

 

If you do put it in a second line, I'd suggest:

 

Line 1:  Connection time: 00:05:10

Line 2:  Connected since: July 06, 2014 9:00:00 AM

 

Instead of:

Line 1:  Connection time: 00:05:10

Line 2:  Connection time: July 06, 2014 9:00:00 AM

 

Both are correct, but it seems more repetitious to say "Connection time" twice.

 

 

System Tray Icon

This works great now in 2.3!

 

I have three suggestions (minor - things that would add to polish but I don't think are really necessary):

1. Create an option in preferences to "Disable Notification Area Messages" or "Disable System Tray Notifications" (the bubbles that pop up when you're connecting that say Checking environment, Checking authorization, etc.). I don't know if this is out-of-scope though, because I know Windows has controls for displaying notifications. The objective would be to see the tray icon but not see bubble notifications (something I'm not sure you can do using the Windows controls).
2. When notification messages are enabled, I notice that it doesn't usually say "Connected" when the connection is established. It often ends with "Checking DNS." It would be nice to see it say "Connected" but I think this is optional since the icon appears to light up the moment the VPN is successfully connected.
3. When notification messages are enabled, It doesn't appear to say "Disconnected" when the client has finished disconnecting. I also notice that the tray icon goes gray right after clicking the "Disconnect" button rather than after the disconnection process has finished - this is inconsistent with how the icon acts when connecting, when the icon lights up after connection has been established. So this is really two suggestions - have a notification bubble say "Disconnected" and have the icon turn from blue to gray the moment the client has finished disconnecting. Again, this is minor, since the disconnection process is fast.

 

Being able to cancel/abort a connection when the connection is being negotiated:

 

I think the button saying "Cancel" is better than "Abort Connection" (what I suggested).

 

When I hit the "Cancel" button it seems continue connecting and then disconnect right after the connection has been established.

 

It doesn't do what I would expect a "Cancel" button to do (I'd expect it to stop the process immediately and return the configuration to what it was before).

 

The advantage of doing it this way is that it's simpler and probably has less complications.

The disadvantage is that it takes longer and inconveniences the user, since they have to wait for the process to complete before they have access to Internet again.

 

I'm ok with it like this but others might not like it.

 

 

The client freezing while connecting:

This appeared to happen when the "Enable Pinger / Latency Tests" option was enabled. I disabled that when I started using 2.2 and don't remember it hanging when connecting since.

 

 

Regarding disconnecting/reconnecting:

I did have "Switch DHCP to static" enabled since it seemed to eliminate a possible vulnerability.

 

I'm able to visit web pages quickly after disconnecting (when Windows is going through its network detection phase). I don't remember if I was able to do this with version 2.1 (I don't think I was, but I could be mistaken).

 

The issue with the client crashing after hitting "Connect to a recommended server" if you don't wait for Windows to do its "detection" is still a problem (this only happens when "Switch DHCP to static" is enabled).