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Device groups

The Device groups window is divided into two parts. The right part of the window contains a list of devices that belong to a respective group and the left part of the window contains a list of existing groups. Select the group that contains the devices you want to display in the right pane.

You can create different groups of devices for which different rules will be applied. You can also create a single group of devices that are set to Read/Write or Read-only. This ensures that unrecognized devices will be blocked by Device control when connected to your computer.


warning

Having an external device connected to your computer may pose a security risk.

The following functions are available:

Add

Create a new device group by entering its name or add a device to an existing group (optionally, you can specify details such as vendor name, model and serial number) depending on where in the window you clicked the button.

Edit

Lets you modify the name of a selected group or parameters for the devices contained therein (vendor, model, serial number).

Delete

Deletes the selected group or device depending on where in the window you clicked. Alternatively, you can use the check box next to a given rule to disable it. This can be useful if you do not want to delete a rule permanently so that you can use it in the future.

Import

Imports a serial number list of devices from a file. Each device starts at the new line.

Vendor, Model, and Serial must be present for each device and separated with a comma.


example

Kingston,DT 101 G2,001CCE0DGRFC0371

04081-0009432,USB2.0 HD WebCam,20090101

Populate

Provides an overview of all currently connected devices with the following information: device type, device vendor, model and serial number (if available). When you select a device (from the list of Detected devices) and click OK, a rule editor window appears with pre-defined information (you can adjust all the settings).

Add device

Click Add in the right window to add a device to an existing group. Additional parameters shown below can be used to fine-tune rules for different devices. All parameters are case-sensitive and support wildcards (*, ?):

Vendor—Filter by vendor name or ID.

Model—The given name of the device.

Serial—External devices usually have their own serial numbers. In the case of a CD/DVD, this is the serial number of the given media, not the CD drive.

Description—Your description of the device for better organization.


note

If these parameters are undefined, the rule will ignore these fields while matching. Filtering parameters in all text fields are case-sensitive and support wildcards (a question mark (?) represents a single character, whereas an asterisk (*) represents a string of zero or more characters).

After creating a device group, you have to add a new device control rule for the created device group and choose the action to take.

When you are done with customization click OK. Click Cancel to leave the Device groups window without saving your changes.


note

Not all rights (Actions) are available for all device types. If a device has storage space, all four actions are made available. For non-storage devices, there are only two (for example, Read-only is not available for Bluetooth, so Bluetooth devices can only be allowed or blocked).