I need an application that quickly tells a user if their internet connection has dropped.Is there such a thing

Question

I have a lot of remote users on my network, mostly in sales. They communicate into our business through Citrix VPN software, and from time to time (with certain people) they call in and complain of their applications not responding, and I am wondering if it is their internet connection on their end.

Instead of having them open a command window and PING something to see if they are live, are there any quick little apps out there that monitor your internet signal, and maybe flashes something on the screen or in the System Tray if the connection is broken? Like something that just displays a RED dot or a GREEN dot. This would be very helpful and save me SO much time having this as a tool for my end users to look at.

I'm not concerned about the VPN dropping. I want to be able to monitor Internet Activity and have a big glaring icon of some sort telling the user if they have no internet connection.

My people do not understand the difference between Internet connections, and VPN, and slow connections, fast connections, being connected to the internet vs. being connected to a wireless router.
I need this dumbed down to a very simple thing.

Answer 1

No real need for an extra program.
Right click My Network Places and select Properties.
Right Click the VPN connection and select properties.
On the General tab ensure that Show Icon in notification area when connected is checked (It should be by default)
On the Options tab Check the box for Redial if Line is Dropped (it is not checked by default).
Set the redial options to your liking.

This should do the reconnecting for them automatically.

Answer 2

I think it would have to come from Citrix. If Citrix puts some sort of icon in your system tray ask him they could turn it red/yellow/green based on the health of the VPN connection?

The only think I can think of is that you would have write some little script that could ping an ip address on the private network through the VPN.

From my experience, 99 x out a 100 it's the VPN that dies, not the Internet connection.

Answer 3

No not realy, well none that i would trust....

if i were you and had to do this with minimal costs id say just use the internet connection , i would enable showing the connection ion the taskbar in the connection properties, then the systenm would tell them if there limited or no connectivity , plus you have an icon right there for them to click to begin your troubleshooting,...