Release Notes

5.23.3

Released 2022-06-10

Fixes

• Fix an issue with broken links in the splash screen

5.23.2

Released 2022-05-13

Fixes

• Fix an issue causing the "No agent registry configuration read" error while running as an application

5.23.1

Released 2022-05-12

Improvements

• Rewrite license & agent configuration Windows Installer option for embedded builds & various improvements to agent auto-update functionality.

5.23.0

Released 2022-04-22

Improvements

• Faster startup time when a workspace has targets with a lot of comments
• Better Trace Grid statistics when viewing traces with lots of route changes (some data was being hidden from the statistics view due to a bug)
• Major performance & usability improvements to the Web Interface Grid control
• Several minor UI/UX adjustments

Fixes

• Fix an issue with the web interface Trace Grid Statistics not always loading correctly
• Various PingPlotter Cloud Agent fixes (performance, missing data when syncing with the Cloud)
• Fix various null reference errors thrown in the application - specifically with the web interface running
• Export PP2 alert action "test" button now works correctly (previously would crash the application)

5.22.3

Released 2022-02-02

Improvements

• Significantly improves Agent connection reliability
• Improves the behavior of the "Re-resolve DNS" target context menu option when a custom name has been added to the target
• Improves Agent Configuration link behavior on Windows when the application is not open
• Improves Agent target reliability, allowing agents to function better with write filters in place
• Improves Local Network Discovery scan results parsing, allowing more devices to be shown in certain cases

Fixes

• Fixed various "Object reference..." errors
• Fixed various UI frozen errors for macOS & Windows
• Fixed "Common Language Runtime has detected an invalid program" error on Windows
• Fixed Web Interface permissions issue preventing usage of target context menu options
• Fixed an issue requiring a refresh after logging out, and logging back into the Web Interface
• Fixed "Invalid time range specced..." error occasionally seen on startup for macOS and Windows
• Fixed the "Reinstall with Agent" Windows Installer option
• Fixed errors thrown when saving templates via the Template Editor for the Send Email Alert Action on Windows
• Silenced the "Unhandled IP_STATUS" error shown on Windows. This error was silenced on builds < 5.21

PingPlotter 5.21.2

Released 2021-11-05

Improvements

• Implemented loading spinners on Timeline Graphs (web).
• Implemented Discovery Targets for Free/Standard/Pro: , , .

CloudConnect End-of-Life Changes

• CloudConnect removed in Settings screens.
• CloudConnect Controller configuration disabled (existing configurations will work until service ends November 25, 2021).

Fixes

• Fixed a Trace Grid data display issue with short focus periods.
• Fixed an issue with some data requests failing in Web Interface.
• Fixed an intermittent issue with Windows Application not connecting correctly to running Windows Service.
• Fixed issue with ICMP.dll interop causing ICMP packet generation to halt over time.
• Fixed some UI Frozen errors.
• Fixed other miscellaneous error messages (non-blocking errors).

5.21.2

Released 2021-11-05

Improvements

• Implemented loading spinners on Timeline Graphs (web).
• Implemented Discovery Targets for Free/Standard/Pro: , , .

CloudConnect End-of-Life Changes

• CloudConnect is now PingPlotter Cloud
• CloudConnect removed in Settings screens.
• CloudConnect Controller configuration disabled (existing configurations will work until service ends November 25, 2021).

Fixes

• Fixed a Trace Grid data display issue with short focus periods.
• Fixed an issue with some data requests failing in Web Interface.
• (Windows) Fixed an intermittent issue with Windows Application not connecting correctly to running Windows Service.
• (Windows) Fixed issue with ICMP.dll interop causing ICMP packet generation to halt over time.
• (Windows) Fixed some UI Frozen errors.
• Fixed other miscellaneous error messages (non-blocking errors).

PingPlotter 5.19.5 

Released 2021-04-09

Improvements

• Improved UDP packet generator reliability after a network change.
• Improved PingPlotter’s ability to connect during startup when installed as a service.

Fixes

• Fixed “UNIQUE constraint failed: Comments.ID” error, which affected some users with persistent comments.
• Fixed a critical issue that would prevent PingPlotter from shutting down and periodically cause Agents to stop collecting data.
• (Windows) Fixed an issue in which the Windows Service was unable to shut down in certain scenarios (especially on Cloud Agents).
• (Windows) When updating or modifying a version 5.19.x install, PingPlotter will no longer incorrectly prompt for a reboot.
• (Windows) Closing a PingPlotter Cloud Agent that also has an expired Professional trial associated with the install will no longer pester you for confirmation.
• (Web UI) The Web UI will no longer display “ArgumentNullException obj can not be null” during CloudConnect Controller sessions sync.

5.19.5

Released 2021-04-09

Improvements

• Improved UDP packet generator reliability after a network change.
• Improved PingPlotter’s ability to connect during startup when installed as a service.

Fixes

• Fixed “UNIQUE constraint failed: Comments.ID” error, which affected some users with persistent comments.
• Fixed a critical issue that would prevent PingPlotter from shutting down and periodically cause Agents to stop collecting data.
• (Windows) Fixed an issue in which the Windows Service was unable to shut down in certain scenarios (especially on Cloud Agents).
• (Windows) When updating or modifying a version 5.19.x install, PingPlotter will no longer incorrectly prompt for a reboot.
• (Windows) Closing a PingPlotter Cloud Agent that also has an expired Professional trial associated with the install will no longer pester you for confirmation.
• (Web UI) The Web UI will no longer display “ArgumentNullException obj can not be null” during CloudConnect Controller sessions sync.

PingPlotter 5.19.1 

Released 2021-03-01

Features

• - PingPlotter’s packet generator has been updated to improve its accuracy for sub-millisecond latencies over long periods of extended testing.
• Comments in the web UI - Just like in the platform, you can add comments to specific points in Timeline Graphs. You can also set alerts to automatically add comments under specific conditions.
• Agent-based summaries in the web UI - PingPlotter Cloud Agents are now given unique target summaries, making it easier to manage traces on remote devices. In addition, you can now create LiveShare links for Agent summaries, allowing viewers to see the complete status of their network connection.

Improvements

• Changed the Save Image alert to use a 24-hour time in file name instead of a 12-hour time
• Improved CloudConnect Agent install process to be less confusing when deploying to remote devices
• Special characters are now supported when naming an Agent through the web UI
• (Web UI) Made CloudConnect Agent management easier to navigate
• (Web UI) The target input history dropdown is now customizable and remembers previous entries
• (Web UI) Timeline Graph scrolling is much more smooth and logical
• (Web UI) Added an All LiveShare viewer page
• (Web UI) Added settings for latency color scale
• (Web UI) Updated control panel reactivity to work better on more screen sizes
• (Web UI) Improved the Trace Graph dropdown menu
• (Web UI) Improved resource usage and performance

Fixes

• Fixed bugs in the Modify Summary and Route Adjustment alerts that prevented editing and creation in some instances
• (Web UI) Fixed scrollbars showing up unnecessarily on the login page
• (Web UI) Fixed Timeline Graph sorting so you can, you know, sort Timeline Graphs

5.19.1

Released 2021-03-01

Features

• Updated packet generator - PingPlotter’s packet generator has been updated to improve its accuracy for sub-millisecond latencies over long periods of extended testing.
• Comments in the web UI - Just like in the platform, you can add comments to specific points in Timeline Graphs. You can also set alerts to automatically add comments under specific conditions.
• Agent-based summaries in the web UI - PingPlotter Cloud Agents are now given unique target summaries, making it easier to manage traces on remote devices. In addition, you can now create LiveShare links for Agent summaries, allowing viewers to see the complete status of their network connection.

Improvements

• Changed the Save Image alert to use a 24-hour time in file name instead of a 12-hour time
• Improved CloudConnect Agent install process to be less confusing when deploying to remote devices
• Special characters are now supported when naming an Agent through the web UI
• (Web UI) Made CloudConnect Agent management easier to navigate
• (Web UI) The target input history dropdown is now customizable and remembers previous entries
• (Web UI) Timeline Graph scrolling is much more smooth and logical
• (Web UI) Added an All LiveShare viewer page
• (Web UI) Added settings for latency color scale
• (Web UI) Updated control panel reactivity to work better on more screen sizes
• (Web UI) Improved the Trace Graph dropdown menu
• (Web UI) Improved resource usage and performance

Fixes

• Fixed bugs in the Modify Summary and Route Adjustment alerts that prevented editing and creation in some instances
• (Web UI) Fixed scrollbars showing up unnecessarily on the login page
• (Web UI) Fixed Timeline Graph sorting so you can, you know, sort Timeline Graphs

PingPlotter 5.18.3 

Released 2020-09-04

Improvements

• When setting up an alert for a specific target, PingPlotter will now automatically select the final hop as the default
• On summary screens, sorting preferences are now stored in the browser and won't reset automatically
• The Packet Loss % label on Timeline Graphs is now red, matching the packet loss color on the graph itself
• Updated the Timeline Graph icon indicator to something less confusing (as it was being mistaken for a WiFi indicator — definitely our B)
• The Agent details panel buttons no longer truncate text when unnecessary

Fixes

• Fixed a bug that kept users from importing workspaces with history data
• Sidekick now has the correct license information displayed on your account page
• Expired Sidekick builds now receive proper messaging about license expiration

5.18.3

Released 2020-09-04

Improvements

• When setting up an alert for a specific target, PingPlotter will now automatically select the final hop as the default
• On summary screens, sorting preferences are now stored in the browser and won't reset automatically
• The Packet Loss % label on Timeline Graphs is now red, matching the packet loss color on the graph itself
• Updated the Timeline Graph icon indicator to something less confusing (as it was being mistaken for a WiFi indicator — definitely our B)
• The Agent details panel buttons no longer truncate text when unnecessary

Fixes

• Fixed a bug that kept users from importing workspaces with history data
• Sidekick now has the correct license information displayed on your account page
• Expired Sidekick builds now receive proper messaging about license expiration

PingPlotter 5.18.2 

Released 2020-08-10

Improvements

• You can now uninstall a CloudConnect Agent from a machine remotely through the CloudConnect tab in the web UI (Agent must be on version 5.10.4 or above)
• (Web UI) Improved scrolling through Timeline Graphs and graph data when using a trackpad or Apple Magic Mouse
• (Web UI) Improved alert setup to better communicate when an alert is ready to be finished versus when it needs more information
• (Web UI) Users with Summary permissions are no longer able to toggle Final Hop Only on a trace

Fixes

• Fixed a bug that created a premature datastore for .PP2 files that had not been fully imported
• Fixed several bugs related to “index out of bounds” and “null reference” errors
• (Web UI) Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the Focus dropdown to stop updating
• (Web UI) Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Timeline Graphs of offline CloudConnect traces to appear blank
• (Web UI) The graph color legend on target windows now show the proper values for different settings configurations
• (Web UI) Zooming in or out on a Timeline Graph will now center on the cursor location as the 'zoom point'
• (Windows) Using the Browse button for choosing an SSL certificate now works properly

Known Issues

• (Web UI) When sorting targets by a column, stopping a trace will cause sorting to return to default (by target name)
• (Web UI) The menu option to convert a trace to Final Hop Only appears on Agent traces. However, you cannot currently convert an Agent trace to Final Hop Only

5.18.2

Released 2020-08-10

Improvements

• You can now uninstall a CloudConnect Agent from a machine remotely through the CloudConnect tab in the web UI (Agent must be on version 5.10.4 or above)
• (Web UI) Improved scrolling through Timeline Graphs and graph data when using a trackpad or Apple Magic Mouse
• (Web UI) Improved alert setup to better communicate when an alert is ready to be finished versus when it needs more information
• (Web UI) Users with Summary permissions are no longer able to toggle Final Hop Only on a trace

Fixes

• Fixed a bug that created a premature datastore for .PP2 files that had not been fully imported
• Fixed several bugs related to “index out of bounds” and “null reference” errors
• (Web UI) Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the Focus dropdown to stop updating
• (Web UI) Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Timeline Graphs of offline CloudConnect traces to appear blank
• (Web UI) The graph color legend on target windows now show the proper values for different settings configurations
• (Web UI) Zooming in or out on a Timeline Graph will now center on the cursor location as the 'zoom point'
• (Windows) Using the Browse button for choosing an SSL certificate now works properly

Known Issues

• (Web UI) When sorting targets by a column, stopping a trace will cause sorting to return to default (by target name)
• (Web UI) The menu option to convert a trace to Final Hop Only appears on Agent traces. However, you cannot currently convert an Agent trace to Final Hop Only

PingPlotter 5.18.1 

Released 2020-07-08

Improvements

• (web UI) Improved web exception ticket error reporting
• (web UI) Selecting Add to new summary from the context menu now redirects to the new summary
• (web UI) Summary screens now sort by target name by default
• (web UI) When stopping a target/trace, PingPlotter now unselects that target in the control panel & alert sidebar
• (web UI) Resizing timegraphs via the splitter now adjusts the graph sizes more quickly
• (web UI) Added “Pause” indicator on summary graphs to show targets that are paused
• (web UI) Updated “Agent Offline” icon and made it display in both the Agent column of summary screens and above timegraphs
• (web UI) Removed some superfluous scroll bars
• (web UI) Other minor tweaks and UI improvements

Fixes

• Fixed CloudConnect Agent functionality on Windows 7
• (web UI) Fixed ability to add new targets to a summary if you have Target Management permissions, but not Summary Management permissions (now is allowed)
• (web UI) Fixed several control panel oddities when selecting targets in the summary (Agent, settings now follow correctly)
• (web UI) Sorting the Status column on summaries now sorts correctly (by average latency/color)
• (web UI) Latency graphs on the summary screen no longer flash when sorting by a volatile column
• (web UI) Double-clicking a timegraph will now shift focus to your double-click location instead of someplace else...
• (web UI) Fixed user search in user editor so it’s not case sensitive and searches any part of the name (not just the beginning)
• (web UI) Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause the target list and Trace Graph to not appear when switching between targets/summaries

5.18.1

Released 2020-07-08

Improvements

• (web UI) Improved web exception ticket error reporting
• (web UI) Selecting Add to new summary from the context menu now redirects to the new summary
• (web UI) Summary screens now sort by target name by default
• (web UI) When stopping a target/trace, PingPlotter now unselects that target in the control panel & alert sidebar
• (web UI) Resizing timegraphs via the splitter now adjusts the graph sizes more quickly
• (web UI) Added “Pause” indicator on summary graphs to show targets that are paused
• (web UI) Updated “Agent Offline” icon and made it display in both the Agent column of summary screens and above timegraphs
• (web UI) Removed some superfluous scroll bars
• (web UI) Other minor tweaks and UI improvements

Fixes

• Fixed CloudConnect Agent functionality on Windows 7
• (web UI) Fixed ability to add new targets to a summary if you have Target Management permissions, but not Summary Management permissions (now is allowed)
• (web UI) Fixed several control panel oddities when selecting targets in the summary (Agent, settings now follow correctly)
• (web UI) Sorting the Status column on summaries now sorts correctly (by average latency/color)
• (web UI) Latency graphs on the summary screen no longer flash when sorting by a volatile column
• (web UI) Double-clicking a timegraph will now shift focus to your double-click location instead of someplace else...
• (web UI) Fixed user search in user editor so it’s not case sensitive and searches any part of the name (not just the beginning)
• (web UI) Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause the target list and Trace Graph to not appear when switching between targets/summaries

PingPlotter 5.18.0 

Released 2020-07-01

Features

• - We’ve redesigned PingPlotter’s built-in web UI, building on the massive revision we introduced in 5.15. This includes alert and setting management, CloudConnect integration, and an improved design that’s more functional and easier on the eyes

Improvements

• Changed how Target and Summary permissions function to make more sense and behave more as expected
• Improved error submission from within the web UI
• Added user permissions for alerts, the session browser, and CloudConnect Agents in the web UI
• Improved proxy and reverse proxy support

Fixes

• Sorting by "Status" in the web UI no longer redirects to the All Targets summary
• Downloading a PP2 from the web UI now downloads all historical data instead of 5 minutes
• Routes now update with the current Focus in the web UI
• Notes column edits now save in the web UI
• Target name edits now save in the web UI
• When installing Sidekick over a trial, web server authentication now automatically turns off

Known Issues

• Users with Target Management permissions can only start a trace in the All Targets summary or the New Target screen

5.18.0

Released 2020-07-01

Features

• PingPlotter’s new web UI - We’ve redesigned PingPlotter’s built-in web UI, building on the massive revision we introduced in 5.15. This includes alert and setting management, CloudConnect integration, and an improved design that’s more functional and easier on the eyes

Improvements

• Changed how Target and Summary permissions function to make more sense and behave more as expected
• Improved error submission from within the web UI
• Added user permissions for alerts, the session browser, and CloudConnect Agents in the web UI
• Improved proxy and reverse proxy support

Fixes

• Sorting by "Status" in the web UI no longer redirects to the All Targets summary
• Downloading a PP2 from the web UI now downloads all historical data instead of 5 minutes
• Routes now update with the current Focus in the web UI
• Notes column edits now save in the web UI
• Target name edits now save in the web UI
• When installing Sidekick over a trial, web server authentication now automatically turns off

Known Issues

• Users with Target Management permissions can only start a trace in the All Targets summary or the New Target screen

PingPlotter 5.17.1 

Released 2020-06-12

Improvements

• When starting a trace with an IP address, PingPlotter now automatically attempts to resolve a DNS name
• Improved some error messages in the Web Interface to give better information
• Improved the load speed of timegraphs on LiveShare pages
• Added the ability to not use the lowest Windows default timer resolution for PingPlotter

Fixes

• Fixed a number of "null reference" and "object reference" errors that occurred in a variety of situations
• Fixed sorting of Agent, Settings, and Notes column in the Web Interface
• Fixed a bug that would stop live-rendering of the Web Interface when changing root authentication preferences
• Fixed a bug in the installer where not running VBScript would cause a full install to fail
• Fixed a number of minor LiveShare bugs
• Fixed a situation where LiveShare would not live update
• Fixed a situation that would cause LiveShare page styling not to load correctly
• Fixed a "Sequence contains no elements" bug in Sidekick that would prevent it from starting traces correctly in some situations

Known Issues

• When viewing history data within the Web Interface, the route/trace-grid data does not always update with the current Focus

5.17.1

Released 2020-06-12

Improvements

• When starting a trace with an IP address, PingPlotter now automatically attempts to resolve a DNS name
• Improved some error messages in the Web Interface to give better information
• Improved the load speed of timegraphs on LiveShare pages
• Added the ability to not use the lowest Windows default timer resolution for PingPlotter

Fixes

• Fixed a number of "null reference" and "object reference" errors that occurred in a variety of situations
• Fixed sorting of Agent, Settings, and Notes column in the Web Interface
• Fixed a bug that would stop live-rendering of the Web Interface when changing root authentication preferences
• Fixed a bug in the installer where not running VBScript would cause a full install to fail
• Fixed a number of minor LiveShare bugs
• Fixed a situation where LiveShare would not live update
• Fixed a situation that would cause LiveShare page styling not to load correctly
• Fixed a "Sequence contains no elements" bug in Sidekick that would prevent it from starting traces correctly in some situations

Known Issues

• When viewing history data within the Web Interface, the route/trace-grid data does not always update with the current Focus

PingPlotter 5.17.0 

Released 2020-05-22

New Features

• - Set up accounts and permissions for multiple PingPlotter web interface users, limiting their edit access for traces, summaries, or other users
• Live Share - Share and manage unique weblinks that display current network conditions for specific targets or summaries, allowing you to show results to specific people without giving them access to anything they shouldn’t see

Improvements

• Improved web trace graph column resize/drag, making for a smoother experience
• Improved the layout of the trace graph column selector
• Improved web interface performance and memory/cpu usage

Fixes

• Fixed packet loss overstatement on PP2 imports
• Fixed packet send delay editor
• Fixed jitter column sorting in the web interface
• Fixed column adjustment algorithm in the web interface
• Fixed previous issues with the jitter column

Known Issues

• If a setting is changed that would require the web server to internally restart (such as authentication, changing the admin username/password, or a license change), the web interface will no longer live update. Currently, this can be resolved by stopping and restarting the PingPlotter service.

5.17.0

Released 2020-05-22

New Features

• Multi-user management - Set up accounts and permissions for multiple PingPlotter web interface users, limiting their edit access for traces, summaries, or other users
• Live Share - Share and manage unique weblinks that display current network conditions for specific targets or summaries, allowing you to show results to specific people without giving them access to anything they shouldn’t see

Improvements

• Improved web trace graph column resize/drag, making for a smoother experience
• Improved the layout of the trace graph column selector
• Improved web interface performance and memory/cpu usage

Fixes

• Fixed packet loss overstatement on PP2 imports
• Fixed packet send delay editor
• Fixed jitter column sorting in the web interface
• Fixed column adjustment algorithm in the web interface
• Fixed previous issues with the jitter column

Known Issues

• If a setting is changed that would require the web server to internally restart (such as authentication, changing the admin username/password, or a license change), the web interface will no longer live update. Currently, this can be resolved by stopping and restarting the PingPlotter service.

PingPlotter 5.15.7 

Released 2020-03-24

New Features

• Quick Trace Links - Use and share links that automatically start a trace to a specific endpoint, helping you solve your own issues quickly while also making it easier to troubleshoot problems for those who might not be the most net-savvy.

Improvements

• Improved CloudConnect stability.
• Improved .pp2 export performance.
• Windows Installer now adds firewall rules for PingPloter's web interface ports.

Fixes

• Fixed the cause of the "Index was outside the bounds of the array" error.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes stopped PingPlotter's web interface from updating once the host machine had gone to sleep.
• Fixed several timeout errors when starting CloudConnect traces.
• Fixed several bugs that would cause PingPlotter's UI to freeze.
• PingPlotter now properly shows CloudConnect's sync dialog when running as a service.

5.15.7

Released 2020-03-24

New Features

• Quick Trace Links - Use and share links that automatically start a trace to a specific endpoint, helping you solve your own issues quickly while also making it easier to troubleshoot problems for those who might not be the most net-savvy.

Improvements

• Improved CloudConnect stability.
• Improved .pp2 export performance.
• Windows Installer now adds firewall rules for PingPloter's web interface ports.

Fixes

• Fixed the cause of the "Index was outside the bounds of the array" error.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes stopped PingPlotter's web interface from updating once the host machine had gone to sleep.
• Fixed several timeout errors when starting CloudConnect traces.
• Fixed several bugs that would cause PingPlotter's UI to freeze.
• PingPlotter now properly shows CloudConnect's sync dialog when running as a service.

PingPlotter 5.15.1 

Released 2020-01-13

New Features

• - Control PingPlotter from your favorite browser. Access PingPlotter locally or remotely, allowing you to monitor networks, test connections, and view results from practically anywhere.

Improvements

• Improved the Alerts setup experience.
• Updated the language surrounding MOS alerts to make setup more intuitive.
• Improved CloudConnect trace resilience and error reporting.

Fixes

• Resolved an issue with Find Target (Ctrl+F) not working across summaries.
• Fixed multi-select functionality.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the import of .pp_sample files.
• Fixed a bug where the Test Action button on alerts always passed.
• Fixed a bug where the Launch an EXE alert would not always function.
• Fixed a bug that caused errors to appear when switching workspaces.
• Resolved an issue where CloudConnect traces would sometimes cause reference errors.
• Fixed various frozen UI issues.
• The Alerts panel now functions as intended.

PingPlotter 5.11.6 - October 17, 2019

Fixes

• Resolved an issue that improperly prompted for a new version of .NET
• Resolved a performance issue with CloudConnect syncing

5.15.1

Released 2020-01-13

New Features

• New Web Interface - Control PingPlotter from your favorite browser. Access PingPlotter locally or remotely, allowing you to monitor networks, test connections, and view results from practically anywhere.

Improvements

• Improved the Alerts setup experience.
• Updated the language surrounding MOS alerts to make setup more intuitive.
• Improved CloudConnect trace resilience and error reporting.

Fixes

• Resolved an issue with Find Target (Ctrl+F) not working across summaries.
• Fixed multi-select functionality.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the import of .pp_sample files.
• Fixed a bug where the Test Action button on alerts always passed.
• Fixed a bug where the Launch an EXE alert would not always function.
• Fixed a bug that caused errors to appear when switching workspaces.
• Resolved an issue where CloudConnect traces would sometimes cause reference errors.
• Fixed various frozen UI issues.
• The Alerts panel now functions as intended.

PingPlotter 5.11.5 

Released 2019-09-10

New Features

• Timeline Graph Dropdown - Added a time frame dropdown selector to the Timeline Graph
• Timeline Graph Resize Control - Added a control to resize the Timeline Graph

Fixes

• Resolved an issue that sometimes caused the service to either not start, or take a long time to start
• Resolved an issue that sometimes caused the Trace Grid to stop updating
• Resolved an issue that caused the UI to lock up when restarting a large amount of targets
• Resolved an issue that caused the alert log to throw an error when opened after deleting sessions
• Resolved an issue that was sometimes causing Rest Alerts to not work properly

PingPlotter 5.11.3 

Released 2019-07-25

Fixes

• Resolved an issue with the Trace Grid sometimes displaying incorrect data

PingPlotter 5.11.2 

Released 2019-07-17

Improvements

• Notes column data is now included in Workspace export
• Added a new button to the LND tab to make it easier to close

Fixes

• Resolved an issue that made importing Target Lists take longer than necessary
• Resolved an issue that sometimes incorrectly duplicated data when importing a .PP2 file
• Resolved an issue that prevented re-configuring a CloudConnect Agent with a new link

PingPlotter 5.11.1 

Released 2019-07-03

New Features

• Custom Notes Column - Add a helpful note to any hop in a route, whether it be for yourself, your team, or your ISP. Add or edit notes by right-clicking on a hop row, hovering over the target name, and clicking Edit Notes

Improvements

• Improved messaging around enabling CloudConnect when already configured as an Agent or Controller
• Improved the CPU performance of PingPlotter’s packet send engine

Fixes

• Resolved an issue that prevented some PingPlotter Free users from saving an image
• Resolved an issue that sent a single image twice in an email alert if two different images were requested
• Resolved an issue that caused errors when importing a target list to a CloudConnect Agent
• Resolved an issue with PingPlotter causing excessive disk usage

PingPlotter 5.10.4

Released 2019-05-09

Improvements

• Improved behavior of "Route Changed" and "IP Address In Route" alert conditions that inspect routes and an edge case where they could potentially create duplicate route entries for targets utilizing these conditions.
• Improved behavior of targets that fail to start over CloudConnect due to DNS resolution failure.
• Improved messaging for "Test Connection" button in CloudConnect settings page.
• Improved the messaging when a target is unable to start via CloudConnect due to an error occurring on the Agent.
• Minor improvements to email validation in "Email Support" window.

Fixes

• Resolved an issue where resetting and restarting a target with an active alert would result in a frozen interface.
• Resolved a scenario where users would get an error regarding comment migration when upgrading to new versions.
• Resolved a scenario where subscription users weren't able to view certain splash screen pages.
• Resolved a typo in the CloudConnect session limit bar messaging.
• Resolved a scenario where users could get a frozen interface when importing a target list over CloudConnect Agents and hitting their session limit.

PingPlotter 5.10.3

Released 2019-04-26

Improvements

• Improved CPU usage that could grow over time when closing/re-opening target windows and summary windows.
• Improved the user experience when attempting to configure as a CloudConnect Agent/Controller with an existing configuration.
• When an error occurs during a target list import via CloudConnect Agent, it should now result in a single message window rather than a new window for each incident.
• Improved CloudConnect splash behavior, which could have previously resulted in having multiple windows open displaying different statuses.
• Significantly improved memory usage when attempting to send email alerts but were unable due to no connection.
• Improved some buggy behavior which could occur when attempting to reset and restart CloudConnect traces.
• Improved behavior of CloudConnect syncing data, which no longer displays when configuring as a newly created Controller.

Fixes

• Installing as a service for the first time should now properly copy application data if no service data exists.
• Resolved a scenario where a corrupt data file would fail to rebuild and prevent startup.
• CloudConnect trace utilization messaging now properly updates when CloudConnect traces are closed.
• When enabled as a CloudConnect Controller/Agent, PingPlotter now closes the settings window, which could previously result in over-writing new settings if clicking "Save" on lingering open windows.
• When a CloudConnect trace fails to resolve it's address, PingPlotter no longer displays an intrusive message with options to Manage Traces and View Account .

PingPlotter 5.10.2 

Released 2019-04-02

Improvements

• Updated the CloudConnect beta in preparation for the upcoming CloudConnect Preview release.

Fixes

• Implemented a variety of minor bug fixes.
• Resolved an issue where CloudConnect traces would stop when a new Flex Storage period is encountered.

PingPlotter 5.9.3 

Released 2019-03-22

Fixes

• Resolved issues related to startup with large sets of data, resulting in error on startup and targets closing to session manager. These can be reopened via File > Manage Sessions.
• Resolved scenario where viewing large periods of data would cause significant CPU and sometimes spikes, resulting in "Database is locked" or "User interface is frozen" error messages.

PingPlotter 5.9.1

Released 2019-03-14

New Features

• - We’ve added new actions and two new conditions to PingPlotter’s alert system:
  • Export PP2 File - Automatically export a .PP2 data file of your current test data for a given target. You can set how much data you wish to export, making incident reporting and redundant data backup a simpler experience.
  • Save an Image - Save a screenshot of your Trace and/or Timeline Graphs for a specified interval. This alert action helps automate evidence collection and routine status reporting.
  • Add a Comment - Add a comment to the Timeline graph whenever an alert condition is met. Comments help keep you organized and communicate important details to anyone reviewing your data.
  • Alert on a Timer - Set an alert action to trigger at regular time intervals. This alert condition allows you to automate routine PingPlotter actions, such as nightly log generation, data backups, and status emails.
  • MOS Condition (Windows only) - Set an alert action to trigger when MOS score goes below a certain point.

Improvements

• Significantly improved startup performance related to active Alerts on running targets and when loading daily Flex Storage data.
• Historical data template variable now limits the data exported which sometimes resulted in SMTP errors related to large attachments.
• When encountering certain data issues, now shows non-intrusive popup showing that corrupt samples were discarded rather than repeatedly showing error popup.
• Improved the way timeline graphs comments are loaded and displayed which could sometimes result in slow memory growth over time.
• Testing CloudConnect connection should now be slightly more accurate providing additional details on current state.
• Significantly improved resource usage and performance of when Local Network Discovery window is running.
• Added "Agent" variable to email alert templating system.
• Improved performance and user experience when using Daily Flex Storage periods due to data file locks.
• Improved timeline graph slider behavior that would sometimes display a message when traces were inactive.

Fixes

• Resolved an issue with Flex Storage databases causing data inconsistencies on CloudConnect Agents when selected Flex period rolls over.
• Fix for comma decimal not working when entering trace interval on machines with certain culture settings.

PingPlotter 5.8.11 

Released 2019-02-13

Improvements

• Application icons received a minor touch up.
• Significant improvements to service startup and shutdown time.
• Service startup is now set to "Automatic" from "Automatic (Delayed)" resulting in faster startup time with system startup.
• Added toggle setting for timeline graph comments on Dynamic DNS change.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue with FIPS encryption preventing application from installing / launching.
• Fixed CloudConnect syncing data dialog which was causing frozen interface errors when opening target windows.
• Fixed minimum / maximum latency lines in latency graph.
• Fixed scenario which showed invalid DateTime message with timeline graph slider.
• Fixed a scenario that would show invalid path message when testing Log to File alert.
• Fixed an issue causing targets to be removed from Summaries after application restart.

PingPlotter 5.8.10 

Released 2019-01-29

Improvements

• LND "Export to CSV" option now allowed in Standard edition.
• Improved sizing for images included in email alert templates.
• Restart application prompt no longer shows when selecting "Cancel" in custom data path browser.
• Null host error now displays better messaging and closes problem target.

PingPlotter 5.8.9 

Released 2019-01-16

Fixes

• Corrected an issue with aliases causing data storage problems.
• Fixed an issue with some users not being able to set trace interval with commas instead of decimal points.
• Corrected issue with period focus changing when resetting focus to current.
• Corrected an issue where the trial splash screen would not always run because of a different calendar format.
• Fix for null reference that sometimes occurred a few seconds after Local Network Discovery is stopped.
• Fixed an issue causing 'Test Email' alert button to not work in all cases.
• Corrected issue when switching workspaces after importing a file that would cause various errors.
• Corrected a scenario where importing a .pp_sample file without fully importing data would cause misc errors on next launch.

Improvements

• Significantly improved the amount of CPU that PingPlotter uses.
• Added ability to Find Target by alias name.

PingPlotter 5.8.7 

Released 2019-01-03

Fixes

• Resolved an issue where restarting a CloudConnect Agent prevented sessions from re-opening on the Controller.
• Resolved an issue where "Over Time" Alert Conditions that resulted in partial seconds would show "Invalid Input String".
• Resolved a scenario where canceling an available application update download would cause application to close.
• Resolved an issue where Free users would occasionally see error message "Null Reference Error" after tracing for some time.

PingPlotter 5.8.6 

Released 2018-12-21

Fixes

• Resolved an issue where Session Manager would show loading indefinitely and sometimes cause a frozen interface when shutting down the application.

PingPlotter 5.8.5 

Released 2018-12-20

Improvements

• Several misc improvements to timeline graph slider behavior.
• CloudConnect Agents should now clear local session data as it's successfully delivered.

Fixes

• Resolved a scenario where session database files would sometimes grow at an exponential rate.

PingPlotter 5.8.4 

Released 2018-12-10

Fixes

• Resolved an issue where starting the application with existing historical data (sessions.ppdata) would cause a null reference error.
• Resolved a scenario where ConfigurationSettings were not migrating properly to new data format resulting in a non-blocking error.
• Resolved a scenario where importing a Workspace via command line would result in a frozen interface.
• Changing data storage directories should now properly restart application on setting change.
• Now silently handles socket closed messages that were sometimes shown during loss of Agent connection.

PingPlotter 5.8.3 

Released 2018-12-07

Fixes

• Resolved a scenario where application shut down would freeze indefinitely and cause loss of data.
• Resolved an error when resetting and restarting a non - active trace window.
• Resolved an error that would sometimes occur when setting configuration names on timeline graphs.
• Resolved issue with getting session count that would result in a frozen interface.

PingPlotter 5.8.2 

Released 2018-12-06

Fixes

• Resolved frozen interface scenario when disabling CloudConnect Controller configuration in Edit > Options.
• Hover tooltips on timeline graphs now displays correct packet loss percentage.
• Agent selection now correctly locks when opening PingPlotter with active CloudConnect traces.
• Sending email alerts with certain characters should no longer cause "Invalid Characters in Path" message to be displayed.

PingPlotter 5.8.1 

Released 2018-11-21

PingPlotter 5.5.15 

Released 2018-09-20

• Fix for frozen interface errors when running as a service in the background
• Improvements to handling of incompatible sessions data files

PingPlotter 5.5.14 

Released 2018-08-03

• Resolved an issue causing public builds to falsely expire as a Beta

PingPlotter 5.5.13 

Released 2018-07-05

• Clicking on a timeline graph for a target that is not currently present in the route should no longer display an error message.
• Resolved an issue that would cause an error message or a frozen interface when attempting to draw colored backgrounds in timeline graphs.

PingPlotter 5.5.12 

Released 2018-05-14

• Latency over time alert conditions should now fire as expected when examining a period of time with a threshold of 100% of the time.
• Resolved an issue that caused an error message to be shown when closing target windows.

PingPlotter 5.5.11 

Released 2018-04-23

• Users should no longer experience usability issues when performing simple UI actions when running as a service
• Setting alert conditions should now show the correct condition when changed via dropdown
• Resolved an issue that would sometimes result in an error when starting a new target after clearing active workspace

PingPlotter 5.5.10 

Released 2018-04-10

• Timeline graph displays should now correctly update based on the selected target configurations
• Certain scenarios that require active maintenance should now work correctly for subscription license types
• File path should now display full path correctly when using Launch an Executable alert action
• Selecting multiple or all targets on summaries should no longer alter target configurations
• Alerts Panel should no longer show invalid / non - existent alert bindings for targets
• Alerts should no longer be added to a target when editing an alert via Alert Library
• Resolved an error that would sometimes occur during startup when registering MOS column
• Testing Log to File alert action should no longer show an error

PingPlotter 5.5.9

Released 2018-02-27

• Resolved a scenario where sending Test Emails would fail with "Route Changed" alert condition
• Resolved a scenario where users could get a "Frozen Interface" error caused by the removal of temporary sessions with a large data set
• Resolved an issue preventing users from opening the "Alert Events Log" located in the File menu
• Resolved an issue that sometimes caused a "Frozen Interface" error when restarting targets that have an existing alert tied to them
• Improved "Target Name" behavior in web interface when viewing a target with custom a custom DNS name

PingPlotter 5.5.8

Released 2018-02-03

• New Feature: Network interface card (NIC) selection allows users to correlate PingPlotter setting configurations with local network interface cards; see the difference between your wired and wireless connection!
• Resolved an issue that would sometimes result in an error message "invalid hop number"
• Resolved a scenario that would sometimes result in new packet configurations not displaying a default packet engine
• Improvements to prevent a frozen interface on startup when clearing temporary sessions

PingPlotter 5.5.7 

Released 2017-10-31

• Resolved an issue that caused target ip addresses to no longer be clickable and failed to show correct target status in the web interface

PingPlotter 5.5.6 

Released 2017-10-20

• Resolved an issue where expired trials would not allow users to continue in Free mode

PingPlotter 5.5.5 

Released 2017-10-19

• Added a feature that transfers existing license and target history from client data when running PingPlotter as a service for the first time
• Added the ability to reverse select timeline graphs within target windows
• Improved behavior when collapsing status column in summary windows
• Improved alignment between icons and text in alerts panel
• Fixed a scenario where hovering over an area with no stats on a timeline graph would result in being shown "fake" stats
• Fixed storage performance issues that Free users would sometimes encounter
• Fixed a scenario where timeline graphs in web interface and alerts would come through empty with certain Microsoft updates applied
• Fixed a scenario where opening targets with large amounts of comments in a new version would result in a frozen interface
• Removed "Auto show timeline graphs on summary" to prevent unintended resource consumption

PingPlotter 5.5.4 

Released 2017-09-28

• Dynamic timeline graphs should now size correctly in target windows
• Resolved an issue with the alert panel that would sometimes result in a "TypeError"

PingPlotter 5.5.3 

Released 2017-09-25

Lots of small improvements and fixes, especially as target counts grow.

• Performance improvements to the session browser - sample counts load in the background so the session list shows immediately
• Opening more than a handful (5!) sessions from the session browser puts them in the All Targets summary, highlighted, instead of opening tabs for them. Right-click and "Show Target Window" on the summary graph if you actually want to open them all.
• Performance improvements when resuming tracing after a long hiatus (months) - totals will "aggregate" in the background with a bit less importance and foreground collection and data saves are prioritized higher.
• Less CPU use with lots of targets. 250 targets with 2.5 second trace intervals should be a lot more CPU friendly now.
• The remote agent now uses the latest sample instead of sometimes using an older cached one.
• Improvements to long-term memory use that was causing an array index error (and other memory / sluggishness problems)
• Importing a .PP2 sample set would sometimes give a licensing error instead of opening.
• Fixed a problem with the web interface would sometimes give a -4077 econnreset error when a web browser closed its session
• Fixed a couple of frozen issues (at startup and several others)
• Fixed an issue where Standard users would sometimes only be able to open a single target.
• Fixed an issue where clicking on a target graph didn't do anything
• Alert log now shows more details about alert email failures
• Fixed an issue where Local Network Discovery wouldn't let you export to CSV.
• A good handful of unexpected errors (object references, contract missing and similar) were corrected.

PingPlotter 5.5.2 

Released 2017-09-13

• Added "Route Changed" and "IP Address in Route" alert conditions
• Added "MOS" (Mean Opinion Score) column to summary and target windows
• Added timeline graph scrolling container that allows users to keep open as many timeline graphs as they desire
• Added General setting to "Automatically show timeline graphs for targets added to summary screen"
• Added General setting "Timeline graph minimum height" which prevents timeline graphs from going below a certain size
• Added "Reverse selecting" of timeline graphs allowing users to easily correlate a graph with a target in the upper trace window
• Added "Timeline hover tooltip" which provides detailed latency information when hovering over a timeline graph
• Added "Target Count" to bottom of summary trace graph below final target
• Added the ability to export "Local Network Discovery" targets to a CSV file
• Added "Launch an Executable" alert type
• Fixed issue where most recently highlighted target would not highlight again until another target was selected
• Fixed several issues that resulted in "Frozen" interfaces
• Fixed issue where web interface graphs would appear as a broken link after a period of time
• Fixed issue where web interface graph time and focus period would always revert to the default
• Fixed issue where altering installation to run as a service left client instance running
• Fixed issue where opening a PingPlotter PP2 file directly would not correctly import and display in program
• Fixed issue where exporting a Workspace would cause the active workspace to load incorrectly next time PingPlotter starts
• Fixed issue where custom summaries would not migrate correctly from v4
• Moved Summary sub-menu out of Workspaces and into its own menu category

PingPlotter 5.4.3 

Released 2017-03-10

• Workspace consistency
• Removed error popup when resetting and restarting a target while the Alerts is panel open
• Resolved an issue where time graphs would sometimes stop updating
• Resolved an issue where trace intervals longer than 60 minutes would stop other traces and prevent alerts from firing
• Resolved an issue where renaming a summary via Web Interface would result in an error
• Resolved an issue where time graphs were sometimes not opening in their correct state
• Windows Service will now start in "Automatic (Delayed)" mode instead of "Automatic" making startup more reliable
• Improvements to messaging and UX of Free mode users
• Improvements to route accuracy
• Enabled "Change" button in Apps & Features and Add or Remove Programs replacing Modify / Uninstall button.
• Minor UI improvements

PingPlotter 5.4.2

Released 2017-02-03

• Support for 64-bit sytem architecture.
• Ability to reset and restart targets from a summary.
• Right-click target or timeline from summary > Show Target Window.
• Jitter target line (Edit > Options > Jitter "target" line).
• Date & time stamp on summary showing detailed focus period times.
• Exporting has been adjusted to bring stability and less errors.
• Alert panel buttons look better.
• Improvements within the remoting system now prevents deadlocks and frozen interfaces.
• Minor changes in route building logic.

PingPlotter 5.4

Released 2017-01-31

• New features included in this release.
  • Automatically displays timeline graphs for new targets (Edit > Options > Automatically show timeline graphs for targets added to summary screen).
  • Ability to reset and restart targets from a summary.
  • Right-click target or timeline from summary > Show Target Window.
  • Jitter target line (Edit > Options > Display > Jitter "target" line).
  • Date & time stamp on summmary showing detailed focus period times.
  • Support for 64-bit system architecture.
• Improvements
  • Same sets now export 500,000 samples, down from 1,000,000 (includes workspace samples).
  • Session manager now displays approximate total opposed to incorrectly guessing the exact total.
  • Selecting a target in a summary screen keeps the target's timeline graph highlighted (used to fade away after a second).
  • Minor performance upgrades.
• Bug Fixes
  • Removed persistent Visual C++ Redistributable pop up on Windows reboot.
  • Several areas known to be prone to out of memory exceptions have been refactored.
  • UI clean up in alerts panel.
  • Web interface correctly displays all information.
  • Refactored remoting calls to prevent thread deadlocks and frozen messages.
  • Cleaned up the Workspace experience.

PingPlotter 5.3.2

Released 2016-11-30

• Packet type was defaulting to UDP. It is now changed back to ICMP using Windows DLL.
• Edit Template button was missing from email alerts. It's now found next to "Test Email".

PingPlotter 5.3.1

Released 2016-11-18

• Two new features are available in this release.
  • Local Network Discovery - You can now scan your local network using a wide variety of protocols to identify devices that can be affecting your network performance. You will love how easy it is to view your network and select devices to monitor with PingPlotter. Local network discover is available in Standard and Professional editions.
  • Dynamic DNS Support - Do you use PingPlotter to monitor a server that doesn't stay on a fixed IP address? Now PingPlotter will follow DNS changes that point to the system and keep monitoring it regardless of IP address changes. Instructions on are available in the manual.
• New features aren't the only thing to get excited about. This is the first simultaneous release of macOS and Windows. Hooray for cross-platform technology!
• Fixed a bug that caused some new traces to start at the wrong default trace interval.
• Improved startup performance for users with larger data sets.
• Hunted down and tackled a bug that produced "route 0 no found" errors.
• Got crazy route changes? This version brings several improvements to route tracking that helped both the new features and overall performance.

PingPlotter 5.2.8

Released 2016-10-27

• You can now export your data - without exporting everything in Standard and Professional Editions!  Exporting to the .pp2 file format now lets you chose between exporting all data (up to 1 million samples) or exporting only the data defined by the current focus period.  Very snazzy.
• Improved efficiency of exporting data in .pp2 format so that it uses significantly less memory during the export process.
• Squashed a bug that made some targets stop showing up in summary screens.
• Fixed a bug that delayed graphs from drawing in the latency column.
• Found and fixed a problem that could happen when switching workspaces.

PingPlotter 5.2.7

Released 2016-10-06

• We worked hard on this release to streamline workspace management for our Professional edition users (with some benefits to Standard and Free as well).
• PingPlotter now keeps track of the last workspace you used and reopens it automatically each time you launch PingPlotter. No more confusing options to set them to load again.
• For users of Standard and Professional versions, we also gave you a quick option to open with a clean workspace every time. In your options just choose "Do not open targets on launch" and we... um... won't open any of your targets the next time the program is launched.
• In the process of streamline workspaces, we squashed a number of bugs that affected session management, workspaces, and switching between different sets of data.
• And while we were "under the hood" we made some speed and general performance improvements. Tune-ups are always a good thing.

PingPlotter 5.02.5

Released 2016-10-04

• Fixed a bug in the web interface that prevented targets from displaying.

PingPlotter 5.2.4

Released 2016-09-29

• Added a feature in PingPlotter Professional to export a list of targets from a summary screen. We cleverly called it "Save Target List File...".
• Will now install on (and we support running on) 2008 R1 and R2. We recommend Windows 8.1 or later, though, especially with high target counts and the default ICMP.DLL engine.
• Fixed a bug in the Share feature that prevented users from publishing their sample data to PingPlotter.com if they had the "Include Settings name with target/host description" option selected and were running as a service.
• Improvements to the underlying layout and ease of use various screens in throughout the program to match our recent macOS release.
• For users who were aggressively pinging multiple targets with sub 1 second trace intervals using ICMP - we made improvements to prevent the drawing of data from falling behind over time or resulting in a "frozen" message.
• Squashed a bug that produced "frozen" error when deleting all sessions from the session manager.
• Eliminated some unnecessary warnings from popping up when viewing a lot of historical data at the same time you are collecting data.
• Fixed a bug where the remote agent ports were not closing when data collection was paused which would cause a whole lot of nothing to happen when you tried to restart the trace.
• Speaking of remote agent, we made it capable of handling a loss of connection without making your routes go wild and crazy.
• Improved the comment feature to more gracefully handle comments with weird (read invalid) dates or times. Want to add a comment with the time of "asparagus"? Well you're not going to confuse us now!
• Improved support for UTF8 character sets. We may not be able to speak a bunch of languages - but we can handle you typing them into PingPlotter.
• Made improvements so that importing a list of targets with a bunch of work (like importing data) going on in the background won't cause you grief.
• Added a feature in PingPlotter Professional to export a list of targets from a summary screen. We cleverly called it "Save Target List File...".
• For users who were finding that PingPlotter 5 wasn't being launched when you clicked on a .pp2 file - we improved the ability to associate the .pp2 file format with the current version.

PingPlotter 5.2.3

Released 2016-08-24

• Huge improvement to startup times when there is a lot of stored data in your auto-load workspace. Loading any big workspace is much faster now too.
• Fixed bug where some settings would not be removed during uninstall.
• Opening a target in the web interface now defaults to show the last 5 minutes of collected data instead of all data. This makes the web interface respond faster when it's dealing with lots of collected data.
• Fixed a problem where a malformed or corrupt settings file prevented PingPlotter from launching.
• Sorting the summary screen by the status column sorts based on whether targets are paused or running. This makes group actions like resuming all paused targets easier.
• Fixed a problem in the ICMP raw sockets packet type that was using too much CPU.

PingPlotter 5.2.2

Released 2016-08-18

• PingPlotter remembers more about the state you left it in - size, position, trace interval, timegraph time, column visibility and size.
• Improvements to some background processes to reduce likelihood of freezes.
• Includes a good bit of refactoring as part of the (imminent) OSX release
• Added "About sharing and privacy" option to share menu.
• Some improvements to error logging to help us find a couple of the impossible-to-reproduce issues (that we hope we've also fixed).
• Updates to docking system to start more quickly/gracefully.
• Improved messaging for Free users trying to open .pp2 files created by other machines.
• Caught/fixed a couple more null reference errors. Thanks for helping us catch these!
• Fixed an issue that was causing errors when connected to the service and closing a bunch of targets (a missing message error).
• Improved the way hop numbers are listed on the time graph to make that more reliable.
• Fixed a problem with a the migration from 5.0 to 5.01.6 that would sometimes leave data unoptimized and running slow. If you're running into performance issues and you were on an older version of V5, give this a try. It make take several minutes after launch depending on the size of your data, but should eventually (within a few minutes) correct itself to be high-performance, no matter how much collected data you have.
• Fixed an issue where renaming a host didn't always stick correctly.
• Hiding a trace grid column, then re-showing it will now cause it to reappear in its default position rather than the first column.
• A handful of other improvements and usability fixes.

PingPlotter 5.2.1

Released 2016-07-15

• Much, much better handling of 250+ targets.
• Implemented live sorting on summary graph data columns.
• New "Share to pingplotter.com" feature available in Free, Standard and Pro editions. Click File > Share > Share to pingplotter.com , and we'll host your screenshot and data to make it easy for you to share your network problems with others.
• Standard mode should now always allow 2 targets to open.
• Significant improvements to update rates on summary graphs with lots of targets listed.
• Text on tabs should no longer disappear in some RDP scenarios (well, ever - but it was annoyingly doing it on RDP sessions previously). Thanks for Actipro for their good support on handling this issue.
• Right-clicking on the time graph and picking a new time period now zooms (in and out) on the period you right-clicked.
• Fixed a handful of application frozen conditions.
• Added a couple more data points to the error logs.
• The jitter column now works better when looking at history (aggregate) data.
• Fixed an issue where time graphs would sometimes show slightly incorrect values for a few seconds when live tracing/viewing.
• You can't delete the last named configuration in Pro's settings editor anymore.
• Built a command line data pruning utility. Contact us if you need this (we'll have a page up on it soon).
• Session browser opens faster when there's lots of collected data.
• Fixed an issue where local failures in packet sends with ICMP.DLL packets could conspire to stop sending of all ICMP packets.
• Improved text export performance and capabilities.

PingPlotter 5.1.6

Released 2016-06-27

• Adjusted time graph scale so unnecessary decimals are not displayed.
• Cleaned up some intermediate hop time graphs drawing issues.
• Renamed "Trigger Notification" alert to "Tray Notification" (hey, Trigger's an awesome word, but ... what does that do?)
• Fixed issue where exporting a .pp2 or saving an image could switch to the wrong tab and do it to the wrong data.
• Save image menu option now comes up with a default save file name based on the target.
• Added support for escape and enter keys on a couple dialogs, and made the license name entered save in all cases.
• Tweaked first day trail experience to appear more as a trial.
• Moved data storage from %appdata% to %localappdata%. This means data won't roam with you (which makes no sense) and is stored on the local machine rather than a network drive in some cases.
• Added ability to store collected data folder on a network drive (although we definitely don't recommend it).
• Fixed an issue where the service sometimes wouldn't start on boot (but would start fine manually). If you see this again, we'd love to hear about it.
• Improved session deletion speed.
• Fixed a timer accuracy related issue that caused gray periods in time graphs.
• Improved alert action to respect the "Use StartTLS" flag. Also, now accepts any security certificate without complaint.
• Switching to the TCP packet type now appropriately initializes packet size to 40 bytes (others are still 56).
• Added some links to variables on more of the alert setup pages that use variables.
• A handful of other minor tweaks / fixes and improvements.
• Fixed a problem initializing an alert from a workspace.

PingPlotter 5.1.4

Released 2016-06-20

• Summary graph names are now updated in the right-click menu, too, when renamed.
• Cleaned up service related memory issues to address some application freezes and out of memory errors.
• Fixed a startup error that could sometimes cause a null reference error on "just-right" situations on single-CPU machines.
• Improved time graph line drawing on some machines that was causing odd aliasing and inconsistent line widths.
• Fixed a problem with multiple instances of the Free version connected to the same service - no longer locks up.
• Progress bars are now updating more reliably when opening multiple sessions.

PingPlotter 5.1.3

Released 2016-06-15

• Constant data collection is now (more) possible. An original goal of PingPlotter 5 was to run forever without having to configure it. In the initial release of version 5.0, this was only possible in certain cases - and when you went back to review (distant or lots-of) history, memory errors could occur. This should be solve in this version, with the goal of allowing this release to run continuously with hundreds of targets (with no defined time where "too long" exists).
• Built statistical aggregation to improve performance looking at 7-day time periods on a summary screen without having to re-build statistics each time a new sample arrives.
• Startup is significantly faster (both on slow and fast machines), and the user interface becomes pleasantly responsive much sooner.
• Fixed performance issues where lots of route changes (turns out 2 weeks of 2.5 second completely unique combinations of routers takes a lot of work and memory to keep track of).
• Added progress bars to many areas where large volumes of data were causing uncertainty (and sometimes "the user interface appears to be frozen" messages)
• Fixed an out of memory error that could occur when importing some legacy .pp2 files (with errors).
• Workspaces can now be migrated from version 4 with history much more reliably.
• Fixed a good handful or scenarios that would cause lockups.
• Fixed a hard crash that would sometimes happen on really aggressive trace intervals with lots of targets.
• Rebuilt the options system to get rid of errors, painting problems and inability-to-use. For those looking for more options, we're working on that, but this update was focused on making it work better, not making it everything.
• Fixed some problems with TCP packet engine where not having WinPCap installed would result in a routing problem.
• Added some better error logging to make it easier to find errors (although we're sure (uh...) that errors are banished forever).
• Fixed bug in screenshot logic - would sometimes have a 0 width, causing an error.
• Significantly improved the REST call alert to work with different kinds of services and better template variable substitution.
• Some tweaks to web interface (we aspire for more, but ...)
• Improved ability to use multiple cores on some slow operations.
• Fixed stickiness of Column widths and visibility through a close/reopen. Also the time graphs you were looking at when you closed should reopen. (Pro Only).
• Service startup logic is now dependent on having the network running which helps PingPlotter start more reliably on fast machines.
• Fixed a handful of graph painting / not updating problems.
• Fixed an issue where multiple remote agents really, really wanted to have their settings combined and then erased.
• Setting the PingPlotter service to "Disabled" will allow the GUI to launch without the "Waiting for service to start" timeout message.
• Improved speed of support ticket submission from error reports and the help menu. Also enable the Return / Enter key so multi-line questions are more natural (who needs more than a single line to ask a question? me!)
• Fixed a problem that caused an error during startup on some (isolated) machines.
• Improved speed of loading session browser when running a lot of targets.
• Bunches of minor GUI tweaks.
• Fixed bug where an "ALL" alert mask tied to intermediate hops, too, instead of just to all final destination.
• Fixed a bunch of other annoyance/behavior bugs.
• Fixed a bug that caused launching on a FIPS-enabled machine to fail.
• Fixed some data locking problems that would sometimes cause issues when writing to the disk.
• Some improvements to error logs to improve consistency and ability to show errors more reliably during startup.
• Better, faster, stronger. More superhero-like.
• A DNS resolution error was showing two indicators, one of them requiring you to acknowledge. Now, just shows the friendlier indication, not the harder error-looking message.
• Fixed a bug where the first sample collected wasn't always being included in the upper graph statistics, causing slight delays in updating the display.
• Fixed a bug where the options screen wasn't showing the jitter settings in Pro.
• Fixed a bug in the time graphs where a big gap in collected data might cause the background to blink on every collected sample.

PingPlotter 5.0.14

Released 2016-05-27

• Fixed a problem where tabs would have no name during some minimize/resize events (mini-tabs aren't as fun as you might think).
• Testing SMTP settings will now time out after 15 seconds instead of a minute.
• Improvements in license management for license keys that are more than a year old (as a side note, we have full support for all licenses working on computers without a network connection, even subscriptions).
• Some improvements to startup performance when loading to a blank workspace.
• Fixed a bug where the Windows Service would sometimes not load your preferred workspace.
• Fixed a font size problem on the target dropdown on some systems.
• Fixed (annoying!) bug where absence of network would cause a null reference error on launch because of inability to check if there's a new version of PingPlotter available
• Added some troubleshooting information to better detect missing dll dependancies
• Fixed a good handful of other minor bugs and messages.

PingPlotter 5.0.13

Released 2016-05-13

• Increased PingPlotter's available to 3GB to improve performance and the loading of large workspaces.
• Improvements to migration including ability to import workspaces without historical data.
• Enabled timeouts on email server settings.

PingPlotter 5.0.9

Released 2016-05-05

• Columns respond better to window resizing.
• Fixed UDP related Index Out of Range Exception .
• Graph colors match legend on all program screens.
• Log to file alert templates are modifiable. All alert conditions apply to this alert type.
• Web interface summary graph sorting and focus times are more reliable.
• Improved .pp2 file imports.
• Alert masks and log to file paths import from v4 to v5.
• Modified some syntax for alert templates.
• Other miscellaneous bug fixes and improvements.

PingPlotter 5.0.8

Released 2016-05-03

• New migration assistant automatically imports version 4 settings.
• Added support for scripted extensions, including Launch Executable alert action.
• Fixed freeze when creating a screenshot.
• More appropriate message when ipv6/ipv6 addresses are specified but not in the DNS record.
• Modify summary alert action no longer shows up in Standard edition.
• Added clarity to RawSocket access denied error messaging.
• Fixed index out of bound issues in UDP packet engine and Free edition.
• Improved web server messaging and other tweaks.
• Remote Agent packet engine now can have unique settings and won't just inherit from the first one.
• Default tab created when there are no tabs will no longer be launched when closing all windows before opening a workspace.
• Improved behavior when multiple GUIs are connected to service in Free and Standard modes.
• Fixed some drawing issues on trace graph.
• Updated error messages on RawSocket access denied errors to make them slightly more clear.
• Fixed freeze when deleting default configuration.
• A handful of other fixes and improvements.

PingPlotter 5.0.7

Released 2016-04-27

• Alerts check for empty fields instead of showing null reference errors, and a variety of other alert system improvements.
• Improved some license failure modes, fixed some early trial expiration problems.
• Fixed a good handful of "User interface frozen" and "null reference" errors.
• Free edition works more like it should. Time graphs show 10 minutes instead of 60 seconds. Some other free edition only bugs were resolved too.
• Fixed some "Copy to clipboard" problems experienced by a small handful of users. If you get one of these in 5.00.7+, please let us know.
• Reset and restart now keeps any explicitly defined alerts for that target. If you really want to clear your alerts, start a new target.
• Changed default auto-save setting from 30 minutes to 5 minutes.
• Running targets load better in Standard edition.
• Changed default packet send delay from 30ms to auto. More targets, easier and faster now!
• A good handful of other improvements and tweaks (most even more minor than the ones above).

PingPlotter 5.0.6

Released 2016-04-22

• Session browser now shows the newest sessions first by default.
• Entering license keys should no longer freeze the program. A handful of other licensing related issues were fixed too.
• PingPlotter stays in free edition after making the switch.
• Added a feature to "Reset columns to default" when right clicking on the column headers.
• Fixed a bug where some IPv6 addresses would get entered as a wildcard, causing odd behavior (your machine showing up 60 times in the list, for example).
• Fixed problems with missing configuration ID errors.
• Improved some error handling and reporting. You only need to enter your name and email in the first error report / ticket you send to us and PingPlotter will remember that for next time (revolutionary, right?).
• Fixed a problem where targets would sometimes not show up in the All Targets summary.
• Some improvements to performance and other bug fixes.

PingPlotter 5.0.4

Released 2016-04-19

• All new C# cross-platform capable codebase (the same engine used for our iOS app and Mac technology preview).
• Most of the long term monitoring configurations that were necessary in the past are eliminated. This version can monitor perpetually out of the box, will auto-save everything, and auto-manages the memory footprint without special configuration by you.
• Added Auto-save settings that really control auto-discard (but that didn't sound right). We save it, but if you don't want to keep stuff around, you can tell PingPlotter to throw it away (no more "Do you want to save?" questions on close).
• New user interface, rearranged controls use space more efficiently and eliminate redundant information found in control layouts of previous versions. Graphics are optimized for hi-resolution monitors.
• Alerts are set up and modified within the context of a target. Time based conditions are included alongside sample count based conditions, and alerts are created and managed through a guided process. Click Alerts on the right of a target to get started.
• Completely rebuilt the Windows Service design. The data collection engine can run without a GUI. The user interface can seemlessly access that service engine with a live view. Everything is designed to work when running as a service.
  The service is also available in all editions. To run as a service, enable the Collect data in the background option during installation.
• Improved "auto" settings for send delay to allow more targets to be traced with less configuration. Selecting this option from the Edit > Options > Engine screen will mean PingPlotter automatically find the time it needs between packets to meet your target and trace interval specifications.
• (Pro only) A default workspace is always running. Additional workspaces can be set up at-will. Click the Workspace menu in the header to start a new one.
• Increased latency measurement precision. Sub-millisecond response times are detectable. You'll see a decimal value for hops that listed 0 millisecond latency in the past.
• Added Auto focus setting (which is totally awesome). When focus is set to Auto, the upper grid and lower graphs stay in sync (even as you scroll). The setting saves a few clicks and is also useful for inspecting route changes because hops update as you focus on different time periods.
• We found ourselves spending a lot of time converting between counts and times (is 15 samples 2 minutes worth?). Settings are now time based instead of sample count based to save some conversion math.
• Added natural language commenting. Comment on timelines with times like 5 minutes ago or Yesterday at 2:00 pm . Post comments in the future by entering a time that hasn't happened yet. e.g. In 3 hours.
• That's just a start - improvements are everywhere.

PingPlotter v4.12.0

Released 2016-01-15

• Fixed "argument out of range" error that happened when closing targets via right-click on a summary graph.
• Fixed "sample out of range" error when creating an image in some cases when using period-based statistics.
• Fixed cross site scripting bugs that affected several areas of the web interface.
• Fixed a handful of access violations and anomolies.
• Added the Settings name to "Copy as Image" and "Save as Image" graphics when appropriate (> 1 config, show name option turned on).
• Improvements to behavior when deleting a named configuration. Much less likely to error when in use.
• Fixed bug where alert could be associated with a non-responding intermediate hop.
• Fixed bug where it was impossible to rename a hop/host that didn't have some kind of a name on it already.
• A handful of other minor tweaks in drawing and behavior.

PingPlotter v4.11.2

Released 2015-12-10

• Fixed some issues that were causing configurations with remote agents to lock-up.
• Fixed issue where .wav files were not working with audio alerts on some systems.
• Fixed some incorrect route changes on high-rate remote agent setups.
• Added a "close all without saving" option to the "You have lots of new data, save?" prompt on close - also a "save as workspace" option.
• Fixed a bug when closing multiple targets from summary screen when there was dynamic sorting happening.
• Added "check for updates" option to "Help" menu.

PingPlotter v4.11.1

Released 2015-12-03

Version 4 and beyond are free upgrades for customers with active . Paid upgrades are currently half price and available in the account system along with custom (license key embedded) downloads and additional licenses.

Upgrade Instructions

Download the installer from your account or the download page and run it.

• UDP engine overhaul
  • Installer auto-configures firewall rules for UDP packets (selectable in the installer).
  • UDP packets work without admin privileges on Windows 7+.
  • Updated remote agent to use new UDP logic.
  • Fixed a bunch of UDP bugs that was crashing / not working.
• Usability improvements
  • Added ability to reset/restart selected targets from summary screen.
  • Error messages now show in subject line for informational errors on the "Ask for help" button.
  • Rearranged options in the right-click menu, and moved a few others from the summary screen "Trace" button.
  • Removed "Show route change indicator" option from the route panel.
  • Added PingPlotter Mobile link to Help menu.
• Version updates download and launch with a single click
• Winpcap one-click auto-download/install.
• Tweaked route logic to better handle route exclusions and turbulent routes.
• Route change works better with all.
• Squashed a good handful of bugs.

PingPlotter v4.10.1

Released 2015-10-24

• Add new graph scaling option: "Scale to last visible time graph" for target time graphs. This is now default and makes it easier to compare latency across the entire route.
• Alert system improvements:
  • Now ships with some "Sample" alerts that can be used as-is, or cloned/modified. Right click on the alert list in the editing screen if you want to hide the samples.
  • Play Sound alert event can play mp3 files (and other typical sound files), in addition to wav files. You can test the sound quickly with a new "play" button on the alert. We also now ship a handful of audio files that we like to use.
  • Added a new event type: "Add a comment" to the time graph on a target - use this to log conditions / information (or action that you have the alert system doing).
  • Added a splitter between the alert list and the alert edit area.
  • SMTP server settings can now be tested in the area where you configure them (without an alert configured).
  • If SMTP server is not configured, you can access the settings for that with a shortcut from alert configuration.
  • 10060-style SMTP errors now have option to look up the error message on our server / KB.
  • A handful of other tweaks / improvements / fixes.
• Supports monthly subscription pricing plans in addition to perpetual licensing.
• Titlebar now shows workspace name instead of an arbitrary target name on professional edition.
• Tweaks to TCP engine to make it more likely to work on some routers.
• Error reports come across with correct OS information on Windows 8 and newer.
• Improved license expiration/application shutdown applications in use and/or unattended.
• Clicking on a pingplotter:// link launches PingPlotter (auto-license entry).
• Lots of access violations / errors fixed.
• Fixed bug where MultiPing data couldn't be sent to Pingplotter Standard (only professional edition).
• Fixed bug in options screen that let you delete all the configurations.
• Improved drawing of low-level packet loss to make it fit inside the trace graph a bit better (instead of looking like it was drawing negative bars)
• Fixed "Remember me" option in web interface.
• Fixed packet cargo options that sometimes caused random data instead of the specified cargo.
• Fixed bug that would sometimes make a time graph not show up when you double-clicked it in the trace graph.
• Fixed bug when cloning alerts - you can now create multiples in a group and all of them save (instead of just the last one).

PingPlotter v4.01.2

Released 2015-06-30

• Improved service instance behavior when a license key was expired, missing or PingPlotter Standard.
• Fixed problem where closing a target tab with the target history dropdown open would cause the history to show full-screen.

PingPlotter v4.01.1

Released 2015-06-26

Lots of tweaks, improvements and fixes.

• Speed improvements when painting graphs, especially summary graphs that were being sorted by an actively changing column.
• Packet loss bars on trace graph no longer show text by default. Turn that back on via the right-click menu if you miss seeing that. It was a bit clutterful and it feels a little more "open" - and packet loss % is available as a column.
• You can now move a target to a summary screen from the web interface.
• Fixed handful of problems with Internet Explorer in the web interface.
• Fixed error with & in summary names in web interface.
• Fixed problem where remote agents had some interoperability problems when the agent and PingPlotter host used different decimal point characters.
• Fixed problem where PingPlotter would always reopen on primary monitor. Will now open on whichever monitor / position you closed it.
• Updated some maintenance and license check messaging to make things more clear and obvious.
• Fixed bug when sending text-only alert emails.
• Testing of alert events now picks a good "test" host much more often.
• Improved experience when launching minimized or via the COM api.
• Jitter now sorts a bit more numerically :).
• Fixed several crashes related to the web server.
• Fixed bug where "Trace via remote server" engine type didn't work in trial mode (and any other custom script type).
• PingPlotter can now load MultiPing v3 workspaces (oops!).
• Double-clicking on a .pp2 file that launches PingPlotter will now show that target in the "All Targets" list.
• Fixed a handful of other issues (invalid mime types, unicode compatibility, legend visibility, Windows Scripting host unavailability, lots more).

PingPlotter v4.00.3

Released 2015-04-24

• Fixed crash when running TCP with WinPcap turned off. Note: We've found no cases where WinPcap is not required since Windows XP SP2. We will be dropping all other ways of generating TCP traceroute in a future build.
• Fixed several access violations.
• Updated welcome "splash" screen to make it more obvious that you've already entered a license key.
• Several other minor tweaks.

PingPlotter v4.00.2

Released 2015-04-14

• Fixed several errors around deleting of old samples.
• Fixed several access violations.
• Reenabled "Modify" option for Add/Remove programs
• Updated help files, in-program context help
• Fixed several remaining Unicode imperfections
• Fixed a shutdown-blocking problem
• Improved messaging when opening a workspace with IPv6 targets on a system that isn't capable of IPv6 (probably Windows XP).
• Several other minor tweaks / fixes.

PingPlotter v4.00.1

Released 2015-04-01

• Option to send alert emails as text, HTML, or both (defaults to both)
• Updated Help file, hints, and warnings
• Cleaned up Unicode related issues
• Applying settings from summary screen updates details screen
• Smoothed out license migration process
• Layout tweaks on summary graph and control area
• Updates to in program graphics

PingPlotter v4.00.0

Released 2015-03-30

Professional

• Multiple summary screens allows user defined grouping of targets in separate screens
• Target management tools enable target searching, tab hiding, and adding targets from summaries
• Multi-select actions facilitate opening of graphs, moving to summary, and stopping trace for multiple targets at once

Standard

• Two simultaneous targets are now available to help eliminate troubleshooting variables, double monitoring capacity, and improve multi-tasking capabilities.

Free

• Added timeline graph that shows last ten minutes of performance history

Professional and Standard editions

• Progress dialogue when loading target list from file
• REST alert events for integrating PingPlotter and other services like Slack, and Hipchat
• HTML formatted alert emails. Send text, HTML, or combo alert emails; all of it is editable
• Improved TCP engine so it works through more firewalls
• Track dynamic IP addresses
• Alert subnet masks now use industry standard ip/mask format (examples: 192.168.1.1/29 or 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.248) to associate a specific alert with only appropriate targets
• New docking system. Pro tip: Set up trace graphs and summary screens side-by-side
• Improved scripting engine

All editions

• A single download now supports Free, Standard, and Professional editions
  • Switch between editions by clicking Help > Change Editions
  • Professional license owners can access any edition
  • Standard license owners can access Free and Standard editions
• Supports pinging IPv6 targets
  • By default, will use Windows lookup stack to pick between addresses when a single target supports IPv4 and IPv6
  • There is an option to prefer IPv6 or IPv4
  • Prefixing a target name by IPv4: or IPv6: will force a single target to use that protocol
• Unicode support so non-English characters can be used in comments, target names, and elsewhere
• UI improvements
  • New graphics
  • Better timegraph and alert icons
  • Friendlier colors
  • Upper graph legend tweaks
• Updated to latest compiler and component versions
• Prettier, more informative (awesome), welcome screens. Goes away automatically, or if you click anything else. If you never want to see it, turn it off in options and please let us know why.
• Rebranded from Nessoft to Pingman Tools

PingPlotter Standard V3.42.2p

Released 2014-04-10

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Standard version 3.x.

Upgrade instructions:

For best results, run this update without uninstalling any older versions you may have installed - this upgrade will migrate all existing settings.

Changes since 3.42.1s

Standard and Pro

• No changes to PingPlotter Standard in this build.

Pro only

• Fixed PingPlotter web server vulnerability that could expose file system information with certain "malformed" urls.

PingPlotter Standard V3.42.1s

Released 2014-03-31

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Standard version 3.x.

Upgrade instructions:

For best results, run this update without uninstalling any older versions you may have installed - this upgrade will migrate all existing settings.

Changes since 3.42.0s

Standard and Pro

• Fixed license key recognition problem on isolated license keys.
• Fixed popup error message on shutdown that would sometimes bring up a Windows crash message.

Pro only

• Fixed bug in web interface when running on IIS.

PingPlotter Standard V3.42.1p

Released 2014-03-31

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Pro version 3.x.

Upgrade instructions:

For best results, run this update without uninstalling any older versions you may have installed - this upgrade will migrate all existing settings.

Changes since 3.42.0p

Standard and Pro

• Fixed license key recognition problem on isolated license keys.
• Fixed popup error message on shutdown that would sometimes bring up a Windows crash message.

Pro only

• Fixed bug in web interface when running on IIS.

PingPlotter Standard V3.42.0s

Released 2014-03-18

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Standard version 3.x.

Upgrade instructions:

For best results, run this update without uninstalling any older versions you may have installed - this upgrade will migrate all existing settings.

Changes since 3.41.0s

Standard and Pro

• Packet loss % column is now red.
• Packet loss % column will show up to 3 digits of decimal places if there is room for it.
• Old style license keys (those created in 1998 and part of 1999) on PingPlotter Standard sometimes caused PingPlotter to crash after some number of initial pings.
• Changed the way PingPlotter uses the system font - previously it would try and use the system Font type and size, which would sometimes cause the GUI to be unusable. This build now uses a set font and size, which should be more predictable. We're working on a better long-term method of handling arbitrary OS font sizes, but this release should make it usable in more situations.
• Some tweaks to installer to auto-enter licensing. Contact us if you need to distribute an installer to your users that installs in licensed mode automatically.
• Copy as Summary Text mode is now default at 10 sample (was higher before). Hold the SHIFT key when you click the Edit menu to switch between Summary and Detail mode.
• Fixed GDI+ Error when starting PingPlotter after applying a Microsoft fix for a TIFF vulnerability (that disabled TIFF support).

Pro only

• Minor tweaks to the Pro web interface - if you add a "&SettingsFilter=XXXX" parameter to a URL, only targets using that Setting's name will be shown. This is useful if you want to link to a subset of targets from an external site (like an internal support page).
• When running as a service, minimizing and closing didn't always hide PingPlotter (Windows 7 and higher).
• When running as a service on Windows 7 and higher, any input errors were silent and didn't show what happened.
• Fixed access violation in the web server when port was already in use.

PingPlotter Standard V3.42.0p

Released 2014-03-18

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Pro version 3.x.

Upgrade instructions:

For best results, run this update without uninstalling any older versions you may have installed - this upgrade will migrate all existing settings.

Changes since 3.41.0p

Standard and Pro

• Packet loss % column is now red.
• Packet loss % column will show up to 3 digits of decimal places if there is room for it.
• Old style license keys (those created in 1998 and part of 1999) on PingPlotter Standard sometimes caused PingPlotter to crash after some number of initial pings.
• Changed the way PingPlotter uses the system font - previously it would try and use the system Font type and size, which would sometimes cause the GUI to be unusable. This build now uses a set font and size, which should be more predictable. We're working on a better long-term method of handling arbitrary OS font sizes, but this release should make it usable in more situations.
• Some tweaks to installer to auto-enter licensing. Contact us if you need to distribute an installer to your users that installs in licensed mode automatically.
• Copy as Summary Text mode is now default at 10 sample (was higher before). Hold the SHIFT key when you click the Edit menu to switch between Summary and Detail mode.
• Fixed GDI+ Error when starting PingPlotter after applying a Microsoft fix for a TIFF vulnerability (that disabled TIFF support).

Pro only

• Minor tweaks to the Pro web interface - if you add a "&SettingsFilter=XXXX" parameter to a URL, only targets using that Setting's name will be shown. This is useful if you want to link to a subset of targets from an external site (like an internal support page).
• When running as a service, minimizing and closing didn't always hide PingPlotter (Windows 7 and higher).
• When running as a service on Windows 7 and higher, any input errors were silent and didn't show what happened.
• Fixed access violation in the web server when port was already in use.

PingPlotter Standard V3.41.0s

Released 2013-11-14

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Standard version 3.x.

Upgrade instructions:

For best results, run this update without uninstalling any older versions you may have installed - this upgrade will migrate all existing settings.

Changes since 3.40.2

Standard and Pro

• Improved support for Windows 8.1
• Added support for cloning/copying of alerts (right-click on the alert).
• PingPlotter now pauses when Windows goes to sleep and resumes when it restarts (previously, this could show as packet loss during the "out" period). A comment is automatically added to the time graph showing when this happens.
• Fixed problem where PingPlotter would occasionally freeze on close.
• Fixed problem with float-over hints in the time graph causing an access violation in some cases
• Fixed some user interface glitches in the edits on the main screen.
• Misc other fixes / tweaks.

Pro only

• Web interface now respects graph scaling settings.
• Added PHP version of remote unix/Linux agent.
• Summary graph Time Graphs didn't show settings name when GUI was set that way.
• Fixed problem that caused high CPU use when tracing from remote agent with multiple targets.
• Fixed web server high CPU issue with a specific invalid character in URL.

PingPlotter Pro V3.41.0p

Released 2013-11-14

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Pro version 3.x.

Changes since 3.40.2

Standard and Pro

• Improved support for Windows 8.1
• Added support for cloning/copying of alerts (right-click on the alert).
• PingPlotter now pauses when Windows goes to sleep and resumes when it restarts (previously, this could show as packet loss during the "out" period). A comment is automatically added to the time graph showing when this happens.
• Fixed problem where PingPlotter would occasionally freeze on close.
• Fixed problem with float-over hints in the time graph causing an access violation in some cases
• Fixed some user interface glitches in the edits on the main screen.
• Misc other fixes / tweaks.

Pro only

• now respects graph scaling settings.
• Added PHP version of remote unix/Linux agent .
• Summary graph Time Graphs didn't show settings name when GUI was set that way.
• Fixed problem that caused high CPU use when tracing from remote agent with multiple targets.
• Fixed web server high CPU issue with a specific invalid character in URL.

PingPlotter Pro V3.40.2p

Released 2012-06-05

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Pro version 3.x.

Changes since 3.40.1

• In some isolated cases, upgrading from a prior version would cause loss of some settings.
• Launching PingPlotter would take several seconds more than it should.
• /debug command line switch on installer didn't work.
• PRO ONLY - entering your license key after trial period expiration would not always reload the workspace until after a close/restart.
• PRO ONLY - clearing workspace after some kinds of workspace corruption would not always restore the UI to an expected state.

PingPlotter Standard V3.40.1s

Released 2012-05-31

Changes since 3.40.0

• Updated help files.
• Fixed F1 help in the options screens.
• Fixed a bug when floating your mouse over the time graph immediately after launching, an error could occur.
• Fixed a STARTTLS bug that caused GMail SMTP emails sends to fail on some isolated systems (alert system).
• PRO ONLY - on some systems, the web interface would become unresponsive (using a full CPU) after a period of use. Fixed.
• PRO ONLY - when right clicking a tab and closing it, the wrong section could close/hide in some isolated situations.
• Fixed several minor issues.

PingPlotter Pro V3.40.1p

Released 2012-05-31

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Pro version 3.x.

Upgrade instructions:

For best results, run this update without uninstalling any older versions you may have installed - this upgrade will migrate all existing settings.

Changes since 3.40.0

• Updated help files.
• Fixed F1 help in the options screens.
• Fixed a bug when floating your mouse over the time graph immediately after launching, an error could occur.
• Fixed a STARTTLS bug that caused GMail SMTP emails sends to fail on some isolated systems (alert system).
• PRO ONLY - on some systems, the web interface would become unresponsive (using a full CPU) after a period of use. Fixed.
• PRO ONLY - when right clicking a tab and closing it, the wrong section could close/hide in some isolated situations.
• Fixed several minor issues.

PingPlotter Pro V3.30.0p

Released 2012-04-23

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Pro version 3.x.

Changes since 3.30.4

Bigger changes:

• New MSI-based installer.
• Improvements to web interface.
  • Lots more asynchronous calls, so fewer page refreshes needed.
  • New login screen (username/password can be remembered on your mobile device now).
  • Fixed some stability issues when targets were frequently added/removed.
• Changes to Windows Service handling on Vista and newer OSes. The installer now has an option to install as a service which also installs a shortcut to access the service instance (on Vista+).
• SSL libraries are now included so email alerts can more easily use STARTTLS SMTP servers.
• Overhaul of final destination ping method, which should make it more reliable when route changes frequently.

Other tweaks/fixes:

• Added link to the knowledge base from the Help menu. If you've not checked out the knowledge base, !
• /INIFILE setting would still use local profile settings if it existed, so running multiple instances with different settings would sometimes not work as expected.
• Improved shutdown logic when multiple instances are shut down simultaneously, all trying to write to the same file.
• "Attach Collected Data to Email" and "Include Text in Email" options not saving correctly in some cases.
• Alert status for final destination now shows on final row of trace graph when unreachable.
• Making changes to alerts now applies more reliably across running targets.
• Fixed access violation when floating your mouse over a newly created target "just right".
• Auto-Save now defaults to save to your "My Documents" folder instead of the PingPlotter install path. This can be overridden by specifying a full path.
• Auto save now creates more than one level of directories, allowing $year\$month\$day\$dest style nesting.
• Sending an alert test email would sometimes cause an error if done without first tracing to a target.
• "Sort to match target list" was not working.
• Scripts can now modify the "prompt for save" threshold and default trace interval.
• Closing a tab wouldn't always prompt to save the data being collected.
• It was impossible to open a read-only workspace file.
• Added ability to show/hide all time graphs on summary.
• MultiFileExport now exports Jitter statistics.
• "Auto-Show Timeline Graphs on Summary" option was not being saved correctly.
• Floating graphs would not show tooltip hints after close/restart.
• Fixed bug with access violation at shutdown.
• Auto-save image didn't always show the latest data if focus changes.
• .pp2 file association is now done in the installer instead of application.
• Updated a handful of 3rd party components - some new capabilities exposed.
• Updated grid drawing to show a ? for the last hop on unreachable targets.
• Fixed a variety of other bugs and small improvements.

PingPlotter Pro V3.30.4p - July 27th, 2010

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Pro version 3.x.

Changes since 3.30.2

• Improved handling of read-only configuration files and user profile-stored configs.
• Fixed problem with collected data sent in email alerts (the attachment was sometimes corrupted).
• Fixed problem under some Windows 7 UI themes, the summary graph wouldn't resize correctly.
• Fixed occasionaly error when floating the cursor over a time graph.

PingPlotter Pro V3.30.2p - June 1st, 2010

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Pro version 3.x.

Changes since 3.30.1

• Timeouts sort as high latency in the summary graph, instead of low latency (min/max/avg).
• Floating your mouse over the time graph now shows statistics about that data point.
• Time graphs now show grid lines.
• Time graphs paint a bit faster with some video cards.
• Faster startup/shutdown when there are lots of named configurations.
• Removing an alert from a target wouldn't always be saved correctly.
• Gmail's SMTP server now works again (a change in GMail's logic broke STARTTLS SMTP delivery).
• Fixed problem where an alert email might contain a lot more history than you'd want/expect.
• Testing alert emails could lock up PingPlotter in some scenarios.
• File -> Export... command now always prompts for a filename on export, rather than using a default that's probably in the wrong place.
• PRO ONLY - Fixed web interface on IE8 to paint latency/min/max lines.
• PRO ONLY - Minor web GUI tweaks.

PingPlotter Pro V3.30.1p - January 19th, 2010

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Pro version 3.x.

Changes since 3.30.0

• Made some changes to be less likely to be falsely detected as a virus/trojan/"nefarious" by AVG/ClamAV/etc.
• Can now graph minimim and maximum values on time graph, in addition to the average latency.
• Fixed minor issue with running from a USB drive on some old OSes.
• PRO ONLY - Fixed problem loading workspaces with undocked windows.
• PRO ONLY - Fixed problem when right-clicking in summary graph and accessing alert capabilities.

PingPlotter Pro V3.30.0p - September 28th, 2008

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Pro version 3.x.

Changes since 3.20.1

• Added a "Don't Fragment" flag to allow PingPlotter to help with MTU size troubleshooting.
• TCP Traceroute is now more robust. Packet sequence numbers was also changed to make it better supported by servers.
• "Launch an Executable" event now has separate parameter line, and is more flexible and reliable.
• PRO ONLY - Saving a workspace can now include collected data. Reloading it will reload (and resume) tracing. Check the general settings (Edit -> Options, General) for some new options.
• PRO ONLY - Workspaces are now "locked" for writing so that multiple instances of PingPlotter Pro don't accidentally overwrite settings.
• PRO ONLY - Alerts can now be associated with a specific trace target only. This allows better monitoring of intermediate routers on one trace while not monitoring that same router on another trace. Also, the same target can have different alerts (say, for instance, if you're using a different trace engine and the expected latency / packet loss is different, even though the target is the same).
• PingPlotter would sometimes freeze when a float-over tooltip was visible and a certain part of the PingPlotter user interface was clicked at just the right time.
• Sending an email with data (File -> Send Email...) wouldn't work if there was an invalid character in the host name (like an *).
• PingPlotter would sometimes crash when loaded (on just a few computers) due to problems with the integrity checking logic.
• A screenshot can now be included in alert emails (by adding ##SCREENSHOT## to email body).
• PRO ONLY - The configuration name can now be included in the alert email body (##CONFIG##), and in the subject line ($config).
• On some computers, the 30 day trial would expire the second time PingPlotter was run.
• /Regserver command line option didn't fail gracefully during install.
• Some truncated / corrupt save files wouldn't show a proper error message when attempting to load.
• Email PingPlotter Support... menu option (under Help menu) has been streamlined.
• 10 character SMTP passwords weren't properly encrypted / decrypted, meaning you couldn't log in to your SMTP server if you're using a 10 character password with SMTP authentication.
• Uninstaller now supports the /S command line for silent removal of PingPlotter.
• PRO ONLY - The copy IP/Name right-click menu option wouldn't actually copy the information to the clipboard.
• PRO ONLY - Remote trace wouldn't take advantage of Proxy server settings.
• PRO ONLY - Closing the summary graph and then clicking the "File" menu could cause an access violation.
• PRO ONLY - PingPlotter Pro would sometimes trace twice in the same target interval.
• STANDARD ONLY - When the trial period expired with PingPlotter Standard, double-clicking on a .pp2 file would cause an error.
• STANDARD ONLY - In PingPlotter Standard, maximizing the window, then closing and reopening would cause the window to come up the wrong size and position.
• Several other bug fixes / tweaks.

PingPlotter Pro V3.20.1p - December 12th, 2007

This release is a minor point release and is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Pro version 3.x.

Changes

• Fixed non-working right-click menu on edit controls (for copy/paste with the mouse).
• Added balloon callout instead of error message if no target name was entered, or if the entered name was invalid.
• Enhanced scripting functionality slightly to give access to more internal variables.
• Fixed problem "remembering" non-standard whois servers.
• Invalid characters in target names would cause problems when trying to save data / images (for example, a colon or a slash). These characters are now stripped from the default filename before opening the save dialog.
• DNS Name and Graph column widths are now correctly reloaded after close / restart.
• Sending data or an image in an email through Outlook Express (File -> Send Email...) would sometimes block PingPlotter from collecting data while the email was being authored. This is now launched in a non-blocking way.
• Fixed a problem sending STARTTLS alert emails (i.e., gmail).
• Misc other minor tweaks, fixes and adjustments.

To upgrade, download run the installation. There is no need to uninstall the old version first. Your settings should be kept / migrated as needed.

PingPlotter Standard V3.30.4s

Released 2010-07-27

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Standard version 3.x.

Changes since 3.30.2

• Improved handling of read-only configuration files and user profile-stored configs.
• Fixed problem with collected data sent in email alerts (the attachment was sometimes corrupted).
• Fixed problem under some Windows 7 UI themes, the summary graph wouldn't resize correctly.
• Fixed occasionaly error when floating the cursor over a time graph.

PingPlotter Standard V3.30.2s

Released 2010-06-01

Changes since 3.30.1

• Timeouts sort as high latency in the summary graph, instead of low latency (min/max/avg).
• Floating your mouse over the time graph now shows statistics about that data point.
• Time graphs now show grid lines.
• Time graphs paint a bit faster with some video cards.
• Faster startup/shutdown when there are lots of named configurations.
• Removing an alert from a target wouldn't always be saved correctly.
• now works again (a change in GMail's logic broke STARTTLS SMTP delivery).
• Fixed problem where an alert email might contain a lot more history than you'd want/expect.
• Testing alert emails could lock up PingPlotter in some scenarios.
• File -> Export... command now always prompts for a filename on export, rather than using a default that's probably in the wrong place.
• PRO ONLY - Fixed web interface on IE8 to paint latency/min/max lines.
• PRO ONLY - Minor web GUI tweaks.

PingPlotter Standard V3.30.1s

Released 2010-01-19

Changes since 3.30

• Made some changes to be less likely to be falsely detected as a virus/trojan/"nefarious" by AVG/ClamAV/etc.
• Can now graph minimim and maximum values on time graph, in addition to the average latency.
• Fixed minor issue with running from a USB drive on some old OSes.
• PRO ONLY - Fixed problem loading workspaces with undocked windows.
• PRO ONLY - Fixed problem when right-clicking in summary graph and accessing alert capabilities.

PingPlotter Standard V3.30.0s

Released 2008-09-28

This point release is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Standard version 3.x.

Changes since 3.20.1

• Added a "Don't Fragment" flag to allow PingPlotter to help with MTU size troubleshooting.
• TCP Traceroute is now more robust. Packet sequence numbers was also changed to make it better supported by servers.
• "Launch an Executable" event now has separate parameter line, and is more flexible and reliable.
• PRO ONLY - Saving a workspace can now include collected data. Reloading it will reload (and resume) tracing. Check the general settings (Edit -> Options, General) for some new options.
• PRO ONLY - Workspaces are now "locked" for writing so that multiple instances of PingPlotter Pro don't accidentally overwrite settings.
• PRO ONLY - Alerts can now be associated with a specific trace target only. This allows better monitoring of intermediate routers on one trace while not monitoring that same router on another trace. Also, the same target can have different alerts (say, for instance, if you're using a different trace engine and the expected latency / packet loss is different, even though the target is the same).
• PingPlotter would sometimes freeze when a float-over tooltip was visible and a certain part of the PingPlotter user interface was clicked at just the right time.
• Sending an email with data (File -> Send Email...) wouldn't work if there was an invalid character in the host name (like an *).
• PingPlotter would sometimes crash when loaded (on just a few computers) due to problems with the integrity checking logic.
• A screenshot can now be included in alert emails (by adding ##SCREENSHOT## to email body).
• PRO ONLY - The configuration name can now be included in the alert email body (##CONFIG##), and in the subject line ($config).
• On some computers, the 30 day trial would expire the second time PingPlotter was run.
• /Regserver command line option didn't fail gracefully during install.
• Some truncated / corrupt save files wouldn't show a proper error message when attempting to load.
• Email PingPlotter Support... menu option (under Help menu) has been streamlined.
• 10 character SMTP passwords weren't properly encrypted / decrypted, meaning you couldn't log in to your SMTP server if you're using a 10 character password with SMTP authentication.
• Uninstaller now supports the /S command line for silent removal of PingPlotter.
• PRO ONLY - The copy IP/Name right-click menu option wouldn't actually copy the information to the clipboard.
• PRO ONLY - Remote trace wouldn't take advantage of Proxy server settings.
• PRO ONLY - Closing the summary graph and then clicking the "File" menu could cause an access violation.
• PRO ONLY - PingPlotter Pro would sometimes trace twice in the same target interval.
• STANDARD ONLY - When the trial period expired with PingPlotter Standard, double-clicking on a .pp2 file would cause an error.
• STANDARD ONLY - In PingPlotter Standard, maximizing the window, then closing and reopening would cause the window to come up the wrong size and position.
• Several other bug fixes / tweaks.

PingPlotter Standard V3.20.1s

Released 2007-12-13

This release fixes a few problems and adds several small features. This update is free to all licensed users of PingPlotter Standard version 2.x or 3.x.

Changes

• Fixed non-working right-click menu on edit controls (for copy/paste with the mouse).
• Added balloon callout instead of error message if no target name was entered, or if the entered name was invalid.
• Enhanced scripting functionality slightly to give access to more internal variables.
• Fixed problem "remembering" non-standard whois servers.
• Invalid characters in target names would cause problems when trying to save data / images (for example, a colon or a slash). These characters are now stripped from the default filename before opening the save dialog.
• DNS Name and Graph column widths are now correctly reloaded after close / restart.
• Upgrading from 2.60s to 3.20s now properly migrates setting values that can be migrated (PingPlotter Standard only).
• Sending data or an image in an email through Outlook Express (File -> Send Email...) would sometimes block PingPlotter from collecting data while the email was being authored. This is now launched in a non-blocking way.
• Fixed a problem sending STARTTLS alert emails (i.e., gmail).
• Misc other minor tweaks, fixes and adjustments.

To upgrade, download run the installation. There is no need to uninstall the old version first. Your settings should be kept / migrated as needed.

PingPlotter Pro V3.20p

Released 2007-11-16

This release has a number of new features and bug fixes. This is a free upgrade for all licensed PingPlotter Pro users.

New Features

• PingPlotter can now be run from a USB drive and license information (and other data) is stored on the USB drive instead of the system registry. See the installed help file (Help -> Contents) section "Advanced Features", "Running from a USB drive" for more details.
• Better support for Windows Vista. .
• Summary time graphs can be sorted to match the summary target list.
• Can now "Copy Summary Graph as image" and "Save Summary image..." from the summary screen.
• New UDP packet type can target a specific UDP port rather than using "unix-style" ports 33434 and up. This allows tracing directly to a UDP server (certain UDP servers only). For this release, we've included 3 types - Echo, UDP DNS, and IAX (Asterisk VoIP) ping. If you need other server types supported, please contact us .
• New alert option to not show the alert indicator on the main graph (for logging alerts that always log).
• Time graphs now show the unit of measure for latency (milliseconds) and packet loss (%), along with a bit better labels.
• EMail alerts can use SMTP STARTTLS secure connections - this allows use of GMail SMTP servers. See our knowledge base article on configuring this for instructions.
• PingPlotter Pro can now use up to 3GB of RAM, if your system is configured to allow that (either a 32 bit system with the /3GB switch in boot.ini, or a 64 bit system). PingPlotter is a 32 bit application, so the memory limit is still constrained by the 32 bit address space.
• Improvements to the web interface:
  • The summary screen is now accessible from the web interface.
  • If you're using multiple named configurations, the web interface now shows which one, and lets you select a different configuration for a target.
  • The refresh interval for the web interface can now be easily set by the user.
  • Ajax web interface required right-clicking, which isn't available on the iPhone. Now detects the iPhone and clicking the hop column now brings up the menu.
  • Several other "tweaks" and improvements to make the experience and user interface better.

Fixes, Tweaks, Etc.

• Install is now code-signed, so running the installer correctly shows "Nessoft, LLC" instead of "Unknown Publisher".
• Changed trace queue logic to increase performance (actually, remove artificial limitation) when tracing to lots of targets in Pro, especially when tracing to a remote server.
• "Tweaked" error reporting logic to better send error message information without creating long text emails. Also, submitted error reports come in over HTTP instead of SMTP. If HTTP doesn't work, then error report is opened in email client.
• When upgrading the Pro version, the install wasn't stopping the service. Also, uninstalling would leave the service in place. Both fixed.
• If ICMP.DLL wasn't available on the system, PingPlotter would crash with a cryptic message on startup.
• Auto-save service filenames could have invalid characters, which would block saving.
• Starting hop wasn't loaded correctly when restarting.
• Updated "Trace from remote server" core components to fix a problem where communication between PingPlotter and the remote agent would start timing out and never recover, or the time graph would seem to "freeze" and stop updating.
• Fixed some queueing issues with the remote agent where tracing to a combination of targets including remote agent targets and other (not remote agent targets) would cause all targets to be traced less frequently than specified.
• Updated remote agent ( downloaded separately ).
• When running as a service, the default save file path for files and images was c:\Windows\System32. Ouch! This has been updated to the current install path instead (the same as when running as an application).
• Improved route change handling so you can work with routes in history even though current route is changing. Previously, the current route would override the selected one.
• The "Maximum samples in memory" setting now defaults to 250,000 instead of unlimited.
• If no MAPI default client was set in HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE, an error (a nonsensical one!) occured when using File -> Send Email... Should now send email more reliably.
• Improved Windows Vista compatibility:
  • With 64 bit Vista, you no longer need to disable DEP for PingPlotter.
  • Now tells Windows Vista that it knows about Vista, which makes directory handling better (especially of the \Program Files directory, which is read-only under Vista). The downside of this change is that you may need to re-enter your license key, but your current license key will work just fine. If you can't remember your key, go to our support page and have it mailed to you .
  • Uses new Windows Open / Save dialogs.
  • Tooltip (F1) hints work.
  • Uses Vista font type / sizes.
  • Fixed a problem when installing under Vista where Vista would sometimes report that the install wasn't succesful, even though it was.
  • Note: The UDP packet type still does not work completely under Vista. Also, running as a service still has the limitations listed here in our knowledge base article on this topic .
• Other changes and improvements to the web interface (that aren't listed as features, above):
  • Some performance enhancements, especially when using IIS as the web server.
  • Some errors (especially errors where the web browser can't contact the server) show more descriptive messages.
  • Previous versions required a newer MS XML control which wasn't always installed on the server machine. The web interface now uses 3.0, which should be available on all machines.
  • XML Encoding wasn't specified on the AJAX web server, which would cause errors in some web browsers / configurations.
  • XML parsing not as robust as necessary on the AJAX server. Also, the error handler didn't always show the full error.
  • Long DNS names would make the left pane on the web interface pretty messy, now it scrolls.
  • In IE 6, the web interface buttons would sometimes show up in the wrong spot.
• Fixed a good handful of bugs (how many bugs are in a handful?).
• Systems using large fonts now work better.
• Version checking didn't use your proxy server settings.
• Upgraded to latest component versions for a number of third party components, plus the latest compiler version.
• Uses a new installer - more reliable, faster, better (of course!).

PingPlotter Pro V3.10.0p - August 1st, 2006

Version 3.10.0p adds features and fixes problems found in the 3.00.2p release.

3.10.0p changes:

• Significant enhancements to the remote agent capabilities, including a Windows agent. See here for details.
• Added two flags to web interface to allow read-only access and single-target access. Review Default.asp in /www/ directory of PingPlotter Pro for more details.
• Added an option (Edit -> Options, General) to show the setting name in most applicable areas (so tracing to the same target with different settings can now be differentiated).
• Added a column in the summary graph for the settings name (this defaults to off - you need to turn it on).
• A bunch of new content added to the help files (including the printable version).
• Saved images now include "ms" label on legend.
• Localized time formats should now be used on time graph (am/pm is no longer the only option).
• Added a new error handling system that provides a lot more information about problems.
• Right-clicking a tab now brings up a "Close" menu to close that tab.
• Right-clicking the "Settings" dropdown allows you to go directly to the properties from there.
• Exposed tray icon to scripting engine (we've written a script that uses this to show tray messages based on an alert event - you can get that from the new extensions forum ).

Other Changes:

• Changed a bunch of core scripting engine systems to improve reliability.
• When shutting down a machine when running as a service, the PingPlotter service would sometimes be abnormally closed by Windows. Fixed.
• When running as a service under Windows 2003, the COM server would not serve objects. This made it impossible to use IIS as the web server.
• When running as a service, opening a file from a network drive did not work in some instances.
• When a non-current route was selected, a route change in the active network would cause the display to update - even though that wasn't the current route. Fixed.
• Fixed several bugs in the ability to load multiple sample sets and stitch them together.
• Added some capability to run as a service under Windows 9x. You'll need instructions and a couple of additional files for this to work, so contact us if interested.
• In some cases, certain status codes were being merged into the time-graph data, causing significant dips in the display. Fixed.
• If the email server blocked connection when testing, the error message now says that.
• If an invalid MIME type was configured in the registry (with a missing leading period), PingPlotter Pro could error on startup (and not start correctly).
• Fixed several minor memory leaks
• The service workspace could be specified without an extension, which caused the workspace to have a split personality.
• Fixed a problem that happened when a tab was closed while the summary graph was sorted - an access violation could occur.
• Deleting a named configuration while in use would cause problems. Now any targets using a deleted configuration use the default one instead.
• If a invalid or non-existent workspace was specified in the service startup parameters, PingPlotter Pro's startup would abort completely. Now it just shows an error.
• Graph images on non-Javascript web browsers would sometimes not show correctly in web interface.
• Some changes to built-in web server to improve reliability.
• 7 character HTTP server passwords would require an additional "g" character added at the end, if you wanted to log in (of course there was no way for you to know this!). 3 character passwords also had problems. Please reset your password after installing this new version if you were having problems with web interface passwords no longer working.
• Named configs didn't always get all settings applied when loading a workspace with targets that used a config that was non-default.
• Loading a sample set, then pausing and resuming worked fine, but doing it again would re-resolve and clear all history.
• Built in web server was stripping off "Option Explicit" from start of script, so customizing script could lead to problems.
• The summary graph didn't scale properly as new samples arrived. Now, the scaling is updated appropriately.
• The "Destination Unreachable" row didn't always show up at the end of a trace with a destination unreachable. Fixed.
• Fixed access violation that could occur when combining routes and then flipping through pages.
• Option dialog setting for disabling the script engine was ignored. Now disables all scripting.
• Lots of route changes (greater than 25,000) would cause the user interface to slow down (loading a sample set, or flipping between tabs). Can now handle 250,000+ route changes with no slowdown.
• Fixed "Not enough storage is available to process this command" on some (very few) Windows 2000 environments.
• Saving a sample set now writes it to a temporary file first. This can be useful if PingPlotter gets forcibly closed on shutdown - the last auto-save can be reloaded instead of the half-saved new file.
• Log entire route switch didn't work in "Log to file" alert events in some corner-case network conditions.
• When old samples were trimmed (because Max Samples in Memory was hit), any alerts that were in a firing state could possibly be toggled to not-firing, then back again, causing spurious "network back up!" events, then followed by "network down!" events.
• Access violation could occur when resetting data in an existing trace set.
• Fixed several bugs with route merging (list index out of bounds, inability to merge, display problems).
• ICMP raw socket packets could sometimes have interactions between PingPlotter instances.
• Several memory and performance optimizations / fixes.
• Fixed several access violations and odd errors.

Version 3.20p *final* was released on November 16th.

November 16th, 2007. PingPlotter Pro 3.20p released!

Changes since version 3.15p beta 3

• Changed trace queue logic to increase performance (actually, remove artificial limitation) when tracing to lots of targets in Pro.
• Fixed a problem when installing under Vista where Vista would report that the install wasn't successful, even though it was.
• "Tweaked" error reporting logic to better send error message information without creating long text emails. Also fixed some problems when error reports are submitted via HTTP (the default) instead of email.
• Disabling a script would sometimes turn it off immediately, even if it was in use (painting a grid column, for instance). Previously, a message came up that notified a restart of PingPlotter was necessary, but now we actually mean it. :) Disabling a script doesn't actually disable it till you close / restart.
• Fixed the remote trace "stalling" problem. Yup - fixed!
• Main PingPlotter application position wasn't being correctly restored after closing / restarting.
• When running as a service, popup help doesn't work, but the error message didn't make much sense.
• More Vista tweaks.
• New installer - signed, and with Vista manifest.
• A few other "adjustements" and minor bug fixed.

PingPlotter Pro V3.15p beta 3

Released 2007-09-13

Changes since version 3.15p beta 2

• Upgraded to latest component versions for a number of components, plus the latest compiler version. Fixes a good handful of bugs.
• Fixed bug in alert system where alerts wouldn't *stop* firing (once they started), and also would sometimes not fire at all.
• Improvements in a number of areas when running large fonts.
• Install is now code-signed, so running the installer correctly shows "Nessoft, LLC" instead of "Unknown Publisher".
• Now tells Windows Vista that it knows about Vista, which makes directory handling better (especially of the \Program Files directory, which is read-only under Vista). The downside of this change is that you'll need to re-enter your license key, but your current license key will work just fine. If you can't remember your key, go to .
• Install on Pro version wasn't stopping the service on a re-install. Also, uninstalling would leave the service in place.
• If ICMP.DLL wasn't available on the system, PingPlotter would crash with a cryptic message on startup.
• XML Encoding wasn't specified on the AJAX web server, which would cause errors in some web browsers / configurations.
• Auto-save service filenames could have invalid characters, which would block saving.
• Long DNS names would make the left pane on the web interface pretty messy.
• XML parsing not as robust as necessary on the AJAX server. The error handler also didn't always show the full error.
• Starting hop wasn't loaded correctly when restarting.
• The default summary graph was too narrow for the web interface.
• Ajax web interface required right-clicking, which isn't available on the iPhone. Now detects the iPhone and clicking the hop column now brings up the menu.
• Small updates to help file.
• In IE 6, the web interface buttons would sometimes show up in the wrong spot.
• Updated "Trace from remote server" core components to (hopefully) fix a problem where communication between PingPlotter and the remote agent would start timing out (inexplicably) and never recover.
• Fixed problem with taskbar handling under Windows 98 - would sometimes show two entries for PingPlotter.

PingPlotter Pro V3.15p beta 2

Released 2007-04-06

Changes since version 3.15p beta 1

• If Windows Explorer crashed, an error would sometimes occur when creating the tray icon: "Cannot remove shell notification icon". Fixed.
• If an unexpected version of the in the system path (but not by PingPlotter), an "Ordinal not found" error could occur when going to the Edit->Option, Email screen.
• A "Menu Error 1.4" would occur under some conditions when selecting the "Edit" menu. Fixed.
• When running as a service, the default save file path for files and images was c:\Windows\System32. Ouch! This has been updated to the current install path instead (the same as when running as an application).
• The scripted MOS alert (and several other extensions) had errors when building their editors. Fixed.

PingPlotter Pro V3.15p beta 1

Released 2007-02-22

Changes since version 3.10.0p

• PingPlotter can now be run from a USB drive and license information (and other data) is stored on the USB drive instead of the system registry. See the installed help file (Help -> Contents) section "Advanced Features", "Running from a USB drive" for more details.
• New UDP packet type can target a specific UDP port rather than using "unix-style" ports 33434 and up. This allows tracing directly to a UDP server (certain UDP servers only). For this release, we've included 3 types - Echo, UDP DNS, and IAX (Asterisk VoIP) ping. If you need other server types supported, .
• New alert option to not show the alert indicator on the main graph (for logging alerts that always log).
• Summary time graphs can be sorted to match the summary target list.
• Alerts can use SMTP STARTTLS secure connections - this allows use of GMail SMTP servers. See http://www.nessoft.com/kb/67 for instructions.
• Improved Windows Vista compatibility:
  • With 64 bit Vista, you no longer need to disable DEP for PingPlotter.
  • Uses new Windows Open / Save dialogs.
  • Context-sensitive (F1) help now works.
  • Uses Vista font type / sizes.
  • Several other tweaks.
  • Note: The UDP packet type still does not work completely under Vista. Also, running as a service still has the limitations listed here in our knowledge base article on this topic .
• Improved route change handling so you can work with routes in history even though current route is changing. Previously, the current route would override the selected one.
• Changes and improvements to the web interface:
  • The summary screen is now accessible from the web interface.
  • If you're using multiple named configurations, the web interface now shows which one, and lets you select a different configuration for a target.
  • Some performance enhancements, especially when using IIS as the web server.
  • The refresh interval for the web interface can now be set by the user.
  • Some errors (especially errors where the web browser can't contact the server) show more descriptive messages.
  • Previous versions required a newer MS XML control which wasn't always installed on the server machine. The web interface now uses 3.0, which should be available on all machines.
  • Several "tweaks" and improvements to make the experience better.
• Fixed several access violations (especially when closing tabs).
• Systems using large fonts now work better.
• Version checking didn't use your proxy server settings.

PingPlotter Pro V3.00.2 - January 4th, 2006

The 3.00.1 and 3.00.2 releases were bug fixes.

Download 3.00.2 from http://www.pingplotter.com/download.html .

3.00.2 changes:

• An access violation would occur at startup if using an operating system and CPU that supported DEP (for more information about DEP, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875352 ).
• Trying to remove PingPlotter as a windows service when running as a windows service caused problems. This now shows an appropriate error message.
• If the windows service failed to start, it would sometimes log no errors. Errors are now logged and shown in this situation.
• When resizing the main form, then minimizing or maximizing, the resize wouldn't be saved on close.
• The "Save data on shutdown, reload on startup" switch only disabled saving, not loading. Loading always happened - now switch is honored.
• The summary screen didn't show script-based columns (ie: Jitter, Std Dev, MoS)
• On some computers, CPU use was higher than it should be.
• A couple of other minor updates / fixes.

And ... the 3.00.1 changes (released December 15th, 2005):

• During the 30 day trial, the "Create new target" button and tab were disabled, allowing only one target.

PingPlotter Pro V3.00

Released 2005-12-11

Details of new features, including basic instructions on use

This sections talks about each of the new features in a bit more depth. Make sure you also review the PingPlotter Pro help file that is installed with the product. It has quite a bit of additional information.

Installation should be relatively easy - and similar to previous PingPlotter releases. Once installed, a new entry for "PingPlotter Pro" will be added to your start menu. Note that this is installed completely independent of PingPlotter v2.60 - both can be installed at the same time.

Multiple targets in a single instance

This is probably one of the most asked for features we’ve received from current PingPlotter users. You can now trace to more than one target at a time within one PingPlotter instance, and each target can be managed independently of the others (unlike in MultiPing, where each target's schedule, packet size and other settings are all shared).

To use this capability, enter your first target's name or IP address and hit either the "Trace" button or the enter key. If you're a prior user of PingPlotter, this will be familiar. Now, to add an additional target, either use the "File" -> "New Target" menu option, or hit the little icon next to the "Address to trace" line. If these entries are disabled, that means PingPlotter's ready for you to enter a new target address in "Address to trace:" and get started.

Multiple targets will show up as tabs. In addition, each target will be listed as a menu entry in the "Workspace" menu to make it easy to select.

All menus and controls are connected to the currently selected target. Switching between targets will switch the controls to that target.

To close a target, just hit the "X" (i.e.: Close) button above the graph on the right next to the thumbtack. This will stop data collection and get rid of all collected data from memory.

We have done relatively extensive testing at 10 different targets. We've done quite a bit of work at 80 targets, and we've done light testing at 250 targets. The tab paradigm starts to show problems as the number of targets increases to over 40 or so. Your comments and suggestions are welcome here if you expect to monitor a lot of targets.

Remember that we're doing full route traces for each target - different than with MultiPing where it's final destination pinging only.

One primary reason to use PingPlotter Pro to monitor multiple targets, rather than just using multiple instances of PingPlotter workstation, is that PingPlotter Pro can make sure multiple targets don't all get queried at the same time. We always want a bit of time between each packet so we don't overwhelm the local connection and impact our measurements by sending too much data. PingPlotter Pro makes sure time spacing is honored between each packet - no matter how many targets are being monitored.

Summary Screen

As you add new targets, each final destination will automatically be added to the "Summary" screen. The summary screen should look familiar to those of you who've used MultiPing in the past.

Because each target might be running different trace intervals, the summary screen has no "Samples to include" setting, but instead has "Graph focus time". This focus period is applied against all hosts listed on the summary screen - even if they have different data collection intervals.

The summary screen, by default, shows all final targets. You can, however, manually add any intermediate hops from any target to also appear on the summary screen. To do this, right-click on the hop (host) you want shown and select "Show on summary screen".

From the summary screen, you can switch to the trace graph by right-clicking on a host and selecting the menu option "Show trace graph".

Changing settings for some targets

You might want to collect data on targets that respond to different types of packets, or you might want to collect data about the same target with different settings. PingPlotter Pro allows you to do this by introducing the concept of named configurations.

Some example configuration names are:
TCP Port 80
Auto-Save every 30 minutes
VoIP
Remote via our website

Once you've created a new configuration and closed the options dialog, you'll notice a new drop-down below the "Address to trace:" field. This contains a list of all configurations. If you only have a single configuration, there's no need to display that dropdown so it’ll be hidden. You can change the settings a target is associated with at any time, just by switching it in that dropdown - even when that trace is running.

Note that the Summary Screen will always use the display settings from the first configuration in the list.

Changing settings for a configuration will apply those changes across all targets that are using that named configuration.

Support for docking and moving of targets

By default, each target shows as its own tab. That works, but might not be exactly what you're after. Maybe you want 10 targets all displayed filling your high resolution "war room" screen. You can certainly do this.

Each target is living in its own "dock" control. Just grab a tab and drag it away from the PingPlotter main application. If you drop it someplace else on your screen, you'll now have a "stand-alone" display for that target. You can also dock a target on the side of the PingPlotter window so you can have side-by-side (or above / below) display in the PingPlotter main program instance. There are a number of combinations here.

One of our favorite setups with 5 to 10 targets is to dock the trace graphs to the side, and then set them to auto-hide (this is done by hitting the push-pin button at the right side of the caption). If you leave the summary screen visible in the center and auto-hide the targets on one (or more!) sides, you can easily access them by floating your mouse over, by selecting that target from the "Workspace" menu or right-clicking on that summary graph and selecting “Show Trace Graph”

There are a lot of possibilities here, so let us know what you come up with!

Save targets, settings, layouts

Once you get a set of targets that you normally monitor, you probably want to save your configuration so you can reload it later. PingPlotter Pro calls this a "Workspace", and allows to you to a workspace.

When you save your workspace, it saves your layout, all targets you're monitoring, your setting affiliations and a number of other values (like trace interval, graph height, etc.)

Run as a Windows Service

If you normally monitor the same set of targets and you *always* want to monitor them (and possibly alert on them), you might want to set up PingPlotter Pro to run as a Windows service (under Windows 2000, XP and 2003 only - not Windows 9x). Once you've done this, PingPlotter will start running when you boot your machine and will keep running - even if you log in as a user and then log out.

To set up PingPlotter to run as a service, the easiest way to do this is via the Options dialog. Go to the "Windows Service" portion and hit the "Install Service" button. This will create a service entry pointing at PingPlotter. You'll also need to create a Workspace so PingPlotter knows what targets, settings and trace intervals to use. Get everything set up, save a Workspace and then go to the Windows Service setup screen and set the "Workspace to load" that workspace.

You should also set the "Save File Location", which should be writeable to by the service account on your computer. This is where data files are saved to on shutdown, and reloaded from when you restart the computer. Also, if you have "Auto-Save" set up for any of the targets, every time the data is saved the service history is also updated so a crashed computer will only lose data since the last auto-save.

To start the service, use the standard Windows methods (i.e.: Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services), or you can issue the following command from a command prompt:

net start PingPlotter

Web Server

Have you ever been collecting data on a PC and wanted to look at the results from another PC - possibly across the company, or even across the country?

PingPlotter Pro now includes a built-in stand-alone web server to allow you to see graphs and data that is being collected.

The current web interface does not expose all PingPlotter functionality, but it does allow you to look at graphs, manipulate focus periods, timegraph ranges and other settings. It also allows you to download collected data files in PingPlotter’s .pp2 format for closer examination.

To configure the web server, go to Edit -> Options, and then into the "Web Server" section. The web server is disabled by default, so you’ll need to turn it on there also.

The default port for PingPlotter's web server is 7464 (on a phone, this would be the letters PING in case you have a hard time remembering the port). From your local machine you can use http://localhost:7464 to check out the web server.

If you're interested in modifying some of the behavior of the web interface (or the look / feel, etc.), the html is all generated from scripts included in the www directory in the folder where PingPlotter is installed. The scripts are asp-style, but the variables available and some of the capabilities are not exactly the same as an IIS based ASP system

Integrated Scripting Engine

In an effort to make PingPlotter more flexible, we've tightly integrate with the Windows Scripting Host. This means that there are numerous areas in PingPlotter where you can run your own code to do special things, or change the behavior of default PingPlotter.

Here are areas where scripts can be used to extend PingPlotter:

• Script based alert conditions.
  This allows you to create your own formula or conditions. We include an example formula for "MOS" (Mean Opinion Score - a VoIP statistic), but this can be anything you like.
• Script based alert events.
  There is a huge amount of stuff you can do here - from logging to your own file / format, to doing SMS, to SNMP and more. We include a basic "pop up a dialog" script as an example to satisfy the needs of some of our advanced users that want custom actions on a network event.
• Script based time graph columns.
  Want your own formula displayed in the time graph? Want to change the color of the display based on your own rule? This is all possible (and more). We've included examples for MOS and Jitter.
• Ability to collect data from a script source
  This is pretty exciting. We included this capability because we wanted to be able to query a remote traceroute server and report the results in PingPlotter. Because there are so many different formats appearing, we wanted to include some kind of flexibility in parsing. We have an example of querying SNMP counters, and a couple of other in-development ones. If you're intersted in a specific capability, contact us at and we'll be happy to help qualify your needs and see if PingPlotter can handle them.
• Other areas.
  A *lot* of PingPlotter is accessible via scripts. Want to get notified on any route change and run some logic? Want to paint your own logo in someplace? Want to add your own menu option? This is all possible, although the object model is not very well documented at this point, so you'll want to ask us for help.
• Debugger / editor available!
  We're still working out some bugs and interface problems with the debugger / script editor, but this allows you to author your own scripts with code completion, a debugger, float-over inspection and other advanced editor functions.

Feel free to use and modify any of the example scripts to create your own versions of them. The "scripts" directory in the PingPlotter Pro install directory has a number of examples. PingPlotter's current scripts are using VBScript, but you can also use JScript, Perl, Python and others.

If you want to extend PingPlotter and take advantage of some of these scripts, look in the "scripts" directory of your install folder. The object model is currently undocumented, but please contact us with your needs/wishes and we'll help with your customizing.

"Agent" Perl script can be installed on a separate computer and that computer can be used as source of trace.

Have you ever wished you could collect data with PingPlotter from a machine that wasn't capable of running PingPlotter, like a hosted web server?

There is now a new engine type that will use a script to collect data. Our first example of this engine type (shipped with the current install) is to access a web-based traceroute page. We have a bit of Perl code that runs traceroute on a server and returns the results to PingPlotter. This means you can have your web server with a small script and PingPlotter can access that to collect data.

Because the PingPlotter collection mechanism is script-based, you can actually modify the parsing routine to parse any web page output (and submit any variables to that page). This means if you already have a traceroute page on your server, you can probably use that by just modifying the PingPlotter script. If you're interested in this, please contact us and we'll help you get this set up. We did not ship a generic parser that can parse any of the existing pages already out there because of the possibility for abuse. Your thoughts on this are welcome.

For more instructions on this, visit our page on configuring remote agents .

Mouse wheel scrolling

The zooming and scrolling capability of PingPlotter has always been a bit of a differentiator - to be able to massage the picture of the data to best represent the problem. We've enhanced that a bit by adding support for mouse-wheel zooming and scrolling. If you select (left-click) a time graph, then the mouse wheel will scroll that left or right (if there's enough data there). CTRL-scrolling (or wheel-click scrolling if your wheel has a button on it) will change the graph scale.

A unique thing about mouse-based zooming is that you can point at the area you want to zoom in on, and PingPlotter will focus that area. That means you can scroll through a dataset at 24 or 48 hour timing, point at a lost packet or latency period, and then zoom in on it. The old method of double-clicking to get the "focus" set, and then zooming in with the right-click menu still works, but the mouse wheel makes this a lot smoother and more fluid.

Improved "focus" indicator on the time graphs

Most of you know that the upper PingPlotter graph can focus on a period that's not the current one - giving you the capability to examine any collected data in memory for problems. You do this by setting "Samples to include" to a non-0 number (i.e.: 100), and then double-clicking the time graph to move the focus.

When you do this, the time graph shows a "focus indicator". In previous versions of PingPlotter, this was a pair of light colored lines, one on each side of the focus period. With this release, we've made that a lot more obvious by using a stronger color and also adding that color around the entire focus period.

Ability to attach a file or image to a new email automatically (ie: File -> Send Email).

A common scenario for PingPlotter is to collect data and find a problem, and then you want to email that data to someone. PingPlotter now uses your standard MAPI email client, and creates that email for you with an attachment. We need some help testing how well this works on a wide variety of installs, so please check out this capability.

Note that this does not work for instances of PingPlotter running as a service.

New "Jitter" calculations and graphs

Voice over IP is becoming a bigger part of the networking world, and troubleshooting VoIP is an area where PingPlotter can add a lot of value.

Jitter is a metric that shows how much the latency is changing from sample to sample. High Jitter is an indication of network problems, and is a significant cause of VoIP problems.

PingPlotter has two ways of displaying Jitter. First, Jitter is displayable on the upper time graph (right click, "Customize View" or View->Customize View, then select "Jitter"). It is also displayable over time on the time graph (grab the splitter bar above the time graph and increase the size of the time graph to see the default Jitter display. If you want to change the way this looks, go to Edit -> Options, Display).

Note that the current timeline graph Jitter display is a prototype. We're not sure this adds a lot of value. Your comments are welcome on this.

The jitter in the upper trace graph is the average jitter over the number of samples you have selected. If you set "Samples to include" to 0, this will be the average jitter for your entire sample set.

Miscellaneous other UI changes

We've made a number of other "tweaks" to the user interface, including (but not limited) these:

• Hop number shows on time graph . This is an oft-requested feature. On the summary screen, it shows the final destination and the hop number. On an individual trace view, the final destination name doesn't show since it's pretty obvious there.
• 7 day period added to default time graphs . You can still add your own time intervals, but we've added a week default out of the box.
• Task bar behavior has changed . Cascade / Tile no longer leaves empty hole for �PingPlotter� window. Move / Size buttons now included on right-click taskbar. Non-standard windows managers work better.
• Menu redesign (we're still finalizing some of this in version of Pro). We're trying to make things a bit less right-click dependant, and moving more of the commands to the menu structure as well.

PingPlotter Standard V2.60s

Released 2005-02-14

This release has a number of new features, and a few non-feature changes (ie: bug fixes).

New Features

• PingPlotter now supports TCP traceroute, in addition to UDP and ICMP. This allows additional options in tracing to a site that's using a firewall blocking UDP and ICMP. For this release, TCP is supported under Windows 2000, XP and 2003 only . For users of Windows XP SP2 (which blocks the sending of TCP raw sockets), we support the to create the TCP packets.
• New "Getting started" screen with links to help content.
• Significant improvements in ability to run as a non-administrative user. Admin user can set default setups and non-admin users "inherit" those settings, but then have their own setups (stored in their local profiles). You still need to be an administrator to install PingPlotter, though.
• All new options dialog that includes new features for version 2.60, in addition to having a more intuitive layout and "look and feel".
• When an alert is triggered on a specific hop, that hop shows an indicator, with a float-over hint of which alert is firing.
• Selecting a hop in the upper graph highlights it in the time graph (if it's shown there).
• Alert email body text can be customized (a huge benefit for alerting to a mobile phone / SMS / etc, where the current alert message is too long).
• You can now enter a time as a "Samples to Include". PingPlotter will try and calculate how many samples will equal that time period. Example: enter "30" minutes. If you have a 2.5 second trace interval, PingPlotter will convert this to 720.
• PingPlotter now tells you about new versions with a dialog with options to supress, rather than just showing that an update is available on the status bar.

Other changes

• Changed the way packet queuing works on all packet types to reduce the number of "extra" packets that get sent out after the final destination is reached.
• Interhop delay setting is now honored more rigorously (especially on UDP and TCP types).
• When PingPlotter was running, rebooting was sometimes blocked until PingPlotter was closed.
• Float-over hints sometimes got cut off - they now make themselves fit onto the screen
• Right-clicking a time-graph in the label regions didn't pop up the menu. Fixed.
• Testing an alert email now pulls in the current final destination to flush out email body
• Changing "Max samples to hold in memory" from a non-zero to all (0) would delete all samples in memory.
• On multi-monitor systems, if PingPlotter was closed while visible on a secondary monitor, and then restarted with that monitor disabled, it would be shown off-screen. This has been corrected.
• Applying changes in the options dialog now saves the configuration immediately, rather than waiting till PingPlotter is closed next.
• Misc tweaks / tidbits.

PingPlotter Standard V2.51.1s

Released 2004-06-16

This is primarily a bug fix.

Bug Fixes

• When "# of times to trace" was set to 1, hitting the "Start" button wouldn't update the button with the proper status.
• Users without administrative rights could have PingPlotter crash when launching.
• Users without administrative rights would have problems with license key being recognized in some cases.
• List index out of bounds error on some route changes - fixed.
• Access violation when right-clicking the main window when no trace was running - fixed.

Other Changes

• Route change mask can now be auto-applied by multiselecting several routes and right-clicking the appropriate hop. Only the selected routes will be used in the calculation.

PingPotter Standard V2.51s

Released 2004-05-25

Version 2.51 has several new features and fixes some bugs that are potentially painful.

As always, this is a free update for all licensed users, and can be installed on top of your existing version without uninstalling.

Here's a list of changes since the 2.50 release:

New Features

• Allow configuration of SMTP server port, in addition to validated username / password logins to the SMTP server for sending alert emails.
• Targets that are associated with an alert are now listed on the alert configuration screen.
• Multi-selecting routes in the route-change window now highlights the hops that have changed in the upper graph area. This makes it a lot easier to find which hops are oscillating so a route change mask can be added.
• All errors now use an error dialog with a "Details" option, which shows more details (primarily, the stack trace) about an error that can be emailed to support. Additionally, the support email address and support page URL are listed.

Bug Fixes

• Test sending an alert email would leave a thread attempting to redeliver that email if the initial test failed.
• List Index Out of Bounds error could happen during "aggressive" route changes.
• Access Violations could sometimes occur if right-clicking a hop just when a route change made that hop obsolete.
• Route discovery logic was too aggressive when high packet loss was on the final destination. Route would lengthen on some occasions and show lower packet loss than it should.
• Route wouldn't "shorten" once it was lengthened due to a poorly responding final destination. This could leave one or more blank hops before the final destination, and the final destination would never recover these hops.
• Errors were not being logged to the PingPlotter.rip file correctly, making bugs much harder to track down.
• Automatically generated filenames (alerts, auto-save names) didn't allow non US characters.
• $host and $dest in alerts would always used the same name, even if the alert wasn't targeted at the final destination.
• Some .pp2 save files would not be reloadable if the save file had more hops than the current configuration allowed.
• Resuming PingPlotter when data was sent from MultiPing didn't always correctly trace the full route - very specific instances only (it's unlikely that anyone was significantly impacted by this).
• Log to file alert always wrote the current time rather than the actual sample time.

Other Changes

• Changed the way alerts are associated with targets when saved and reloaded. The 2.51 installer will automatically migrate your settings, but interoperability of alerts between 2.51 and prior versions is limited (in case you need both installed for some reason).
• Some shared engine code changes made in MultiPing was merged back in to PingPlotter.
• Minor "tweaks" to better accommodate users running large fonts (primarily in the options dialog).
• A couple of minor broken links in the help file were corrected.

PingPlotter Standard V2.50s

Released 2004-03-13

New Features

• Now supports UDP (ie: Unix-Style) packets . This should allow PingPlotter to be useful in some network conditions where ICMP is being blocked. Under NT/2000/XP, you must have administrative rights to send UDP packets.
• DSCP / TOS byte of packets can now be changed for better testing of VOIP (and other QoS enabled) networks.
• Integration with MultiPing 1.01 and later - MultiPing can now send data to PingPlotter (for saving, image creation, etc). MultiPing can also launch PingPlotter and start tracing a target from the right-click menu.
• Improved route change handling - especially when hop N-1 (where N = the final destination) times out 100% of the time.
• Adding a route mask from the right-click window now merges the data for those hosts immediately so there is no need to reset that trace session.
• New INI file setting to bind to a specific adapter (works with Raw Socket and UDP only). Let us know if you want to use this feature and we will send instructions.
• New logo and application icons.
• Internal engine errors now show error message in a panel above graph to help troubleshooting problems. This data is transient, and is not saved in the PingPlotter save file.

Bugs fixed since release 2.41

• Fixed a floating point divided by zero error when sizing "just" right (and small).
• Route change exclusions weren't being loaded correctly in the 2.40/2.41 releases.
• Large fonts work much better - previous 2.4x releases had unusable Alert dialog with large fonts, and would cut off text on the graphs in the main window.
• .pp2 (save) files would sometimes not reload correctly if route was only one hop long in save file.
• Error would sometimes occur when "Samples to Include" was increased and focus was set on period slightly prior to current.
• Additional "WhoIs" lookups listed on menu, but didn't do actual lookup.

Other changes

• The packet sizes specified in 2.41 and earlier was used for the *cargo* size, which meant that the actual packet size was an additional 28 bytes. In this release, the specified packet size is the actual TCP/IP packet size (cargo + header).
• The 2.41 and earlier default packet cargo (Packet Number + $AA) was recognized by as an attack by a ICMP PING Cyberkit virus/worm. The default packet has been changed to Packet Number + "PingPlotter" + Version Number. In addition to not firing the Snort rule, this is more polite as network admins can tell what program is sending the packets, and act accordingly.
• Allow file names in auto-save image and auto-save data to include seconds ($second).
• Changing "Maximum samples in memory" immediately trims data if sample count exceeds setting (previously, you had to trace at least once to trim the data)

PingPlotter Standard V2.41s

Released 2003-06-30

Version 2.41 is a relatively minor update and has the following new features and bug fixes (since 2.40):

New Features

• Because of the recent expiration of the Unisys license that affected GIF files, we now support creation of GIF images, in addition to PNG and BMP.
• PNG Images now default to 256 color, resulting in about a 25% size savings (previously, the only format was 24 bit color on PNGs). An INI switch allows setting back to 24 bit color instead of 8 bit. E-mail to for details on how to use this.
• The auto-save configuration dialog now has buttons for "Save Now", to allow for testing of switches, as well as being able to do an immediate save whenever needed. Note that doing a "Save Now" in no way affects the point at which the next auto-save happens.

Bugs Fixed

• WHOIS Window has a popup error on Windows 95/98/ME. This error was non-critical (clicking it continues fine). FIXED.
• No way to turn off the time graph for a destination that wasn't reachable. With 2.41, right-clicking on the time graph allows you to hide it.
• Right-clicking on "Destination unreachable" line in upper graph now acts like it was the final destination - allowing WhoIs lookups, alert setup, and showing / hiding of timeline graphs.
• Log to file alert writing all data instead of just data when alert conditions are matched. FIXED.
• Ignore first hops settings worked, but wasn't saved between sessions. FIXED.
• Some dual processor machines would go to our license server each time Ping Plotter is run. We don't want to know how often you run Ping Plotter, and this is a bug. FIXED.
• Auto-save frequency wouldn't allow use of "Days" and converted that to seconds instead. Note that the maximum interval is roughly 35 days.
• Certain command line switch combinations indicated that the Pro Version was necessary. FIXED.

PingPlotter Standard V2.4s

Released 2003-03-09

Version 2.40 has the following new features and bug fixes (since 2.30.1):

• Complete re-write of internal model. Allows some capabilities in this version and lots of cool stuff in the future.
• Annotations can be tied to a point in the time graph to show notes. This gets saved in all images.
• Save files format was changed and now takes up only 5-15% of what it used to (much of this is due to new internal compression).
• Entering a full URL in the trace address box now interprets correctly and uses only the base address automatically.
• Can now "Copy as summary text" - shows packet loss % / min/max, etc instead of only showing all the raw data.
• Can do some annotation of IP address in the history window so you can recognize what an IP was for (ie: enter an address of "10.0.0.1 My_Router" will auto-resolve 10.0.0.1 to "My_Router" even if not in a hosts table).
• Route change exclusion masks can be automatically calculated based on history. This makes it easy to exclude route changes for regularly oscillating routers at a hop (right-click on hop - does 255.255.XXX.XXX masking only).
• Final destination time-graph is *always* shown (unless explicitly supressed) - even if it doesn't respond (or gets lost from the route for some reason).
• Major re-write of alert system. Can now notify when a condition starts, when it ends, or as it is happening (as it is happening was only option before). Added the ability to launch an EXE when a condition occurs, and can also change the tray icon or show a message in the tray.
• Now supports Windows XP display schemes.
• DNS lookups use new Windows XP functionality when available to speed lookups (especially IPs with no names).
• Enabled history scrollbar on the "Address to trace" history when tracing.
• Added ability to multi-select and delete from "Address to trace" history (by multi-selecting and then right-clicking to pop up menu).
• Low latency hops (ie: less than 5 ms) would only average to whole numbers on time-line graphs. Now averages to accuracy of pixel size.
• Double-clicking on a hop number now shows/hides the time graph for that hop.
• Now defaults to "Best Method" of pinging. Uses high performance timers on OSes that need it (ie: NT/2000), standard method on others (ie: 95/98/ME/XP).
• Updated "WhoIs" parsing logic to redirect to the right registrar. Now defaults to whois.crsnic.net instead of whois.networksolutions.com for name lookups.
• Changed "Add Monitor" and "Modify Monitor" options to single "Watch this host (Alerts)..." menu to reduce confusion on setting up alerts.

Misc. changed functionality / bug fixes

• Fixed a bug in route change logic where data would sometimes get lost.
• Whois window greys the "Query" button while query is in effect (previous versions didn't give positive indication of current status).
• Route length oscillation no longer introduces incorrect packet loss in final destination.
• Re-worked logic in the way the "Route Change" list is populated so that frequent changes take a LOT less CPU time (previously, CPU could be at 100% - now at < 1% for same situation).
• Increased display speed on time graphs with big datasets (our test PC regularly runs at the 2 million sample mark - scrolling through old data is *WAY* faster (100X for some operations)).
• Splitters sometimes got lost - this is fixed.
• Clicking on a route now changes display immediately rather than having to triple or quadruple click sometimes (old bug).
• Can do Raw Socket ping instead of going through ICMP.DLL. (Note that this capability has no advantages in *most* situations).
• Moved all image logic internally and got rid of LPNG.DLL.
• Time graphs don't flash nearly as much - lots of flashing used to happen on route changes or as you scroll.
• Prompt for save on close now shows program name and destination (previously, lack of program name sometimes added confusion on shutdown of Windows).
• Fixed access violation when invalid hex string entered in packet cargo type / data.
• Disconnecting network card under Windows 98 sometimes didn't show timeouts. Fixed.
• Time graph rounding and cutoff were improved for smoother operation.
• Text Export shouldn't ever export a negative number now.
• (blatant teaser) Added basic support for new functionality in upcoming "Pro" version.

PingPlotter Release

Released 2001-08-18

This is primarily a bug fix, including the following:

• Slow load times when running Norton Antivirus Auto-Protect fixed.
• Some routes (mostly when the next to the last hop wasn't responding, but the last hop was) would cause Ping Plotter to blue-screen under Windows 95/98/ME.
• Alerts sometimes didn't fire correctly if the visible graph was selecting a route that wasn't the current route.
• Alert e-mails had a date of 1899 instead of current date.
• Alert e-mails were being introduced to the SMTP server without a from line, so a very select few SMTP servers would reject.
• If the final destination wasn't in the route because of a route lengthening (and the final destination stopped responding at the same time), alerts on that hop wouldn't always fire.
• /save command line option didn't work correctly.
• The focus rectangle sometimes didn't draw on the lower graph when focused on a non-current period. This is now corrected.
• List index out of bound error when doing a text export under certain conditions.

PingPlotter Release

Released 2001-05-20

Version 2.30 has the following new features and bug fixes (since 2.20):

• The timeline graphs now show packet loss percentages. This adds information to time periods greater than a few hours (where it used to just show that there was at least one packet lost), and can help show trending quite a bit better. If you prefer the old style graphs, hold down the shift key while right clicking on a timeline graph and enable "Old style timeline graphs".
• Packet loss percentages can now be shown on the upper graph.
• Added ability to turn on/off min/max lines on the upper graph. This can help during long term monitoring where a single bad response could change the scale of the entire graph.
• The lower timeline graphs can now be scrolled using ALT-LEFT, ALT-RIGHT, ALT-HOME, ALT-END, ALT-PGUP, ALT-PGDN. These keys work when the upper graph is selected (because the lower graphs don't actually accept focus). Clicking on the lower graph will focus the upper graph.
• The lower timeline graphs now resize based on their current size when adding a new graph - rather than resizing to 65 pixels always.
• Added an option to use high performance timers when tracing. This increases the accuracy when using Windows NT/2000 - where the best accuracy reported by ICMP.DLL is 10 ms.
• Added ARIN Block IP lookups to see who owns an IP address. This works even if the IP doesn't resolve to a name.
• All Open/Save dialogs have been updated to have the "Places" bar for Windows 2000/ME users.
• Added automatic version checking. Ping Plotter will now check to see if there's an update available and let you know if there is.
• Added support for multiple INI files. This is useful when you automatically start multiple instances of Ping Plotter and want the output to be different between instances.
• Added "zooming" logic so when you decrease the time shown in the timeline graph it tries to keep your selected time period in focus. This can be useful to focus in on a period in the 48 hour graph, and then zoom down to the 30 minute (or similar) graph to see the period in more detail.
• Changed the alert system to no longer use averages. Averages were hard to understand in the context of lost packets, and in all cases we reviewed, the alternate method was superior.
• Added ability to change the Subject line in alert e-mail messages. $host can be included to show the final destination.
• Exporting to text files was substantially improved.
• Can ping only the final destination (rather than tracing all hops between you and the final destination). While this turns off some of the core functionality of Ping Plotter, it can be handy if you're using alerts, or only want to graph performance to the final destination and don't want to use the extra bandwidth required to trace the intermediate hops
• Registration codes are now validate against a server database. Details are available at www.pingplotter.com.
• Changing packet cargo options now take affect immediately.
• Stability improvements (as always). Several access violations fixed; a problem with save files was fixed; Improved alert reliability; minor graph overdraw no longer happens; PNG files now come out with better color; WhoIs processing cleaned up a bit; Minimizing to the tray works more reliably (including improved tray "click" behavior).

PingPlotter Release

Released 2000-07-23

The following are changes between version 2.03 and 2.2

Version 2.2 has the following new features:

• Route changes are now handled, and all history is stored with the route that it was recorded on. This means you can see that your ISP (or someone in the route) changed the route to correct a problem (or make things worse!). Ping Plotter keeps track of all the routes for as long as you like. Additionally, certain route changes can be excluded so normal changes aren't flagged or logged.
• You're now able to specify the maximum number of samples you want to keep in memory. This will allow tracing sessions of unlimited length (you'll no longer run out of memory after 2 weeks of hard non-stop tracing).
• You can now "Save as Image" (instead of having to copy it to the clipboard and use another application to make the image). Supported file formats are .PNG and .BMP. (Before you ask: JPG is way too lossy for concise text/line based graphics, and GIF is owned by Unisys and requires a license to deploy).
• You can now schedule your data to be automatically saved (at interval). The file name can include any portion of the date/time plus the host name so you can keep nice history files (use this with the maximum in-memory sample count to keep data around forever)
• You can now schedule an image to be automatically saved (at interval). You might use this to keep an intranet page current, just keep nice images of history. These can be saved in PNG or BMP format.
• Double clicking an entry in the history list now automatically starts tracing to that address.
• Trace name/address now shows on taskbar title to distinguish multiple running copies.
• The .PPS file extension has been retired in favor of .PP2. Microsoft PowerPoint used the PPS extension, and in cases like this, they win. This extension can be overridden manually in your .INI file as well if you find that .PP2 interferes with some application you're using.
• Re-associating with the .PP2 extension now prompts before happening if it's already associated with something else.
• Changed WhoIS parsing to better parse new Internic output. Also updated to better work under Windows 2000.
• Changed lower "time line graph" so that dropped packets don't automatically make the bar full height - if some good samples are included in that single-pixel time period, then the bar is the correct height for the good samples.
• Entering an IP address (as opposed to a name) now starts tracing immediately (before the IP is resolved into a name). The name shows as (resolving) until the request is complete.
• Misc. bug fixes including Alert system e-mail fix, high rate data loss, some settings not saving on exit, registration routines work better on NT if you don't have admin access, restoring from tray refreshes the timeline graph.
• Free upgrade to all registered users.

Version 2.03 released bug fix

Released 1998-11-15

Changes between version 2.0 and 2.03

This version is *mostly* a bug fix version. It includes the following changes:

• Fixed case sensitivity on registration code bug.
• Fixed occasional access violation when tracing
• Fixed occasional lockup under Win95
• Fixed so DNS name doesn't ever return your own computer's name when a hop times out.
• Fixed so DNS lookups always happens - even if the first hop times out.
• Fixed the alert system so it works correctly now. Alert system is much more reliable.
• Fixed the alert system so more than one alert can be tied to any IP address
• Fixed problem where saving a sample set would sometimes not work (when there was no DNS name).
• Minor changes to registration code system.
• Fixed "Sample Index too High" error when exporting to text file.
• Export to text file now allows exporting with the samples in rows rather than columns (to overcome Excel's 255 column limit).

PingPlotter Release

Released 1998-07-03

Changes between version 1.00.2 and 2.0

Version 2.0 of Ping Plotter introduces a bunch of great new features. Among them are:

• Will graph single hops (from one to all) from your trace over time - and display them on a graph. This graph can be resized, rescaled, zoomed, dragged and manipulated to give you exactly the information you need to find the problem.
• New "Alert" system. This will allow you to set parameters where you want to be notified of the condition. If the conditions fire an alert, you can log that data to a text file, play a wave file, or send yourself e-mail with the pertinent information included.
• You can save and load sample sets - and then resume (right-click the trace button when you have existing data and you're not tracing) the trace. This way you can have multiple sessions of data in the same graph.
• Exporting to comma delimited text file for use with external programs (Excel) is supported.
• You can now "Fix" the graph scale to a specific size so that bad hops don't cause all valid points to be resized into a tiny graph.
• The icon can be moved from the taskbar to the tool tray for long-term monitoring projects.
• You can ignore 1-5 of the first hops in your trace (as opposed to the 1 that version 1.00.2 supported).
• Round Trip time is now shown below the last hop. This time is exactly the same as the last hop, but many people me what the round trip time was, so I included it to make things easier for people to understand.
• All columns of the graph are now resizable.
• The numbers for min and max time are now displayable on the upper graph (right-click the graph).
• An option has been added so that Ping Plotter works better under NT 3.51 (under Advanced options, "Use non-threaded name lookups"). This is automatically turned on when installed under NT 3.51.
• Timeout time and "attack rates" (time Ping Plotter waits between sending out requests for each hop - this was 25ms in 1.00.2, but really bad connections might need to make this longer) can be customized.
• Ping Plotter 2.0 uses significantly fewer resources while tracing.
• Limited whois functionality is included. Right now, it only queries the Internic server - a future release may expand on this based on requests.
• The "Copy as Image" feature includes more information and looks nicer.
• This version will be shareware - and will cost $15.00 to register. The unregistered version will allow you to use all these features to evaluate, but will include "reminder" notices to encourage people to register. The current freeware version will remain freeware and will remain available to those that prefer it.
• More (what feature list would be complete without the ubiquitous "More" feature?).