SEB Options for Computer Labs

Third party applications

Currently this is only supported when using SEB 2.1.5 or newer on Windows computer labs. The application you should use will have to be installed on all the computers and before running an exam, you should verify that the application works inside SEB by setting up a test exam with the application you want to be using.

You can either choose one or more of the verified applications by checking of the checkboxes or add your own executable.

If adding your own executable (name of the exe file) you must find out the name of the file. This can be done by starting the application, pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ESC to open the task manager. Find your application and right click on details. This will reveal the name of the exe file you should add.
To test if this application can be run without further configuration, press Windows + R, type the name of the executable and run it. If the application starts you can add the exe file (for instance stats.exe) to the SEB options, if not you will have to do a windows registry update on the computers that will use this application. IBM SPSS and Lingys have to be updated in Windows registry.

Windows registry updates in App Paths

Some applications, like Lingdys and SPSS, do not update the App Paths in Windows registry. Word and Excel do this, so that way the exe file to run the program can be used by SEB.

Adding a exe file that doesn't start with Windows + R:

  1. Windows + R
  2. Type regedit and run it
  3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths
  4. Right click and select new key
  5. Add the name of the executable
  6. Add String value "Path" with the full path to the folder and update the (Standard) value with full path to the executable.
  7. If you have firefox or chrome installed, you can just look at how their values are added under App Paths and do the same
  8. Test that your application now starts when running the the exe file using Windows + R

Security concerns

The largest security concern is that SEB does not block access to the disk. This means that it is possible to open local files from the disk while running a third party application within SEB. This problem can be minimised in a computer lab.

Some applications, like Excel for instance, has possibilities to browse the internet within the application. This is also not stopped. However Excel can be configured not to have the Data → Import menu item. Other applications can have other ways of browsing the web. This has to be checked before setting up an exam with the wanted application.

(warning) Word and Excel security settings

Note that if Word and Excel files are made available as attachments in the question set, you might have to edit additional security settings. Newer versions of Office automatically opens downloaded documents in protected mode, to protect the user from viruses or malware.

This protection can cause the files to report as corrupted. To avoid this, please make sure that the protected view settings are disabled before the attachments are opened.

  • Go to File -> Options -> Trust Center -> Trust Center Settings -> Protected View
  • Then uncheck (disable) the three options 
    1. Enable Protected View for files originating from the Internet
    2. Enable Protected View for files located in potentially unsafe locations
    3. Enable Protected View for Outlook attachments]