Frequently Asked Questions

Will it slow down my machine?

Running on any modern computer any slowdown is highly unlikey. The desktop software is less than 2 Megabytes, and uses very little processing power.

Will it slow down my network?

Pathways is very network friendly.  Typically the client software will add less than 1kByte/minute to network traffic per desktop.

What happens to my messages when I switch off my PC?

Messages are never stored on your PC.  Any non-expired messages are fetched from the server when the user logs back on again.

How hard is it to send a message?

Pathways can be configured so that messages can be composed and sent in just a few mouse clicks.  Alternatively, the system can be configured with a multi-stage workflow and approval process, which necessarily requires more editor input.

How do I know a message has been read?

As soon as the message reader winow has appeared on the user's desktop, a notification is sent back to the server.  This information appears on the transaction log a minute or so later. All statistics and logs are available via the News Alert Manager.

What are the server requirements?

Pathways requires a Windows IIS server hosting .NET.  It uses a MySQL database which can be hosted on the same, or a different server.  Unless a very large (> 20,000) number of desktops are envisaged, server requirements are quite modest.

What client platforms are supported?

Currentlythe  Pathways client application is built for Microsoft Windows environments only.  Messages can be configured to fall back to email and/or SMS after a set period of non-delivery.