ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2026 Release Notes

Index

Introduction
Download
What's new in ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2026
Installation and Upgrade

Introduction

ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2026 is the latest version of the ActiveXperts Network Monitor product.
The mission of the product is to maximize the reliability of your production servers and applications through the automatic detection and correction of problems and issues.
The product runs as a service on Windows 2025/2022/2019/2016/2012(R2)/2008(R2)/11/10/8/7 platforms.

Download

Click on the link below to download ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2026. It offers a 64-bit installation (AxMonitorSetup64.exe) and a 32-bit installation (AxMonitorSetup32.exe).
Download here: www.activexperts.com/download

What's new in ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2026

Engine service

• Significantly extended error logging when the service fails to start. Texts are more descriptive so it is easier to determine why the service fails to start.

Alert Notifications

• In previous versions of ActiveXperts, email addresses longer than 64 characters were not allowed. Although not permitted by many mail servers, 320 characters are indeed allowed according to RFC 5321. In ActiveXperts, email addresses up to a maximum of 320 characters are now supported.

Configuration API

• The configuration API function 'CopyNode' had a non-working sample script in both PowerShell and VBScript, which caused confusion. This has been fixed. In addition, a CopyCheck script has been added to copy only a Check using the API.

Dependencies

• If a dependent check fails because the depender is down, previous versions did not show which depender it was. In version 2026, it now shows which depender it is.

Maintenance Windows

• Fixed the issue where restarting the ActvieXpets Network Monitor Engine service ignored the current active maintenance period, potentially causing checks to incorrectly report errors or failures.

Statistics

• The 'Statistical Database Maintenance' function failed in some cases with an MS SQL Server database. This was due to the MS SQL Log File becoming too large on the SQL machine. ActiveXperts has now split this maintenance task into smaller batches.
• If the custom date/time format differed from the formats mm/dd/yyyy or dd/mm/yyyy, the web-based Graph module did not work. The date/time was ignored and an empty graph was displayed. This has been fixed. The issue did not apply to the form-based Graph module.

Active Directory Check

• There is now a new native Active Directory Accounts Check. With this, one can check for disabled accounts, locked-out accounts, and also verify group membership.
• There are now new scripts for Active Directory, written both in PowerShell and in VBScript.
• ActiveXperts now includes a MS Active Directory Diagnostic Utility.

Backoffice Checks

• All Backoffice checks - such as MS Hyper-V Server, MS SQL Server and many more - monitor multiple services and processes. It had a problem when the list of services and/or processes to be checked were not sorted alphabetically. Fortunately, it was usually sorted alphabetically, but if not, some services were not checked. This has been fixed.

Certificate Check

• In previous versions of ActiveXperts, the Certificate Check only evaluated the certificate expiration date if the HTTP request returned a 200 code. However, sometimes a non-200 code can still provide useful information about the expiration date, such as HTTP status code 500. Therefore, ActiveXperts now evaluates as soon as useful expiration information is available, regardless of the status code.

Hyper-V Check

• The MS Hyper-V check now also supports the latest Hyper-V version, namely Hyper-V 2025.

IIS Application Pool Check

• When configuring an IIS Application Pool in the Manager application, it was not possible to list IIS Application Pools. You had to manually type the Application Pool name. This has been fixed; you can now list IIS Application Pools and make a selection.

Process Check

• Fixed the Process State Check for Windows machines monitored via the WMI/WinRM protocol. When using the WMI/DCOM protocol, it already worked correctly.

Scripted Checks

• PowerShell and VBScript checks now display the first parameter as 'Host' in the Manager's list box. Since in many cases the first parameter is the hostname or IP address of the monitored machine or device, this makes it clear which machine/device the check applies to.
• A few PowerShell DCOM-based checks were missing an include file (activexperts-wmi-dcom.ps1), causing the scripted check to fail. This has been fixed.
• The PowerShell Check configuration dialog has a URL to load a sample. However, instead of loading a PowerShell sample, it launched the PowerShell Diagnostic Tool. This was not intended and has now been fixed.
• Because WinRM is a more recent development than DCOM, and most customers prefer DCOM over WinRM, not all native checks were available as scripted WinRM checks for PowerShell and VBScript. This has now been extended, and almost all Windows checks are now also available as WMI/WinRM scripted checks.

SNMP GET Check

• In the SNMP GET dialog, neither the SNMP v3 Authentication Protocol nor Privacy Encryption could be set to 'None'. Although very uncommon—since these fields usually have a value—it should still be possible. This has been fixed.
• The SNMP Diagnostic utility was not very helpful when it comes to SNMP v.3. It provided little logging and no solid basis for troubleshooting. This has now been greatly improved and is very useful.

SSH / SFTP Checks

• SSH and SFTP checks had an incorrect sample URL, so it was not possible to perform a live working SSH/SFTP check on the ActiveXperts servers. The URLs have now been corrected; you can now perform a live SSH check again on the ActiveXperts online lab server.

Web Access

• The Web Access jQuery library has been updated from 4.6.2 to 5.3.8.
• The Web Access Bootstrap library has been updated from 3.3.1 to 3.7.1.
• Web Access files are now also included in the periodic backup procedure. By default, all (custom) Web Access files are now backed up in the backup schedule to the target destination.

Windows Defender Check

• The Windows Defender check has now been split into two separate checks: a Windows Defender Firewall Check and an Windows Defender Antivirus Check. This allows for more specific monitoring of Windows Defender.

Manager application

• Fixed broken hyperlinks to PowerShell and VBScript checks in the Manager application.
• Fixed issue in Manager where connection properties with both DCOM and WinRM defaulted to DCOM only on querying a Windows machine. Issue affected only the Manager; the Engine was not impacted.
• Fixed occasional 'The action cannot be completed because the other program is busy.' error in Manager application, caused by a Windows OLE/COM issue in the MFC software framework, resolved via workaround.
• When connecting to a remote instance of ActiveXperts (using the command File->Configuration->Connect to Another Server), an empty error message was shown if the connection could not be established. Now, a proper error message is displayed.
• When configuring SMTP Alert notifications, there was an issue with the test button: if a port other than the default was selected (Plain SMTP 25, STARTTLS 587), the default port was still used when sending the test message. This has been fixed.
• The SNMP Trap Receiver global option was somewhat hidden in the Manager application. Users had to search in the Advanced options. It is now a separate tab in the Options menu.
• In the Manager's SMTP settings, it has been made easier to use OAuth2 or STARTTLS by adding hyperlinks in the SMTP configuration dialog that load the correct settings for OAuth2 and/or STARTTLS.
• In the Manager application, the 'Notes' field now has a vertical scrollbar, which is very convenient.
• License dialog gaf een niet goed geformateerd m_strLicenseExplanation igv een invalid key.
• Fixed a misleading and poorly formatted error message in license dialog when entering an invalid key.
• In the Manager's windows where you can configure a Windows check, you can select alternative credentials. These credentials were not sorted alphabetically, which made searching difficult. This has been fixed.
• When a check was put On Hold, the Manager still displayed the 'Last Monitored' timestamp from the scheduler. That was the timestamp of when the check was last evaluated. This was misleading, as it appeared the check had been monitored recently. This has been corrected; an empty string is now shown for 'Last Monitored'.
• The Find function was disabled in the context menu of a folder. This has been fixed.

Installation and Upgrade

Installation

To learn more about installing the product for the first time, please read our manual. You can download the manual at www.activexperts.com/files/network-monitor/manual-2026.htm

Upgrade

Upgrading from a previous version should be done in the following way:

• Make a backup of the current configuration - although not really necessary, it's a good practice to do so. Use the Manager's Export command to make the backup;
• If you made any custom Powershell/VBScript/SSH scripts and use them in ActiveXperts, use the Windows Explorer to backup these scripts. Manually copy them back at the end of the Upgrade
• Uninstall all 'ActiveXperts Network Monitor Manager' application on the PCs that have the Manager application installed. Use the 'Add/Remove Programs' applet in the Control Panel to start the Uninstall;
• Uninstall the 'ActiveXperts Network Monitor' software on the monitoring server. Use the 'Add/Remove Programs' applet in the Control Panel to start the Uninstall;
• Reboot the monitoring server;
• Install the 'ActiveXperts Network Monitor' software on the monitoring server;
• Launch the Manager application, and choose 'Restore Configuration' from the 'File menu'. Select the version of the previous configuration file, and then select the configuration file (named CONFIG.SDF or CONFIG.MDB);
• Optionally, install the 'ActiveXperts Network Monitor Manager' application on the PCs of the operators.