Connection Explorer 1.2.0 Beta Feedback Thread

With the Connection Explorer beta release today, we are creating this thread so that users can report any observed issues.  

Obtaining the beta:

Object Desktop members can get the beta from within Object Desktop Manager with Enable Object Desktop Insider builds (Early Access) enabled:

image-20260814-183714.png

Individual purchases (as well as Object Desktop Members) can also be obtained from your account page:

https://store.stardock.com/myaccount/products

Reporting an issue:

Please include the following for anything found:

  • Exact Windows version \ build (winver.exe)

  • Detailed steps to recreate the issue seen

  • Screenshots and videos are very helpful.  Videos can be uploaded to a cloud drive service (GoogleDrive, DropBox, OneDrive, YouTube), with a shared link included in your post.  Images can be copied and pasted directly into a post.

  • If there are specific apps that the app does not work (well) with, please note what apps and their exact versions.  If any app is not common, a link to a trial version would be appreciated.

Thank you for your interest and any time you put into making Connection Explorer a better product.

792 views 6 replies
Reply #1 Top

Date

08/19/2026

Version

1.2.0.0

Changes

New

  • Devices setup is now a guided three-step flow: Enable network sharing  Enable pairing  Add device, with steps unlocking as you complete them

  • Add device now shows an inline "Waiting for a device…" panel with a 10-minute pairing window and countdown, replacing the old pop-up instructions

  • Beta badge on the Devices page — Local Group device sharing is new and still being tested

  • Dark mode is now the default theme for new installs (your saved theme choice is kept)

Fixed

  • Pairing no longer dead-ends when Nearby discovery is off: creating a Local Group now turns discovery on automatically

  • The Nearby discovery toggle now shows its actual state instead of always appearing off after a refresh

  • Removing a device now actually removes it everywhere: the removed PC is notified, resets itself to setup, and no longer lingers as a phantom member

  • Leave Local Group now tells the other devices — the departed PC no longer stays in everyone's device list as a permanent offline entry

  • A removed PC can now be re-paired to the group; previously removal permanently blocked that machine from rejoining

  • IPv6 connections now show their application name, PID, and path instead of "Unknown"

  • Devices page text is now readable in dark mode (titles were rendering black on dark)

Date

08/04/2026

Version

1.1.6.0

Changes

Added — Visualize

  • New Visualize tab: four ways to explore network behavior, with a device selector and time range on each.

  • Connection Constellation: applications, services, and destinations as a linked map you can zoom, fit, and click.

  • Click any node for its connection count, destinations, countries, and upload/download totals.

  • Watch button turns any service or country on the constellation straight into an alert rule.

  • Connection Flow: traces application traffic through services out to destination countries; click a path for its upload and download split.

  • Network Weather: an hourly heatmap of how far activity sits from your own normal, not a generic traffic threshold.

  • Weather status summary: unusual hours, new destinations, and your quietest period at a glance.

  • "What drove this hour" breaks an unusual period down into the applications behind it.

  • Hover any hour for its connection count, its typical baseline, and how many times over normal it ran.

  • Three plain-language states — Typical, Elevated, Unusual — instead of a raw number.

  • Hours with no history yet say so, rather than pretending you have a baseline.

  • App Fingerprints: today's behavior for an application against its own 30-day pattern, with an optional baseline overlay.

  • Fingerprints cover destinations, upload ratio, country spread, active hours, and connection persistence.

 

Added — Multiple devices

  • Local Group: pair Connection Explorer installations on the same private LAN into one view.

  • Alerts, map, and timeline federate across paired devices, with per-device filtering and coverage indicators.

  • Visualize honors the same device selector, so any view can show one device or the whole group.

  • Nearby discovery toggle controls whether new installations on your LAN can find your Local Group.

  • LAN access card shows whether firewall rules and network profile are ready, with one-click allow or repair.

  • Devices panel: rename or remove any paired device, and see which one is this PC.

 

Added — Connection test

  • Test button on every paired device walks the connection step by step and names the one thing that is wrong.

  • Checks network profile, firewall rules, device address, same-subnet, reachability, secure handshake, authentication, clock sync, and discovery.

  • Each failure comes with what to do about it, in plain language.

  • Copy report puts the whole result on the clipboard for a support ticket, including both agent versions and the resolved address.

  • Reports a clock more than 30 seconds out of sync, which silently discarded live updates with no visible symptom.

  • Reports when two devices are on different subnets, so guest Wi-Fi and VLAN splits are caught before anything else.

 

Added — Map and appearance

  • Bandwidth arcs rebuilt: full draw-and-decay arcs with a glow underlay and traveling head, up to three in flight.

  • Arcs cast the top uploader and downloader plus rotating guests, with new endpoints announced in purple.

  • Dark mode overhaul: theme-aware brushes across every view, brand purple headers, and readable interactive text.

  • Optional daily event log for AI-assisted anomaly review, per category, following your existing retention setting.

 

Fixed

  • Devices panel no longer reports "tray service is unavailable" while the tray service is running normally.

  • Pairing checks give up on a switched-off device after 2 seconds instead of 10, which had kept the channel to the tray busy continuously.

  • Map no longer blinks all dots in unison; redraws that change nothing visible are skipped.

  • Home location appears as soon as the map does, using the last session's position instead of waiting on a lookup.

  • Network Weather excludes listener and unattributed rows from both current counts and the baselines they are compared against.

  • Alerts view shows local data immediately while paired devices respond, instead of overlapping loading and empty states.

 

Changed

  • Peer alert fan-out timeout cut from 10 seconds to 3.

  • Devices panel polls for pairing requests every 5 seconds instead of every 2.

  • Device names are no longer broadcast in presence announcements on the LAN.

Date

07/21/2026

Version

1.1.2.0

Changes

  • New Apps view
    The "Processes" tab is now Apps — a clearer picture of what each program on your PC is doing on the network. Every app shows its status, how many connections it has open, how much data it's moved in the last 24 hours, which countries it's talked to, and its memory use. Click any app to expand it and see its individual processes and every destination it connected to.

  • Block an app in one click
    Stop (or re-allow) a program's network access right from the list — no digging through settings.

  • Activity at a glance
    Each app now has a mini activity graph showing its connection activity over the past 24 hours, so you can spot which apps are busy and when.

  • Bandwidth trends
    The Bandwidth list now shows a traffic trend graph for each item, and you can expand any row to see exactly where its data went.

  • A more consistent, polished look
    The Apps, Bandwidth, DNS, and Connections screens now share the same clean table design.

  • Speed improvements
    Scrolling and resizing the monitoring screens are much smoother, even with lots of activity, and the app is lighter on system resources in the background.

  • Improved Database consistency 
    Connection Explorer now cleans up all older history consistently and reclaims the freed disk space automatically — so the database no longer grows unchecked over months of use, even when the app is running quietly in the background.

  • Translations
    Various updates to translation files to improve consistency and accuracy.

Reply #2 Top

Known issues

  • While we appreciate all feedback, please remember that we offer no official support for beta \ preview \ developer channel versions of Windows. If you report issues while in any of those early release channels, you should not expect them to be addressed unless it still exists in a retail version of Windows.
Reply #3 Top

***Reserved***

Reply #4 Top

The Connection Explorer beta has now been updated to version 1.2.0.0, with many added features and improvements.  

Thank you as always for your time and support.

Best regards,

Adam McGuinness
Stardock Support Specialist

Reply #5 Top

Adam...it's superb. I haven't found a problem yet...the GUI changes and large map and zoom are great. :congrat: 

+2 Loading…
Reply #6 Top

Hello all,

Connection Explorer version 1.2.0.0 has now been released!

For details and feedback, please see:

https://forums.stardock.com/542229/connection-explorer-1-2-release-thread/page/1

Thank you as always for your time and support.

Best regards,

Adam McGuinness
Stardock Support Specialist