Office 2013 comes with a small shadow boarder but as a RemoteApp or publish application shows a big not so shadow boarder. Not just that it also has quite some impact on the performance and the display. It really looks bad and sometimes the boarder is a little bit behind when moving an Office window.

Microsoft published an article on that behavior and how to disable it:

• How to disable shadow hWnds in Office 2013 applications
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2821007

That article isn't really helpful, since you need to be a programmer to make the example work. The only good thing is that the ClassName MSO_BORDEREFFECT_WINDOW_CLASS is given.

That should ring a bell with every Citrix administrator. Citrix had to fix seamless applications now for over 20 years and build a long list (http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX101644) on how to fix different seamless issues. I also wrote an article about the seamless engine in 2005! Understand the Citrix seamless engine.

With that information it's quite easy to get the right seamless configuration setting. You find an XML file for group policy import and registry file packed in one zip:

Download Seamless Configuration Setting for Office 2013: OFF2013_SeamlessFlag.zip

Those Seamless Configuration Settings of course only work with Citrix XenApp and not with Microsoft RemoteApps! Lucky for every RDS customer I received a little service from Meinsystemhaus.de (German company) that fixes the shadow boarder for RemoteApps as well. The service checks every 5 seconds for the boarder and then sends the disable command. Of course the service works with XenApp as well.

Download OFF2013_ShadowOff.zip

Thanks to Dennis from Meinsystemhaus and hope the seamless flag and service helps you guys!

I have done some work with Citrix @Work Apps, mainly with @WorkMail / @WorkWeb, and did some digging to get information you cannot find at the Citrix web site at the moment.

I'm sharing those information here, so you don't have to try things that are not supported or possible yet.

General

• App Preparation Tool is only available for Mac OS X
• Only specific enhanced (e) Netscaler version support the appController
• Using EPA with Windows and mobile devices would require two separate Netscaler
• For troubleshooting use @WorkWeb and enable the advanced logging in Receiver

@WorkMail 1.0.206

• Supported Exchange 2007 and 2010 and upcoming 2013. Not supported 2003 and earlier.
• Office 365 is not supported at the moment but you can get it to work manually
• Edit of Calendar and Contacts are not working with iOS yet.
• ALL Exchange folders are not supported right now but unread, inbox and some more.
• iOS apps are using different authentication then Android apps, therefore you have to set timeouts for iOS apps in Netscaler session policies.
• The dialog "OK" or "Continue" is asking to "Continue" @WorkMail OFFLINE or "OK" to re-authenticate for ONLINE usage!
• You might end in an authentication loop, the app doesn't start or even crashes. Disable database encryption in AppController for a quick workaround. Remove the app from your device, remove it from AppController and then re-import and deploy it.
• If you have different devices and @WM versions installed then you might reach the Exchange mobile device limit of 10, you need to delete some in OWA options.

@WorkWeb 1.1.023

• Is build on WebKit and therefore doesn't support java, flash etc.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit
• Doesn't support to set a proxy server that you might need for external URL's. As a workaround you could use split-tunneling at Netscaler

The new Office 2013 and SAP 7.30 versions come with performance issues using remoting technologies like Citrix ICA or Microsoft RDS.

Here are some things to optimize the performance of those products.

Microsoft Office 2013

• Disable Office Animations
  ADM\Microsoft Office 2013\Miscellaneous
• Do not use hardware graphics acceleration
  ADM\Microsoft Office 2013\Miscellaneous
• Dialog boxes and new windows displayed as blank in Office 2013 RemoteApps on a client computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2786923
• With Citrix XenApp you can disable the shadow boarder using a reg key
  How to disable shadow hWnds in Office 2013 applications
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2821007

SAPgui 7.30 Client

• Change 7.30 default "SAP signature Theme" back to Enjoy
• Turn off the "ShowShadowBorder"
  HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\SAP\General\Appearance
  ShowShadowBorder REG_DWORD = 0x0
• You might need to disable OSS for saplogon.exe with Citrix XenApp
  Colors in a Graphics-Specific or Intensive Applications is Not Displayed Correctly
  http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX132709

Hope that helps!

Schools, small companies have often the need for remote access but not the budget to implement 2-factor authentication. Vendor licenses, server, hardware token and more are expensive for that extra security.

With remote access this extra security is a must have and luckily Steven Wright offers a FREE SMS/email 2-factor token solution called SMS2! He contacted me a while ago and I looked into his solution. We both spend some month together to fix issues, add value to the solution. Still there is room for improvement but hey it's free!

I successfully implemented SMS2 with Web Interface 5.4 and Access Gateway Enterprise 10.x using Microsoft NAP server 2008 R2. The SMS providers are limited at the moment but even with email I received the token fast. This is also working with mobile devices like iPad.

Get your free SMS2 2-factor authentication to secure your remote access as well!
http://www.wrightccs.com

Citrix StoreFront (CloudGateway Express) is out for some time and customer have asked me about it and wanted to "try" the new StoreFront. Here are some of my experiences with StoreFront:

1. StoreFront is not supported on Windows Domain Controller and don't use a SQL DB on a Domain Controller for multiple server group.
2. Make sure you have at least more than 200MB space left or server group synchronization fails with a non-helpful message.
3. StoreFront credential wallet service fails to start with event 1053 "The service did not respond..." and event 12 in Citrix Delivery Service. Right after the installation! In that case install- and uninstall of StoreFront is very sloooow too.
   Solution:
   set generatePublisherEvidence enabled=false in
   Citrix.DeliveryServices.CredentialWallet.ServiceHost.exe.config
4. Citrix credential wallet service stops, every time a pending reboot is needed.
   Solution:
   Set the credential wallet- and  peer resolution service to automatic (Delayed Start)
5. StoreFront Receiver Web and StoreFront console are slow when behind a proxy server or no internet access.
   Solution:
   set generatePublisherEvidence enabled=false in Aspnet.config and create a mmc.exe.config
   See also:
   Web Interface 5.x Delay on First Page
   http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX117273
   Microsoft Management Console (MMC) based Administrative Consoles takes an Extended Time to Start 
   http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX120115
6. If you use SQL for a StoreFront multiple server group then make sure you create the SQL DB EXCATLY and all the way as described in the eDocs
   http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/dws-storefront-12/dws-deploy-multi-database.html
7. StoreFront has NO "repair" option but you would love to have it! Even StoreFront 1.2 has a "Generate Security Keys" it might fail as well and then you have to reinstall.
   Cannot Authenticate into Storefront Server
   http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX133785
8. SmartAccess with StoreFront and Citrix Gateway has a bug and you need a private fix
   Error: 'Your logon has expired. Please log on again to continue.' when Users Logon to StoreFront 1.2
   http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX134965
9. Citrix StoreFront Server must be a domain member and therefore you must have different server for different domains! This was not a must requirement with Web Interface
10. Do yourself a favor and use SSL and use it BEFORE you install StoreFront. All Citrix Receiver have SSL as a must reauirement and it's a pain to change that to except HTTP on the client.
    How to Configure Citrix Receiver for Windows for HTTP stores 
    http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX134341
11. If you want to use email for Receiver auto configuration (discover), then you have to use the email domain for the SSL certificate.
12. Using StoreFront in load balancing and pass through with Access Gateway is quite an act. You need to set StoreFront cookies and you might need a NET profile in Netscaler for LB

Hope that helps getting started with Citrix StoreFront

Since the public release of Windows 8 RT people try to use Citrix remote access and fail. The reason for that lies up on decisions made by Citrix. Many companies have a Web Interface, Secure Gateway infrastructure and the reason why it doesn't work with Windows 8 RT.

Requirements for Windows 8 RT

• Access Gateway Enterprise 10.x VPX (min) for remote access
  Review the AG product simplification program for free upgrade http://bit.ly/VuhaAD
• Citrix StoreFront 1.x StoreFront does NOT support Secure Gateway
• Receiver TechPreview from the store http://bit.ly/RsTKfm

That means Web Interface and Secure Gateway needs to be replaced with StoreFront and Access Gateway before you can use Windows 8 RT for remote access to your Citrix environment.