Screen Snapshot Recording

The Client

The Client can take hundreds of snapshots every hour on each network computer, very much like a surveillance camera. A snapshot is a graphic representation of exactly what the user sees on the computer's display: all open windows, the Windows taskbar, pop-up messages, everything. You can view Screen Snapshots from the Monitor Users/Computers view or from a Client Viewer.

What is recorded:

With each snapshot image the Client records:

• Date and time the snapshot was taken

• Name of the program that had Windows focus

• The user logged in when the snapshot was taken

What triggers a snapshot:

By default, the Client takes a "black-and-white" (grayscale) picture every 30 seconds AND when a "trigger" event occurs —a new web site page is loaded, the window is scrolled, a web form is submitted, and so on (see Snapshot Triggers).  If activity completely stops on the computer, the Client stops taking pictures until activity starts again. You can change both the timing and triggers for Screen Snapshots.

• Timed Snapshots
  The advantage of timed snapshots is capturing all activity that occurs within a program window, such as an ongoing IM conversation or editing within a document. Timed snapshots provide near real-time "video" playback of the user's screen activity.

• Event-Triggered Snapshots
  The advantage of event-triggered snapshots is capturing quick changes between web pages or windows (or portions of windows) that wouldn't be captured in the 30-second time interval. Event-triggered snapshots guarantee that you won't miss action, such as the user clicking through a series of web pages or suddenly moving a document into a new folder.

Developing a snapshot strategy:

When to take Snapshots and how often to take them depends on your organization and on user roles within the organization. You may want to start by creating and testing several Client configurations to see which results are preferable on which computers.

• If users frequently create documents and scroll pages as part of normal work, you may want to turn OFF triggers when the window title changes and when scrolling occurs to avoid excessive snapshot recording.

• If users submit web forms as a part of normal work, you might turn OFF this trigger, or you might leave it ON specifically as a means to document this type of work.

• You might decrease the normal timed Snapshot frequency from 30 seconds to one minute (to save disk space) and increase the snapshot frequency when a Keyword is detected.

• It is also possible to configure a hotkey combination to use at the Client computer to take a manual on-the-spot snapshot.  

• Set the resolution, frequency, and triggers for snapshots from Screen Snapshot Settings.

• Manage the maximum storage space for Snapshot data files from Client Data File Settings.