Viewing Web Sites

Figure 1: Viewing Web Sites

When reviewing recorded Web sites, the following buttons are available:

Jump to This button becomes active and can be selected when you select an individual Web page from the "tree pane." This button provides two options:

Jump To Snapshots This option will move the view to the Snapshot recordings window at the timeframe that the selected Web page was recorded. This provides you with a Snapshot view of what was happening on the computer at the time this Web page was visited
Jump to Web Site in Browser This option will open the selected Web page in the Web browser window to providing you with a view of the same page the monitored computer's user saw when the Web page was recorded

Note: It is possible not to be able to view this Web page, either because it is no longer available, or because of insufficient authority to access the page. In this case, the Jump to Snapshots option may provide a recording of what the Web page looked like

View... The Web sites window has two panes:

The top pane is the "tree pane." It lists all Web pages recorded by day, by domain, and then by Web site. Selecting the top branch of the tree pane will display all of the recorded Web pages in the "data pane" (bottom pane). Selecting a particular date will display all Web pages recorded on the date in the bottom pane
The bottom pane is the "data pane." It displays all recorded Web pages for the specific branch selected in the "tree pane." The data in this pane can be formatted for Detail or as a Summary, using the View button. Viewing the data pane in Summary mode is useful when selecting all of the Web pages or a particular day of Web pages for viewing. The Summary mode provides you with a quick overview of what Web sites were visited most often and for the longest duration

The "data pane" can be sorted in ascending or descending order for any of the columns displayed.

Example: To view which Web sites were most frequently visited:

Select Web Sites in the top pane, which will display all recorded pages in the Detail view
Click on the View Summary button to display the information in Summary mode
Select the Visits column within the data pane to sort the visited Web sites in descending order, from the most visited to the least visited

Example: To see the exact order that all Web pages were visited in during a specific day:

Select the particular date in the tree pane (top pane), which will display all recorded pages in the lower pane
Click on the View Details button to display the information in detail mode
Select the Time column within the data pane (lower pane) in order to sort the visited Web sites in ascending order from the first visited to the last visited on that day

Summary

Domain The specific domain in which the Web site is located. All Web pages belong to a domain. It is possible there are multiple Web sites within a particular domain; these are known as host sites. For example, "search.Microsoft.com" and "office.Microsoft.com" are two different host sites within the Microsoft.com domain
Last time The last time a Web page was visited within that domain for the particular group of Web pages selected in the tree pane
Total The sum of the total time each Web page was visited. A Web page is considered to be visited from the time it is opened, to the time another Web page is visited within that browser window, or the browser window is closed. The total time will always be larger than the Focus or Active time, as it will include the time the Web page may be sitting idle within the browser
Focus The sum of the focus time for each visited Web page within that domain. A Web page is considered to have "focus" if it is the primary window opened on the computer's desktop. This is typically defined by the highlighted window

Example: If a Web page is opened in the browser then minimized on the computer's desktop and a word processing application selected, that Web page is considered to still be opened (visited), but it will not have focus. If a Web page is opened in the browser and the computer's user goes to lunch for an hour, the Web page is considered to have the focus while the user is at lunch, as it is the primary selected window on the computer's desktop

Active The sum of the active time for each visited Web page within that domain. A Web page is considered "active" if it is opened, has focus, and the computer's user moves the mouse or uses the keyboard. The determination as to when the user is no longer active is made by the Inactivity Timeout parameter within Programs settings; the default is three minutes. If the user is no longer moving the mouse or typing for three minutes within a Web page that has focus, they are no longer considered to be active in that Web page. The three minute Inactivity Timeout is excluded from the active time calculation

Example: A user opens a Web page and if he or she:

types for ten seconds, and
navigates to a second Web page, and
moves the mouse for two minutes, and
the user does not type or move the mouse for one more minutes, and
types for thirty seconds, and
then leaves the Web page open, but he or she does not move the mouse or keyboard for five minutes...

The user would be considered as "active" in the first Web page for ten seconds and "active" in the second Web page for three minutes, 30 seconds. Assuming that both Web pages were opened in the same domain, the Summary mode view would show a total of three minutes, 40 seconds of active time—if those were the only two pages opened in that domain for the branch selected in the tree pane.

Visits The number of visits made to a Web page's URL (the Internet address for the Web page)

Note: The URL is not displayed in Summary mode, if the branch selected in the tree pane is a domain branch or above. This is because the information displayed in the Summary mode is an aggregation of many Web pages and there is not a specific URL to display

Details

Time The time of day the Web page was opened or visited. If the top branch of the tree pane is selected, which represents all days of recorded Web sites, the Time column will display the date and time. Otherwise, only the time will be displayed as the date is assumed to be the date selected in the tree pane
Total The total time each Web page was opened or visited. From the time a Web page is opened to the time another Web page is visited within that browser window, or the browser window is closed, a Web page is considered to be visited. The total time will always be larger than the Focus or Active time, as it will include the time the Web page may be sitting idle within the browser
Focus The focus time for each visited Web page within that domain. A Web page is considered to have "focus" if it is the primary window opened on the computer's desktop. This is typically defined by the highlighted window

Example: If a Web page is opened in a Web browser, then another Web page is opened in another Web browser window, the Web page opened in the first browser window will still be considered as open, but it will NOT have focus. If a Web page is opened in the browser and the computer's user goes to lunch for an hour, the Web page is considered to have focus while the user is at lunch, as it is the primary selected window on the computer user's desktop

Active The active time for each visited Web page within that domain. A Web page is considered as active if it is opened, has focus, and the user is moving the mouse or using the keyboard while the window has focus. The determination as to when the user is no longer active is made by the Inactivity Timeout parameter within Programs settings. The default is three minutes. If a user is no longer moving the mouse or typing for three minutes on a Web page that has focus, they are no longer considered to be active in that Web page. If the Web page loses focus, it is immediately considered to be inactive.

Note: The three minute Inactivity Timeout is excluded from the active time calculation.

Example: If a user opens a Web page and:

types for 30 seconds, and…
then navigates to a second Web page, and…
moves the mouse for one minute, and…
he or she does not type or move the mouse for another two minutes because they are reading the Web page, and…
then types for 30 seconds, and…
then the user leaves the computer for five minutes with the Web page open and in focus, and…
upon returning to the computer, he or she begins to move the mouse on the same Web page for two more minutes, and…
then close the Web browser…

The user would be considered “active” in the first Web page for 30 seconds and “active” in the second Web page for five minutes and 30 seconds. He or she is considered to be “active” on the second Web page for the entire time, except the five minutes the left the room, because the five minutes exceeds the three minute default inactivity timeout

Type The type column identifies which type of URL was captured

URL Standard Web site address
URLN Non-standard Web site address.

Example: Javascript:somejava.js

URLFD File download address.

Example: www.spectorsoft.com/downloads/spectorpro40.chm

AOL Navigation to an area within AOL, not including Web sites
Local Access to a file on the computer's local computer hard drive(s) within Explorer. Example: C:\programfiles\runme.exe

Net Access to a file on the local network within Explorer.

Example: \\someserver\program\whatever.txt

Web Site Type allows you to sort all the captured Web sites by type. Type URLFD, in particular, is very useful because it provides you with the ability to see if the monitored computer has had software programs or files downloaded and installed from the Internet.

Note: Some of the Web addresses displayed in the Web Sites window may not be familiar. This may be because the Client also records the pop-up windows that display automatically when some Web sites are loaded.

URL The Internet address for the Web site
Page title The title of the Web page displayed on the title bar of the Web browser when the Web page is visited. This often has descriptive information to help determine the subject of the Web page

Note: You can sort each category by clicking on the header itself, which can be very helpful. For example, if you want to view all Page titles alphabetically, click on the Page title header.

Block Web Site Clicking on this button allows you to block future visits to the selected Web site, or specific pages within it. Any further attempts to go to that Web site or page will result in the user's Internet browser from being able to display the site or page
Note: This button is only active when the file name of the Web site has been highlighted.
Search Web Sites This function works like a filter. Only the data that matches the search is displayed. The search criteria you enter is maintained while you stay in the Viewer. For example, if you do a Web Sites search and switch to the Chat/IM tab and then come back to the Web Sites tab, the results of the Web Sites search continues to be displayed. You must either do another search or close the Search window in order to view all the recordings for that particular window type again. The dialog box search settings that were entered are saved while you stay in the program. All the settings are global to all tabs except for the "Check In' fields, which are specific to each tab

The Search dialogue window displays the following fields:

Search for Enter the word or phrase to search for. The following rules apply:

All words entered must be found to detect a match
The words can be spread throughout any of the Check In fields selected, i.e. you enter GOOD DAY, select the URL, and Caption check in fields. If the URL contains GOOD and the caption DAY, then it is considered a match
You can use quotes to find phrases, i.e. the words must be found in that specific sequence to match. If you enter hello there it will not match there hello or any other combination. You must have matching quotes or the string will be rejected
Double quotes will be dumped and you will end up with just the words i.e. "hello there" treats the string as two empty phrases and then it looks for the words hello and there in any order
Phrases are space sensitive, hello there will not match hello there

Exact upper and lower case match The default search is case insensitive. If you check this box then the case must match
Include partial word match The default search must find the words surrounded by any character that is not an alpha or numeric character. When you check this box, anywhere the characters appear is considered a match. For example, with the box checked, SOFT would match MICROSOFT
Search in This determines what data fields in which to look for a match. You must check at least one
Date selection Entries are self-explanatory. Date values entered are inclusive. For example, the date values 4/1/03 to 4/2/03 will include anything from 4/1/03 at 12:00:00 AM to 4/2/03 at 11:59:59 PM

Delete Clicking on this button allows you to delete the recorded information relating to the particular Web site visited
Settings Clicking on this button allows you determine how you want data to be recorded and reviewed. Click on this button and you will be presented with a list of optional settings
Help Clicking on this button provides you with helpful advice for troubleshooting or information on a particular topic. You will be shown a table of contents, from which you can click on the topic of interest and you will receive detailed instructions that should help you considerably