Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 February 8

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February 8

Web activity monitoring software

I'm looking for recommendations for software that allows me to monitor the web browsing activity of people on my network. Here are my preferences:

1) I would prefer to run this software from my Windows NT server and have it look at all the computers on the network. However I don't mind installing a program on every computer (Windows XP) in the office if it works and can send out a single report to me (email, e.t.c)

2) Logs both Firefox and Internet Explorer.

3) The reporting doesn't have to be complicated, I just want to be able to see a list of the most 50 popular sites or something similar to identify where people are going. Obviously time spent browsing and other statistics are a godsend.

Any suggestions? 91.84.143.81 (talk) 11:59, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Certainly not, I'm not going to help you spy on people... though I will tell you that it's a terrible idea to install something on each machine if you control the network. If your NT server (blech) is their network gateway then install your monitoring there :D\=< (talk) 12:32, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

I didn't ask for your opinions on NT and I don't give a damn about your "anti-spying" agenda. I need to identify what sites my employees are visiting so I can stop them from going there during working hours. What people choose to do / say or what websites they visit in their own time is none of my business, but if they are being paid to do a job and instead of doing that job are reading personal email or posting on bulletin boards I want to know about it. 91.84.143.81 (talk) 13:18, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

If you wan't computer advice without some 'asswipe' telling you what they think then the way forward is to pay someone for that service. There's a slim possibility that someone here will actually resolve your question. Good luck.87.102.118.73 (talk) 13:52, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

lol internet rage. I'm certainly not being paid to do a job for you, so "what [I] choose to do / say ... is none of [your] business". Also what's your problem? Nobody's going to work for you if you're so strict about "checking personal emails" etc. And I still consider it spying even if they're being paid to work, though legally the owner of the local network can look in :D\=< (talk) 14:37, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Can I gently remind everyone that Wikipedia's no personal attacks, civility, and assume good faith policies are still in effect here? "Don't give a damn" and "asswipe" are not conformant to the spirit of those policies.

Atlant (talk) 14:54, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

When someone goes to a free help forum and asks for help on a particular subject, and the first answer is "You shouldn't do that, and even if you do it you are doing it wrong", and the OP responds with "I don't want your opinion", then, well, given human nature the OP isn't likely to get very much useful help on THAT forum from other readers, either. I have done what he wants for my clients, but then I was being paid, and after pointing out that there were moral issues I helped them with their need. This guy doesn't want to hear my free advice, either, which would be "Grow up, learn how to work with people instead of threatening them constantly. Hire someone to do things you can't do yourself. That way, you can threaten them if they don't do what you want. Free help only happens to people who are nice to the helpers. :) -SandyJax (talk) 15:14, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

who wants to bet that one of the most popular sites they look at will be wikipedia? Gzuckier (talk) 16:04, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

I wish my workplace would seriously block it (*hint hint*). 206.252.74.48 (talk) 16:09, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Dear OP, Would you ban iPhones as well? Kushal^t 16:19, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Try an experiment. Print out in simple English in big letters, your computer usage policy. Also print out, in an A4 paper, a big sketch of an eye. Does not have to be fancy. Just plain black and white stuff. Put it in a conspicuous place near each computer. You will be surprised to see what a large proportion of the people will conform. After all, unless you are a really weird company with a really weird HR, chances are that your company is full of conformists. Kushal^t 16:33, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Here's a free one. Don't know if it's any good. To get a better Internet usage monitor, you'd probably have to pay for one. I've seen some ads for some, but I can't remember their particular names (they're in a PC World magazine that is sitting as reading material in my bathroom, but someone is in there right now). Useight (talk) 17:02, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

If you're still reading, Mr or Mrs 91.84, I would suggest doing a Google search for "web activity monitoring software". I got lots of results. As far as researching your specific additional parameters (runs on NT, etc), I'm going to leave that to you. I will mention that NT is probably not supported by Microsoft anymore, and current software may require something newer, like Windows 2003. --LarryMac | Talk 17:08, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Transparent squid can log all the HTTP requests, so a pfSense box from some junker PC, plus squid and lightsquid packages would do what you want, plus local cache. --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:53, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

C# escape characters?

why do some escape characters in c# 2005 (i.e \f \v \r \b \0) respond incorrectly displaying strange symbols instead of performing their assigned tasks? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Supersonic8 (talk • contribs) 15:47, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Because PCs were too stupid to reserve the C0 control characters for control characters and instead used them for graphic glyphs.

Atlant (talk) 17:32, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

What's the context? Are you talking about the Windows console ("DOS prompt")? What are their assigned tasks? If you mean form feed, etc., then what's the assigned task of \0? What do the symbols look like? Do you get male and female symbols (♂♀) for vertical tab and form feed? -- BenRG (talk) 21:19, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

itunes7.6 my arse

hi all, whats the lowest form of itunes i can use with my shuffle? thanks Perry-mankster (talk) 16:02, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

I know that 7.5 still worked a week or so ago since I used it with QTFairUse6 :D\=< (talk) 16:11, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

ITunes_version_history#Device_compatibility - 4.7 for the original shuffle, 7.0.2, for the new iPod Shuffle. Mac Davis (talk) 18:02, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

u is a geniuees, ta very muckle Perry-mankster (talk) 19:59, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

ISP upload speed percentage too low?

Hi wikipeoples. First of all, you should know I'm talking from a developing country where IT infrastructure is, well, developing. I recently upgraded to a 500k Internet plan (I know it doesn't sound like a lot to you, but I had a 150k until now), and I'm getting 50-60kB/s speeds on download, and 10-15 kB/s on upload. I called my ISP to ask what percentage of upload should I be getting for my account, and they told me they provide 80% of the "bandwidth speed" for download, and 30% for upload. Is this normal? Or does it sound like a rip-off to you? What are the percentage standards for speeds like this? (I hope it doesn't vary terribly from country to country...) Kreachure (talk) 16:08, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

I know that ADSL does that. I am not sure why a cable company would do that. By the way, what are you on? ISDN? DSL? Cable? Please let us know. Kushal^t 16:26, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Cable does that because the "upload" channel is much narrower than the download channel.

Atlant (talk) 17:31, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Oh, sorry. I'm on Cable, and the ISP also provides Cable television through the same cables, BUT they didn't mention that as a reason for the percentage when I asked. Even so, is having a percentage in Cable normal? Is having a percentage normal at all? Kreachure (talk) 16:49, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

This is typical. No matter what technology is used, there will be a limit to how many bits can be transferred per second. Your ISP will group users by either "home/personal", where you mostly download web stuff, and occasionally send back "gimme another page" messages, and download 100 emails, discard the 93 spam messages and read and delete 4 and reply to 3, or as "commercial" where the traffic is more balanced - there are surfers who mostly get traffic, but there are also servers providing content to the web. Your ISP/provider is giving you what they have found is best for home users. They have taken the available bandwidth, and told their routers to limit your incoming traffic to 70-80% of what's possible, and limit your outgoing to 20-30% of what's possible. You can ask for true 2-way access, or you can ask for higher bandwidth, but either will cost you more, because it costs THEM more to provide it. -SandyJax (talk) 17:41, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Oh boy. I guess I'll be doing either of those, otherwise my share ratio will go south and I'll get banned from trackers. Thanks. Kreachure (talk) 18:06, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Resolved

What's that element?

What is the page element that does the scrolling on http://www.volll.com/#section_main ? Mac Davis (talk) 17:55, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

The page is using anchor tags to scroll to the sections. Each of the four sections uses an anchor tag to define its location. For example, the one you linked to has a tag <a name="section_main">. This allows navigating directly to that section by using the url you posted, specifically that part after the # sign. If you look through the source for the different tag names it should be pretty straightforward. —BradV 20:26, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, yes and no. They have standard anchor tags there but they also use custom javascript to make it flow so smoothly. It's the function smoothto() in http://www.volll.com/js/volll.js. Basically it uses javascript to more slowly (and smoothly) move the position on the page by controlling exactly how fast and how far it scrolls in any given interval of time. --98.217.18.109 (talk) 22:27, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! That's the answer I wanted. 72.188.156.142 (talk) 23:35, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Nokia 7610 Memory Card Question

Hello I have a problem i format the momory card of Nokia 7610 because it was curropted.but it have many important msgs and i cant make backup.I want to recover the masgs from it which free software is good on doing so,and can i recover it back,ir if it is not suitable place plz direct me mobile forem.thankx usman khan —Preceding unsigned comment added by Usmanzia1 (talk • contribs) 18:27, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Lyrics websites

What website can I go to to search for a song by the lyrics? For instance, if I type in the word "addicted", it will give me "Aedicted to Love", "Hooked on a Feeling", "Her Eyes", etc.? The site http://www.lyrics.ch used to do this, but then the intellectual property police took it down and when it was reincarnated it became this German site that doesn't have this lyrics search feature. I need help with this. 67.188.22.239 (talk) 23:30, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

I usually just google, however it would only work for sentences, not words. Suppose I know the author and a phrase, just googling for "phrase author lyrics" (for instance, a search for "within temptation" lyrics "come on" returns Ice Queen, the song I was talking about. If you don't know the band article, you may use a Google search on a lyrics site. For example, I know the song says "come on" but I don't know the group, so I could use site:somelyricsite.com "come on" lyrics. If you know the band name, though, it is a question of googling it. -- ReyBrujo (talk) 00:26, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

Have you tried http://lyricswiki.com -- kainaw™ 01:22, 9 February 2008 (UTC)