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WebSite Watcher: the choice between power and simplicity
2003-10-01
Editorial 
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WebSite Watcher: the choice between power and simplicity
http://www.botspot.com/Intelligent_Agent/423.html
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Website Watcher is a program that is making a lot of noise among the community of intelligent agent enthusiasts. It seems to federate a wide range of approval and positive feedback. So we decided to put Website Watcher to the test to try and answer the question that everyone is asking at the moment: is Website Watcher the ideal monitoring tool?
The principle behind Website Watcher’s creation is the same for all monitoring agents: it is not possible for a human being to monitor hundreds of Web pages at regular intervals; a software robot does this much more rapidly and much more reliably. The software’s basic mode of operation is also common to all Web site monitoring tools. Just as you ‘manually’ monitor a Web page by comparing your memory of it with the version currently available on-line, Website Watcher compares different versions of Web pages. To cut a long story short, the program connects to the address that you have indicated, makes a copy of the page and saves it on the hard disk drive. At the interval that you have specified (that can be counted in minutes, hours or days), Website Watcher repeats the same operation: connection to the site, copy of the page, storage. The two versions of the page, the old and the new, are then superposed by the program in order to easily detect any new elements. So that is the basic principles of how it works. It may be basic, but it is highly effective.
Going into more detail, Website Watcher is an agent that comes with features that simplify and optimise these basic tasks. The software’s graphics are directly inspired by the Windows XP interface, with colored icons in 3D. The initial screen is divided into two parts. On the right, there is a direct view of the content of the monitored sites, categorized in folders: the arborescence of the links under surveillance (known as ‘bookmarks’), and any errors that have occurred; on the left, the content of each of these folders. Once again, this mode of operation shouldn’t be problematic for anyone who is used to a Windows interface, as it is identical to the Windows Explorer.
Website Watcher stands out from other monitoring tools as soon as you venture into the advanced configuration and features. A true monitoring toolkit, this program offers a multitude of tweaks, options and ways to manage specific cases that can be the cause of a wave of enthusiasm just as a movement of rejection. The difference that exists between people who like diving into the complexity of the advanced settings and those who quickly feel out of their depth will rapidly reveal itself. For the second group, the beginner mode will remove the plethoric options from their sight. For the others, who want to lever the full power of Website Watcher, the expert mode is made for them! Happily, this is a false choice, because it is possible to switch from one mode to the other, and back again, at any time.
If we add to all the features mentioned above (and even here we have not been exhaustive), cookie management, monitoring all links on a site from just one URL, Website Watcher is without a doubt a very complete piece of software for putting in place a monitoring solution. Its main advantage remains the numerous options and settings that can be used to fine tune the results of the monitoring process. The price to pay is the complexity of the ‘expert mode’ that means that it takes many days of practice to totally master this tool.
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Zoom on
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Net Snippets
http://www.botspot.com/Intelligent_Agent/602.html
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| Unlike other tools that save entire web pages or bookmarks, Net Snippets allows you to select the portion of the web page you wish to save (snippet). Using Net Snippets you can save articles, news, pictures and practically anything else you can find on the Web.
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Recent Additions Windows
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Parental Control Suite
http://www.botspot.com/Intelligent_Agent/2264.html
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| The ultimate parental control bundle is available! Get the power of internet chat restricting, as well as the number one solution for monitoring your children, spouses, or co-workers...for a fraction of the cost!
The Software Parental Control Suite contains a set of the most popular, award winning computer monitoring and restriction utilities and applications.
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Spam Inspector Outlook Express
http://www.botspot.com/Intelligent_Agent/2267.html
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| It seems ridiculous but most junk email filters want you to run their software before opening Outlook Express to read your mail. Why would you want a slow two step process, when the Spam Inspector automatically cleans your Inbox when you open Outlook Express. The Spam Inspector is fast, easy, and intelligent! No other anti-spam solution offers so many features, or is as easy to set up and use. Get Spam Inspector, and learn what it feels like to be spam free!
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