Frequently Asked Questions
Can it ... ?
- Can it email the captured data or upload them to an FTP server?
- Does it record the IM and email activity?
- Installed on the client only, will it log the keys pressed during a Remote Desktop Connection (RDC)?
- Is it possible to turn off the keystroke logging at all?
- When more than one user logged in at any one time, can Boss Everyware monitor all users of one machine?
- Can it run on Windows Vista, Windows 7? 64-bit editions?
- Can it run on Windows Terminal Services / Remote Desktop Connection hosts?
- Can it monitor Citrix Metaframe / Presentation server sessions?
How it works?
- What are the limitations of the trial version?
- How much traffic does Boss Everyware produce when logging information to a network share?
- How often does Boss Everyware write to file - every 60 seconds, every 5 minutes, what?
- What happens if the log location is set to a network share but the monitored computer is disconnected?
- How long of a delay before the user idle timing is started? For example, someone surfs to msn.com and walks away from the computer. After a period of time, Boss Everyware records a [no user activity] event. How long before that event is recorded?
- Can two instances of Boss Everyware run simultaneously?
Anti-spyware issues
- I have downloaded Boss Everyware, but it is detected as a spyware. What can I do?
- Is someone spying on me? I have never heard about Boss Everyware, but my anti-spyware just found it on my computer.
Troubleshooting
- Why all the log files have about 100-200 records only?
- Although it logs activity when an Administrator is logged in, it does not log activity when a regular user logs in.
- I have opened a sample report, but it does not show any data?
How to's
- How to deploy the logger remotely?
- How to uninstall the logger from remote PCs?
- How to prevent users from reading the log files?
- How can I track the login/logout time of my employees?
- Should I remove the deployed loggers of an older 2.x version before upgrading to the current version?
Can it ... ?
- Can it email the captured data or upload them to an FTP server?
Yes, the usage logs can be silently emailed or uploaded to an FTP server. For security reasons, Boss Everyware does not have SMTP server inside. Thus, if you want to get the logs emailed, you need to specify an external SMTP server/credentials in the logger configuration.
- Does it record the IM and email activity?
It captures what user types in the outgoing messages. It does not record the content of incoming messages.
- Installed on the client only, will it log the keys pressed during a Remote Desktop Connection (RDC)?
Yes.
- Is it possible to turn off the keystroke logging at all?
Yes, you can turn off the keylogging within the Logger Configurator. Moreover, there is a special No Keylogging edition of Boss Everyware, which does not have any keylogging code inside.
- When more than one user logged in at any one time, can Boss Everyware monitor all users of one machine?
Yes.
- Can it run on Windows Vista, Windows 7? 64-bit editions?
Yes. Boss Everyware 3 runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 systems, both 32 and 64-bit editions.
- Can it run on Windows Terminal Services / Remote Desktop Connection hosts?
Yes. In this case you can select whether it logs the server or the client computer name.
- Can it monitor Citrix Metaframe / Presentation server sessions?
Yes, Boss Everyware does log the Citrix sessions. If your clients run published applications, the logger (by default %PROGRAMFILES%\be3wsa.exe) must be launched from the logon scripts or from the connection start-up script. The options Prevent logger from unauthorized termination and Restore last record after an unexpected shutdown should be turned off.
How it works?
- What are the limitations of the trial version?
Number of entries in one log file is limited by about 200, which approx. matches a couple of hours of a typical user activity.
- How much traffic does Boss Everyware produce when logging information to a network share?
Collected data that are written to the log are about 250 KB per day per user (valid for .dsv, .csv and .elt file formats, .dbf are much larger). The software keeps the collected data local and updates the shared file periodically. You can set the update interval to a custom value in the logger configuration: tab Log file, the option Transfer captured data to the log file every ... seconds. Smaller values allow to perform monitoring close to the real time, larger values decrease the network load. Each logger counts its update interval starting from a different time point, so the overall load produced by a number of loggers is spread in time.
- How often does Boss Everyware write to file - every 60 seconds, every 5 minutes, what?
Every 20 seconds, by default. You can change this in the logger configuration: tab Log file, the option Transfer captured data to the log file every ... seconds.
- What happens if the log location is set to a network share but the monitored computer is disconnected?
Boss Everyware stores all activities locally and updates the log file as soon as the user logs in again.
- How long of a delay before the user idle timing is started? For example, someone surfs to msn.com and walks away from the computer. After a period of time, Boss Everyware records a [no user activity] event. How long before that event is recorded?
In 1 minute, by default. You can change this in the logger configuration: tab Data, the option Wait for user actions. This initial period of time is counted as idle and added to the [no user activity] duration.
- Can two instances of Boss Everyware 3 run simultaneously?
No, only one instance per user can run at a time. If there are multiple users logged-in simultaneously (Fast User Switching, RDC), each user session has one Boss Everyware 3 instance running inside.
Anti-spyware issues
- I have downloaded Boss Everyware, but it is detected as a spyware. What can I do?
Most anti-spyware products consider commercial monitoring software as "potentially unwanted", "spyware" or "Trojan". If you see spyware alerts when trying to install and use Boss Everyware, then put it into the anti-spyware xclusion list. More info
- Is someone spying on me? I have never heard about Boss Everyware, but my anti-spyware just found it on my computer.
Don't panic! There are high chances of a false positive. More info
Troubleshooting
- Why all the log files have about 100-200 records only?
This is a demo limit. A licensed copy of Boss Everyware has no such limitation.
- Although it logs activity when an administrator is logged in, it does not log activity when a regular user logs in.
Check if the regular users have Modify access to the logs folder, or see how to set up writing to a write-only location.
Also, if you have installed logger via the deployment package, it must have been run in the Run as Administrator mode to install logger for all users. - I have opened a standard report, but it does not show any data?
Standard reports have the filter set to Show data for the current week only. Thus if your logs have the older data, it is not shown. To change, click menu Report, then Filter and adjust to show older data.
Or this happens if the logger on your computer is configured to write data to a folder different from the loggers you want to get data from. Click menu Report, then Used log tables and set data source to the needed logs. See more on this at Report Settings - Data Source.
How to's
- How to deploy the logger remotely?
You may use Psexec to install the logger remotely. Psexec is a well-known free remote execution tool made by Sysinternals, recently acquired by Microsoft. More info
- How to uninstall the logger from remote PCs?
To uninstall a deployed logger, run the removal tool be3rmv.exe the same way you have ran the deployment package to install it. More info
- How to prevent users from reading the log files?
Configure the logger to write the delimiter-separated log files (.dsv, .csv) to a write-only location. More info
- How can I track the login/logout time of my employees?
Deploy the loggers and view the logs via the standard report Logon and logoff times.
