Saturday 30 August 2008

ScreenAudit for Mac OSX

A trial version of ScreenAudit for Mac OSX is now available to download from my website:

http://www.artenscience.co.uk/artenscience/ScreenAudit.html

ScreenAudit is a Mac OSX application that performs snapshots of your screen at timed intervals.  If you have multiple monitors it will take snapshots of them all.  The interval between snapshots, in seconds, the name of the destination folder (created within the ScreenAudit folder), and the quality of the resulting jpg can be set from within the Preferences menu.

ScreenAudit is not designed for covert ‘spying’ on a computer.  ScreenAudit has it’s own window which shows a countdown until the next timed snapshot.  The window flips from right to left as the snapshot is taken and the ScreenAudit icon in the dock displays the ‘Note’ graphic to let you know a snapshot has been taken.  If you do not wish to view the ScreenAudit window it can of course be minimised.

ScreenAudit is useful for a number of purposes.  Primarily it allows you to keep a record of your activities as you use your computer.  If you bill for time then ScreenAudit can be used to remind you what you were doing and when.

If you forget to save a document then ScreenAudit might come to your rescue by at least showing you the screen with the text displayed.  You will have to type it again but at least you won’t have to do it from memory.

If you are concerned that someone is using your computer in your absence then ScreenAudit will help you to see what was done.  Yes they could quit ScreenAudit or even delete the snapshot files but then at least you would be aware that someone has perhaps been doing something they shouldn’t !
If you manage a department you may wish to install ScreenAudit on your colleagues computers to keep a record of work done ?

By default ScreenAudit takes a snapshot every 5 minutes.  Bear in mind the disk space used if you set this interval to several seconds ! Although the files generated by ScreenAudit are not large, it is nonetheless advisable to backup and archive your images folder daily or at least weekly.  Obviously the larger your monitor and the more monitors you have attached, the more disk space is going to be used.



www.artenscience.co.uk
Honest Expert Independent Technology Advice for Business

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