Author Topic: pls recommend a good benign keylogger (Read 50,341 times)

ganrad · « **on:** May 12, 2007, 05:17 AM »

Yesterday, was composing a long email and suddenly IE crashed and lost the entire draft (45mins work lost).
ANd this is not the first time that I lost typed text (powerfailure, software crashes, accidental pressing of wrong keys - are some of the reasons)

Was wondering if there is a good tool (similar to keylogger but less the spyware part) that will log the typed text (preferably including formatting) and realtime autosave in the background

Any suggestions?

hamradio · « **Reply #1 on:** May 12, 2007, 05:19 AM »

I don't know of any right off but...a simple way without using a keylogger would be to just compose message body in a text editor then copy to the box and format if need be.

Hirudin · « **Reply #2 on:** May 12, 2007, 06:10 AM »

Quote from: ganrad on May 12, 2007, 05:17 AM

...
lost the entire draft (45mins work lost).
...

That is SO aggravating isn't it!? Every now and then I'll periodically "copy" all the text of a long post to the clipboard. Sure, I have to do it manually, but it works in a pinch (on any computer, without additional software).

Here's an idea: Would be possible to make an AHK script that would add a "Open Notepad" button to all text boxes, or maybe even all text boxes that are 2 lines or larger? (Maybe it could catch the html code and insert new code or something?)

If someone is going to make this program, it might be cool if it kept a visual log of all keystrokes. I mean, maybe it could just clone all keystrokes to an open copy of Notebook or something. That way you could manually go into the log and delete any entries you don't want saved...

jgpaiva · « **Reply #3 on:** May 12, 2007, 10:46 AM »

Well... I recomend using something like chs.
When you're typing the email, just press ctrl-a and ctrl-c and the whole email will be copied to the clipboard and will be kept in chs. It's very fast and very handy

BigJim · « **Reply #4 on:** May 12, 2007, 01:45 PM »

I've had this sort of thing happen too - I guess we all have. I've simply made it a practice, if I'm writing anything more than a couple of lines on a web page, to compose in Word (or similar) with the backup set pretty tight. When I'm finished (and have reconsidered all that I've said! -lol) simply copy and past on to the page.

Curt · « **Reply #5 on:** May 12, 2007, 05:16 PM »

Quote from: BigJim on May 12, 2007, 01:45 PM

...When I'm finished (and have reconsidered all that I've said! -lol) ...

- I could take lesson from this...

... I might not even be the only one!

lanux128 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 12, 2007, 05:44 PM »

you could do with an off-line editors such as Fass but that is mainly for BBCode. for general editing, as jgpaiva mentioned, a clipboard enhancing tool would be a better option.. check out this thread for some tips on using CLCL, my favourite..

Nighted · « **Reply #7 on:** May 12, 2007, 07:09 PM »

People who like to compose things in an editor and then paste into their browser before sending may be interested in It's All Text. Of course, you'll need Firefox (but most of you probably are using that by now anyway). I'm not sure if there's something similar for IE.

app103 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 12, 2007, 07:18 PM »

You have come up with an ethical use for a keylogger...the first I have ever seen. I never thought about it this way before.

You have given me an idea though...let's see what it eventually turns into, if anything. No promises...no time estimates. If I am going to do something, I want to do this right...and make sure it stays ethical.

justice · « **Reply #9 on:** May 13, 2007, 01:15 AM »

It wouldn't be too hard to create a autohotkey script that you can start with a shortcut.
what it would do is every 1 minute ctrl-a, ctrl-c, up, down. This would copy the text in the input box to the clipboard and deselect. (up and down allows for deselecting without moving the caret to the end /start of the line -- at least in opera). (or even save it into a file temporarily if you wanted)

BigJim · « **Reply #10 on:** May 13, 2007, 01:17 AM »

My point/reason for using Word (aside from not wanting to have a dozen text editors hanging around) is the Auto Save. In order to address ganrad's problem the work needs to be saved frequently and, optimally, automatically else it all goes up in smoke along with the open web page when disaster strikes.

ganrad · « **Reply #11 on:** May 13, 2007, 02:32 AM »

Quote from: app103 on May 12, 2007, 07:18 PM

You have come up with an ethical use for a keylogger...the first I have ever seen. I never thought about it this way before.

You have given me an idea though...let's see what it eventually turns into, if anything. No promises...no time estimates. If I am going to do something, I want to do this right...and make sure it stays ethical.

Great!

Just some thoughts

One way to keep this ethical could be to perhaps throwup a periodical splashscreeen warning the user of the presence of a keylogger.

And the app could pop up a message upon "browser close" to check if keylogs should be kept or discarded.

The app could consciously ignore userid and password fields.

Think of it, such a "goodboy" keylogger could extend its functionality beyond browsers to other applications. User having the option to select the applications that he/she needs the keylogger to be active on.

And of course, someway of establishing the app's creditibility with the security suite(s) and anti-spy software

app103 · « **Reply #12 on:** May 13, 2007, 03:12 AM »

I have been giving it a lot of thought today and I have come up with a lot of ideas for it.

I just have a few more things to consider and I will decide if I want try to do this or not.

Btw...this wouldn't just be for browsers...it would be for everything.

And the user will be unavoidably aware that it is running and what it is doing.

If I do this, there will be a small, yet highly visible window that always stays on top and can't be minimized or leave the screen, announcing what it is and if it's active.

TV · « **Reply #13 on:** May 13, 2007, 11:08 PM »

Look here http://keylogger.org

lanux128 · « **Reply #14 on:** May 14, 2007, 01:47 AM »

would this program be of help?

Emsa Save My Work

Emsa Save My Work is a simple personal keylogger, that is not aimed at snooping, but rather to keep track of everything you are typing. If you have ever experienced a program crash and lost the content of a letter or email you had just typed, then this program can be of help. It automatically logs everything you type and allows you to review the log and also save it to a file. The program runs in the system tray and can be enabled/disabled as needed.

[attach=#]
Source: http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Emsa_Save_My_Work/emsasave.html

justice · « **Reply #15 on:** May 14, 2007, 11:02 AM »

You'll have to reconstruct your input from keyloggers as it also records backspace, delete keypresses etc. It would be better to periodically save the text in the current control.

Well here's my incomplete script. It works on simple controls like Notepad++, notepad, but not yet on browser controls such as opera and IE due to my inexperience with programming to controls. it should be easy to extend it.

ArchiveInput: 0.1 by justice
Copy control's content to textfile. Press scrolllock to start / stop recording to the textfile archiveinput.log

autohotkey code

;
; ArchiveInput: 0.1 by justice
;
; Script Function:
; Copy control's content to textfile. Press scrolllock to start / stop recording to the textfile archiveinput.log
;

#NoEnv ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
SendMode Input ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
DetectHiddenWindows, on
SetWorkingDir, %A_ScriptDir%
logfile = %A_ScriptDir%\archiveinput.log
traytiptitle = ArchiveInput

togg = n ; on/off toggle
Hotkey, ScrollLock, Toggle
return

Toggle:
if togg = n
{
Gosub, Start
togg = y
} else
{
GoSub, Stop
togg = n
}
return

Start:
FileDelete, %logfile%
SetTimer, ArchiveInput, 5000
traytip, %traytiptitle%, Started saving input every 5 seconds...
return

Stop:
SetTimer, ArchiveInput, Off
traytip, %traytiptitle%, Disabled
return

ArchiveInput:
FormatTime , GmtTime,%A_NowUTC%,ddd`, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss GMT
WinGet, active_id, ID, A
if ErrorLevel
traytip, %traytiptitle%, Can't find active window
ControlGetFocus, activeControl,ahk_id %active_id%
if ErrorLevel
traytip, %traytiptitle%, The target window doesn't exist or none of its controls has input focus.
else
ControlGetText, activeText, %activeControl%, ahk_id %active_id%
If %activeText%
traytip, %traytiptitle%, Saved text: %GmtTime%`n %activeText%
else
{
ControlGet, activeText , List,, %activeControl%, ahk_id %active_id%
If %activeText%
traytip, %traytiptitle%, Saved text: %GmtTime%`n %activeText%
else
traytip, %traytiptitle%, no input (unsupported control)

`n %activeControl% / ahk_id %active_id% `n
}
FileAppend, %GmtTime%:`n, %logfile%
FileAppend, %activeText%, %logfile%
FileAppend, `n`n`n`n, %logfile%
activeText =
GmtTime =
return

patteo · « **Reply #16 on:** May 14, 2007, 04:24 PM »

Quote from: ganrad on May 12, 2007, 05:17 AM

Yesterday, was composing a long email and suddenly IE crashed and lost the entire draft (45mins work lost).
ANd this is not the first time that I lost typed text (powerfailure, software crashes, accidental pressing of wrong keys - are some of the reasons)

Was wondering if there is a good tool (similar to keylogger but less the spyware part) that will log the typed text (preferably including formatting) and realtime autosave in the background

Any suggestions?

The program you are looking for is Smart Type Assistant - does exactly what you want (see extract below) and more.

Smart Type Assistant - typing automation, time-saving utility. Download Keyboard macros software
"Smart Type Assistant offers you Smart Diary – a useful feature for automatically saving what you type. It will help you to recall what you wrote some time ago, and to restore important documents after Windows crashes. It automatically stores everything you type in the strongly encrypted file, which can be protected with a password. It can help you to organize your archives."
http://www.blazingtools.com/sta.html

allen · « **Reply #17 on:** May 15, 2007, 05:00 PM »

CHS was suggested, I myself compose everything in AceText (link in sig) -- I depend on real time spell checking -- but in either case, the idea is the same--composing everything in an external app that by nature is constantly saving your data.

Darwin · « **Reply #18 on:** May 16, 2007, 12:09 AM »

I am not disciplined enough to compose long e-mails/posts in an external editor. I follow the same path as Hirudin - I've been burned enough times that I now hit ctrl-A and Ctrl-C pretty often when writing - because I use Clipmate, this provides me with mutliple backups that I can revisit weeks later, if I haven't deleted the contents of the main clipboard by then. Incidentally, I'm running the beta for Clipmate 7.2, which features the option of installing it and running it from a USB stick in addition to a harddrive. Very sweet.

ender · « **Reply #19 on:** May 25, 2007, 06:27 PM »

I second the recommendation for Smart Type Assistant !!
I am using it for the same reason as you said, I often have to write in my blog and it did happened sometimes, that I lost my composed work because of the stupid blog site would suddenly had problems.
Smart Type Assistant was available several month ago at giveawayoftheday, and its one of the best things I activated and really used since I found that site!
its a great use for a keylogger!

ZAK · « **Reply #20 on:** May 30, 2007, 07:21 PM »

CliCk here www.keylogger.org This ite contains a lot info about keyloggers and the comparison table of the most popular of them, so I suppose you will find the one you need here

lanux128 · « **Reply #21 on:** May 31, 2007, 01:05 PM »

i wonder which one of these suggestions did ganrad choose in the end..

modis · « **Reply #22 on:** June 01, 2007, 11:59 AM »

I have tested lots of keyloggers and found All In One Keyloggers as the best Keylogger.

I use it to monitor my kids and it does an excellent job.
Here is All In One Keylogger site:
http://www.relytec.com

ganrad · « **Reply #23 on:** November 18, 2007, 03:38 PM »

Quote from: lanux128 on May 31, 2007, 01:05 PM

i wonder which one of these suggestions did ganrad choose in the end..

EMSA is what I am using.

Does a good job of running in the background and capturing the typed text.

Well..., the antivirus and anispyware packages do not see EMSA as friendly.

Had to reinstall 3 or 4 times so far since antivirus software (Panda) deleted EMSA without notice (LOL)

f0dder · « **Reply #24 on:** November 18, 2007, 07:26 PM »

Quote from: Nighted on May 12, 2007, 07:09 PM

People who like to compose things in an editor and then paste into their browser before sending may be interested in It's All Text. Of course, you'll need Firefox (but most of you probably are using that by now anyway). I'm not sure if there's something similar for IE.

Finally got my act together and installed It's All Text... and I must say, what a nice little extension. Sure easier than realizing "oh, that's going to be a bit too long", then going through a Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C, Win+R, Notepad++<Enter>, Ctrl+V ...edit stuff... Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C, Alt+Tab, Ctrl+V sequence, which is what I used to do

Perhaps I should grab one of those BBCode editors as well, and use instead of NP++...