One of the worst feelings of my entire life is to lose something I’ve created. In every sentence I write is a part of me that I fear won’t come back if I need to recreate it again from scratch. Thoughts and ideas fly through my head like shooting stars and if I’m lucky enough to slow one down enough to get it in digital form I want to KEEP it.
Just like you I’ve lost sentences, paragraphs, comments and whole emails due to technological glitches that seem to know when the most important thing I’ve done all day is hanging in the balance waiting for the success message to pop up telling me my work has been sent or saved.
Two years ago I decided I needed to stop losing ANYTHING I’ve already written. I researched keyloggers online. A keylogger is a program that runs in the background on your computer and saves everything you write… Literally anytime your finger hits a key – it’s saved. If you type a comment- it saves it. If you type an entire email – it’s saved. It doesn’t get lost. A good keylogger has a very large log file that doesn’t get corrupted and that you can rely on to SYA (save your ass) whenever you need it. It saves everything in a text file so you can copy it and paste it into whatever application you lost it from. Instant solution!
I’ve been using Perfect Keylogger Lite and found it to be the perfect solution. No I don’t know the builders, I’m just recommending it out of positive personal experience.
You can choose to have it run on Windows startup and record everything that gets typed. It can run in stealth mode – if you want to monitor what your kids are typing to people they meet in chat. You can set a password for viewing the logfile so nobody can see it except you. You can choose to have the program record only 2 words or more, 3 words or more or whatever number you choose. I let it grab everything. You can choose to monitor every application that opens in Windows or only specific apps. Up to you.
Perfect Keylogger Lite will trigger your antivirus software, as it should. If you didn’t know you had it on your computer it would be a serious security compromise! But, you KNOW since you put it there. Allow your anti-virus to ignore it. You should have a firewall on your system along with your anti-virus program. If for any reason your keylogger program tries to dial out and get online – and your firewall asks you what to do – BLOCK it. Don’t allow your keylogger to get online and send your data somewhere. Don’t allow it to look for updates. Block it.
I’ve used this keylogger for over two years now. It has saved me countless times as I don’t always remember to CTRL+a and CTRL+c to copy blocks of text I’ve created before sending them in a form or email. Many times here in Thailand the power will die and if I just happened to have not put my battery in the notebook I’d lose everything I was working on. With the keylogger I still have it (I think. Need to check on this I can’t remember using it. The log may not save in the event of a power outage.)
Whether you use this keylogger or another one – no matter, up to you. Just use one.
Please follow these tips:
1.) Use Tucows.com or Download.com to find one. Here’s a link for an older version that works well – the newer versions on their site are only paid apps.
http://www.tucows.com/preview/301938
2.) After you download it – check it with your anti-virus software that is up-to-date before you unzip it and after. Do a complete system scan after installing the program.
3.) Research the keylogger you do choose on Google.com. Anyone having security issues with it?
4.) Use a firewall that blocks all programs from using your internet connection until you give approval. I use the free Sygate Personal Firewall as well as the built-in Windows XP Pro firewall. They work well together.
5.) Tell your spouse, friends, co-workers you have the software installed so they don’t feel like you’re spying on them when they find the program!
Keyloggers can be an excellent tool for recovering lost data and creative writing. Some keyloggers can record screenshots so you can see if your kids are looking at porn or something else they shouldn’t be. Some keyloggers can email you at your work the files it has saved while your kids are home typing on the computer. Keyloggers are excellent tools when used safely. PLEASE research the one you choose in-depth and ensure you’re not compromising your personal data.
It’s the most amazing feeling to know that I won’t lose anything I’ve typed into the computer. You too can know that feeling! Get yourself a keylogger!
Best of Life!
Vern
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The good resource is informative and actual
@John & Laurie – Thanks for commenting – I’ve known keyloggers were available – but people use them for covert operations usually to spy on someone. Why not spy on yourself? I used it the other day when I typed out an extensive Technorati tag set and the page locked – upon refresh the list was gone. I didn’t want to recreate it. It’s a great tool, but be careful with viruses as a keylogger with malicious intent would be a very, very bad thing!
Thank you so much for this information! I didn’t know such a program existed; I’ll be checking it out right away. You have no idea how relieved I am to know this…or maybe you do have an idea ;). I too have lost work or emails countless times and wished for a back up so I don’t have to redo everything since the last save. I think you’ve just saved me a whole lot of grief – thank you!
My fellow blogger on our site can attest to the frustration of writing a post late at night, forgetting to save every so often, and then having his entire night’s work lost due to something unforeseen. What a disaster!
A key logger is an interesting solution, and one that I’ve never used – I’ll have to take a look at it. I’ve fallen into the habit of saving every few sentences, so I’m not sure how much use I would get out of it, but I can see it being very handy if you get into a “writing zone” and forget to click Save.