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	Easy Web Page Watcher

	by Bill Peifer

Too many days I found myself constantly checking the same web pages for any news and UPDATES -- driving myself crazy and wasting a lot of time. I thought there had to be a solution other than taking Valium. Why should I watch web pages for stuff when my computer should be able to do this FOR me? This is when I discovered a software program called Easy Web Page Watcher by Patrick DiRienzo.

HOW IT WORKS

As the author's home page explains, "Easy Web Page watcher watches web pages for your information by continuously downloading and INSPECTING each web page you specify for the text you specify". A web page is just a file containing coded text, therefore Easy Web Page Watcher is really downloading and reading a file looking for your TEXT.

A FEW LIMITATIONS

I came to understand that this program could only detect changes that are part of the HTML text, but that was all I needed. Most of the web pages I wanted to watch were pure hypertext pages (no Java, etc. involved).

MY TRIAL RUN

After seeing a seal of approval from Personal Computing Magazine, I decided to try this software. The first pleasant surprise was that the program was immediately EASY to use. A toolbar with large buttons provided all the user interface I needed. One button allowed me to enter web pages and another button allowed me to enter text such as my stock names and dollar amounts. I realized that this was probably a limited user interface, but the fact that it got the job done without wasting my energy on a LEARNING curve was all I cared about.

FLEXIBILITY IN REPORTING

The program worked as advertised. I was alerted with an audible ALARM when my stocks appeared in a press release at Yahoo's financial web site. I soon discovered that the program could also EMAIL these alerts to me. This was great because now I could run the program on my home computer using my full time broadband Internet. My employer could not accuse me in any way of constantly being on the Internet at work.

KEEPING AN EYE OUT FOR UPDATES

Another one of those large toolbar buttons allows you to change the watch mode to "Just Tell Me If The Web Pages I Specify Change". In this mode, Easy Web Page Watcher will notify you when any CHANGES or updates occur on the web pages you specify. It does this by continuously downloading and comparing the current file with the initial file recorded at the start of the watch session. If the file changes, Easy Web Page Watcher notifies you. I soon had a use for this operating mode. I subscribe to one of those services that provide you with a log file that updates with VISITOR information every time someone clicks on one of your web pages. Instead of constantly checking this log file with my Internet browser, I let Easy Web Page Watcher watch it for updates. It is a lot of fun to know immediately when someone visits your site.

Bill Peifer holds a degree in Computer/Electrical Engineering and has written several computer technology related articles. He may be contacted at bpeifer@numericnetwork.com.

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