Internet Explorer Logger

 

Joe Dean

 

May 2004

 

Advisor:? Dr. Charles Massey

 

 

Overview:

 

Computer owners are often surprised to see what websites have been visited by another user.? Usually just attempting to view the web history is impossible because the user deleted it.? With IE Logger, the owner can start the application, then hide it so that the user will not know that their web history is being logged.

 

 

Process:

 

IE Logger uses C++.? I chose C++ because it is the language that I was least experienced in.? I wanted a challenge where I had to learn many things about the language itself before I could attempt to create IE Logger.

 

IE Logger first creates a dialog box that will facilitate a portion of the window to show the log of Visited URL?s.? The message box also has instructions where the owner can hide or unhide the dialog box by pressing function keys.? This will enable the computer owner to launch the application and then hide it from the user.? Then the program will look to see if Internet Explorer is running, and if so will obtain the URL.? Each time the URL is changed, IE Logger will write the new URL to the log in the dialog box.? In the event that the user discovers IE Logger running while it is hidden and attempts to close the application, IE Logger will then write the current URL log to a text file before exiting.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

This difficult program consumed a phenomenal amount of time to complete.? I learned a lot about window handles and callback functions.? I received some very helpful information from the widely available online forums.