myDesktop Online
Platform: Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000/98 (.NET Framework v2.0 required)
Current Version: 1.3.0 (released 3/29/09)
Description
myDesktop Online allows you to periodically capture an image of your desktop and upload it remotely to an FTP server. You can then expose your desktop via a website or simply check up on what someone may be doing on your computer. When running, the program sits unobtrusively in the system tray, uploading images at whatever rate you specify. Supported image formats include BMP, GIF, PNG, and JPG (with variable quality compression).
myDesktop Online supports multiple monitors and will capture your full desktop. After capturing your desktop, you can archive the image both locally and remotely on the FTP server. You also have the option to skip captures if certain windows are open (filtered by window name).
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40 comments so far
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Chris, I want to use your program to upload screen shots of earthquake activity I’m monitoring with seismic equipment. The program works great when left alone, but if I remote desktop into the box to do maintenance, the program will not continue to upload unless I leave my remote session running. Is there a way to activate the program remotely, and then remote into the box without interupting the session?
thanks, Guy
Guy,
I’ll look into this. To clarify:
1. You’re logged on a box (as User:Guy) and running myDesktop under this session.
2. You remote into this box as the same user, opening this existing session. I assume you’re using Microsoft’s Remote Desktop.
3. You disconnect (NOT log off) from this session, and myDesktop stops uploading.
Is this your scenario? If you’re logging off instead of just disconnecting, I could see why it would stop uploading. myDesktop is running as a user process and would get shutdown when you log off the box. Let me know if I’m missing anything.
Sorry it took me so long to look at this. I was able to reproduce the behavior you described and unfortunately, I don’t have a good answer for you.
When you remote into the box and then disconnect, the box is then in a “locked” state, i.e. if you physically go to the box, you’ll have to re-enter credentials to gain access. Windows sees no reason to paint the desktop in this state, which explains why you just see a black screen.
Similarly, if you’re remoted into the box and you minimize the remote desktop window, Windows will stop updating the desktop until you restore the screen.
The only work-around I can propose is to restart the box after you’re finished with your maintenance. myDesktop has the option to start capturing automatically when your computer starts, but this is only useful if your box can log you in automatically, i.e. you’re not on a domain. You’ll also need to have your seismic monitoring software start automatically.
Chris,
Is it possible to name the output file with the date and time?
Thanks,
Tom
No, not in the current version.
Nach langem suchen im Internet habe ich myDesktop Online gefunden. Es erfüllt alle meine Wünsche übersichtlich und sicher in der Funktion. Klasse, weiter so!!
Greetings,
I like your program. Would you be willing to do custom mods?
1) Startup
2) Make a capture of the screen
3) Send the file to the FTP site
4) Disconnect
5) Have the program terminate?
This way, I can control the activity from the system scheduler.
Many thanks,
Paul Gregory
Paul,
myDesktop Online is already capable of steps 1-4. When starting the executable, pass the “-autostart” parameter to make the program begin capturing immediately.
I’m not sure how you could terminate it though. You might look for a utility that would let you kill a process by its name. Googling “kill process by name utility” returned a fair amount of results.
Hi,
very nice app. Will there be a Mac-Version?
cu,
peter
Hi Chris,
We run mydesktoponline for more than 3 years now perfectly. Again thanks for the program!
Also no real bugs or trouble discovered, only very sometimes we have to stop/start the proces when it hangs in FTP-upload. (would be great to have this automated from the program though.)
We still have a request for you, and we hope you are able to fullfil it. It’s a very simple feature: I want to be able to setup a DELAY between the actual screen-capture and the FTP upload. In my case a 10-15sec upload-delay is needed to synchronise screen and audio. (Our audio-stream uses a buffer, and now we face the problem that the screen updates are 20sec ahead to the audio-stream).
Can you add such an “delay”-option? It would be great!
Best regards from The Netherlands,
Jan-Pieter
I was curious if there were any other parameters that the program will accept. You mentioned -autostart in a previous comment, are there any others? I am hoping to be able to use batch files to schedule start and stop monitoring so that it only runs for a certain time period during the day.
Also I would like to submit a feature request or perhaps there’s a way to do this now. My server is on my local network so is there a way to just save the image file to a local drive instead of using FTP? Or have it run with out the FTP? I see that the image is saved in the program files folder so I could write something else to copy the file to where I need it if this program will continue to monitor with out the FTP upload running. Thanks. This is a great tool.
Curtis,
Keep an eye out over the next week or so for a new release with the stuff you requested.
I’ll also be incorporating some of the other requests from above.
Thanks Chris, can’t wait.
Hi Chris!
I was just wondering if there is a possibility of incorporating the feature of storing the screen capture files locally into your application? Your tool is just what I need (scheduled capture and multiple monitor support) for archiving my activities based on which I fill out my time report, but in the office I cannot access my FTP with your sw. Thanks in advance!
Balazs
Balazs,
I’m actually wrapping up development on the next version and it’s going to have the feature you’re asking for. I’m hoping to finish within the next week or two.
Chris,
I try running “-capture_and_quit” using Task Scheduler but was getting a black screen. Any insight? Thanks!
West
West,
Could it be that your screen saver is activating?
Chris,
For sure it’s not the screen saver. Can you please give it a try? I suspected the process is running in the background and therefore it doesn’t work for some reason. However, if I try the same command by bringing up the command prompt, it works just fine.
Thanks,
West
West,
I was able to use the task scheduler successfully. However, once I locked the machine or closed my remote desktop session (which effectively locks the machine), myDesktop started uploading a black screen. Could this be your case?
It makes sense that the program can only capture the desktop when someone is actively logged on to the machine.
Chris,
Can you please tell me how you configured your script to run in task scheduler? I tried on three different machines but was getting the same result (black screen). All of my machines are actively logged on (not using remote desktop).
Thanks,
Kenny
Fantastic app. Took a little while to dig through the piles of shareware apps sites before finding your gem. Great stuff.
I’m looking to use the app for visual logging of a bank of Windows machines. Seems like it’s exactly what I want.
One question… Any plans for SFTP support? I can do port forwarding in order to guarantee security, but it would be a little easier if it were natively available.
Wonderful work – I look forward to writing a blog/review.
Sol Young
Sol,
Unfortunately, the free FTP library I’m using from http://www.enterprisedt.com doesn’t support SFTP. They have an upgraded version that does support it, but it runs a few hundred bucks. I’ve always had my eyes out for an alternative library but haven’t found anything yet.
FYI, the latest version of the program was a pretty big rewrite from the prior. It’s only been out for approx. a month and I haven’t received any feedback/bug reports, which can be a good or bad thing
. Let me know if you run into any issues.
Hi, I have been looking at your program and it is excellent, but i cannot find a program that has a bult in webhost to host the photos locally? as uploading the file to my website takes up bandwith.
thank you
ian
Ian,
Depending on your version of Windows, you may already have a web server installed on your machine – IIS. If not, there are several free Windows web servers available, e.g. Apache (http://httpd.apache.org).
Are you planning on pointing an img tag on your website at your local machine? Keep in mind that depending on the amount of traffic you get, this may take considerably more bandwidth than just uploading the image once to your web host.
Can you post the old version 1.1. Ever since I upgraded the files error and on occasion store to the website I have but use the extension .tmp so sometimes the file is .jpg and sometimes .jpg.tmp but most of the time the transfer just fails. Must be something to do with networking says waiting for response from my ip not 192.168.0.149 which happens to be the computer local network ip not my home ip?
This is my specific error from the log
BTW XXX is my real IP address from my service provide I just blanked it out.
ERROR [myDesktop_Online.FormMain] 10 Sep 2009 17:13:02.253 : I won’t open a connection to 192.168.0.149 (only to XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX) (code=500) : EnterpriseDT.Net.Ftp.FTPException: I won’t open a connection to 192.168.0.149 (only to XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX) (code=500)
EnterpriseDT.Net.Ftp.FTPException: I won’t open a connection to 192.168.0.149 (only to XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX) (code=500)
at EnterpriseDT.Net.Ftp.FTPControlSocket.ValidateReply(FTPReply reply, String[] expectedReplyCodes)
at EnterpriseDT.Net.Ftp.FTPControlSocket.SetDataPort(IPEndPoint ep)
at EnterpriseDT.Net.Ftp.FTPClient.Exists(String remoteFile)
at myDesktop_Online.FormMain.Monitor()
Dave,
The application writes to a file with a .tmp extension while uploading an image and once the upload completes, the .tmp extension is removed. When the upload fails part-way through, the .tmp file is orphaned on the server until you reconnect and successfully upload a different image.
Are you trying to upload to a server inside your local network? I didn’t quite understand your environment. What happens when you hit the “Test Connection” button? Also, you might download a 3rd party FTP client, e.g. FileZilla – http://filezilla-project.org/ , and try connecting with the same server information.
If I hit test connection it is ok.
The file is saved to a 3rd party server. I am behind a DIR-655 router so mt local machine has an IP address of 192.168.0.149 however the IP provided by my isp is static 175.X.X.X
I also have FTP commander and have no problems manually uploading the file.
Very strange it worked prior to installing version 1.3
this is odd I uploaded file name to server using FTP commander then started Mydesktoponline and it worked …almost as if it required the file already on the server ?
That’s very interesting. And by the looks of the stack trace you posted earlier, it failed when testing if the file already exists on the server. I wonder if the FTP library I’m using is trying to send a command that isn’t supported by your FTP server.
Do you happen to know what FTP software is running on your server?
I try to instal “myDesktop” in my pc but it not works. I don’t know if it works with Windows Vista. If you how to make it works, please, contact me.
Eduardo,
It should run just fine on Windows Vista. Are you getting a particular error when you start the application? Check your log.txt (located in “C:\Program Files\myDesktop Online” or wherever it’s installed) and see if there’s anything interesting in it.
There’s no log.txt in the myDesktop Online folder. I try to instal in my pen drive and there, it works. How to create the log.txt on correct folder? PS: I could not instal .NET Framework v2.0 in my pc, because there no suporte to 64 bits sistem.
Eduardo,
If it works when installed to your pen drive but not in the “Program Files” directory, there may be something going on with the access rights. Are you logged on as an Administrator when running the program? If not, you maybe need to add write access to the “C:\Program Files\myDesktop Online” folder to all users.
baixei o progama mais não consigo desiitalr toda vez que ligo o pc la esta o progama como posso desistala
Good afternoon Chris, I spoke with the tech support regarding the FTP method this is the response from http://www.canadianwebhosting.com
Hello,
The FTP software we are using in our server is pure-ftpd and it is functioning fine
What FTP client software is this developer? It appears to be a problem with the software he is using. Please ask him to verify the settings. Also, check disabling any firewall or anti virus software he is using.
Please refer the FTP tutorials here.
http://www.canadianwebhosting.com/flash/generatedpages/ftp-voice.html
Best Regards,
Technical Support
How hard would it be to add a feature to select which monitor to choose in a multimonitor setup? Also the ability to take separate screenshots at the same time and upload it to FTP. For example, if I had 4 monitors, I’d be able to view 4 different files (lcd1.gif, lcd2.gif, lcd3.gif, lcd4.gif). Thanks.
Chris I did some additional googling. Is the issue that the FTP process your using is Active ? Seems the Router I use DLINK DIR655 only supports passive mode? Maybe not 100% sure
Quote from website
“anyone that purchases the D-Link DIR-655 router, you need to set FTP clients to Passive mode. Older models supported active.”
I just took a look at the code and I explicitly set the connection mode to Passive when creating the connection.
FYI, I did this by chance and all of a sudden no more error…
Title: Re: DIR-655 Does Not Support FTP ACTIVE (Port) ??
Post by: netmation on October 02, 2007, 09:27:12 AM
——————————————————————————–
DLink support provided a solution to this problem that worked….
Log in to the router, click advanced and then Firewall settings.
Disable the SPI and change the NAT ENDPOINT FILTERING to endpoint independent.