The monitoring software combines monitoring of various PC activities, reports and an alerts and warnings system under its hood. It supports monitoring of websites visited, program launches, web searches, emails sent and received, keystrokes, instant messenger chat logs and screen captures of the computer desktop.

• Every Program launched: when program was started/ended, what is the program name, what is the text in program title;
• Every Web site visited: the web site address, when it was, even the IP address;
• All Web Searches: what was this search for;
• Computer usage time;
• All E-Mails sent and received;
• All Web Mails sent and received on HotMail/LiveMail, YahooMail, Google GMail, AOL Web Mail;
• Instant Messengers chat and conversations via Windows Live Messenger, AOL, Yahoo/ICQ, Jabber, etc;
• All keystrokes typed;
• Record screen captures in color and high resolution with highest compression rate available;
• Total network traffic.

BlackBox Security Monitor displays an add computer wizard on first run which can be used to add the local PC or another PC in the network to the list of monitored systems. The add computer menu is available from the program’s main interface at anytime should the need arise to add additional PC systems. It is furthermore possible to monitor all or only specific users of a system.

blackbox security monitor

The program lists all monitored computer systems and users in the left sidebar. Reports and the getting started page are listed there as well. Selecting a user or computer displays the relevant information on the right side.

Both the user and computer listings display the information in a tabbed interface divided into sections like programs, websites or emails. Date and time are presented on the screen with options to take a look at a specific date or time frame to see the activities during that time.

Several reports can be created after clicking on the reports entry in the left sidebar. Among them options to list the most popular websites, programs and web searches.

• User Activity report;
• 10 Most popular programs;
• 10 Most popular Web sites;
• 10 Most popular searches on the Web;
• 10 Most active Instant Messenger users;
• 10 Most active E-Mail users;
• Program launched report;
• Web sites visited report;
• Alerts/Warnings generated report.

Alerts can be configured to instantly notify a user by email or cell phone on specific activities including program launches, web mails or websites visited.

BlackBox Security Monitor offers enterprise grade functionality, currently for free. The program is available for both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

If you search on the Internet for the 59 Hertz problem you come upon many users and websites that report the same problem.

As it turns out, it is not a problem at all. But let us start at the beginning to see how the refresh rate is changed in Windows 7.

Right-click the desktop of the PC and select Screen Resolution from the menu. In there click on the Advanced Settings link near the right bottom of the window.

This opens a new window. Switch to the Monitor tab. It should look like the one below.

59 Hertz is the reported screen refresh rate of the computer monitor. A click in the pulldown menu reveals the 60 Hertz setting. This refresh rate can be selected but it will not stick. Applying the changes and going back into the menu will reveal that the screen refresh rate is still stuck at 59 Hertz.

The problem is not a problem as pointed out earlier as Microsoft points out in their knowledgebase.

Certain monitors report a TV-compatibility timing of 59.94Hz. Therefore, Windows 7 exposes two frequencies, 59Hz and 60Hz, for every resolution that is supported at that timing. The 59Hz setting makes sure that a TV-compatible timing is always available for an application such as Windows Media Center. The 60Hz setting maintains compatibility for applications that expect 60Hz.

In Windows 7, when a user selects 60Hz, the OS stores a value of 59.94Hz. However, 59Hz is shown in the Screen refresh rate in Control Panel, even though the user selected 60Hz.

It basically means that Windows will always use a refresh rate of 59.94HZ regardless of the value that is shown in the screen refresh rate settings.

This affects other monitor refresh rates as well, specifically:

* 23.976Hz, but not 24Hz
* 29.970Hz, but not 30Hz
* 47.952Hz, but not 48Hz
* 71.928Hz, but not 72Hz
* 119.880Hz, but not 120Hz

To conclude: Windows displays either 59 Hertz or 60 Hertz as the refresh rate depending on the monitor’s reporting. Windows on the other hand uses a refresh rate of 59.94HZ regardless of what the monitor reports.

Enter Hotkey Resolution Changer. It is a small portable AutoIt software that can be used to configure keyboard shortcuts for monitor resolutions.

The program places an icon into the system tray upon launch. A click on the icon displays the program interface that is used to configure the different screen resolutions and their assigned hotkeys.

A total of nine different monitor resolutions and hotkeys can be configured in the program. Supported are resolutions of 800×600 and above with maximum frequencies of 100 Hertz. Users who need lower resolutions or more Hertz can edit the source code of the program and compile it to have those values at their disposal. The color depth can also be defined for each configuration individually.

The software will automatically retrieve the supported resolutions from the operating system. Pressing a hotkey on the desktop will automatically switch to that resolution.

It has to be noted that the application does not support multi-monitor settings at this time. Hotkey Resolution Changer is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. It can be downloaded directly from the developer’s website. The program source code is available there as well.

Update: The latest program version supports resolutions of 640×480 and larger, and frequencies up to 120 Hertz. Several new versions of Hotkey Resolution Changer have been released in the meantime, which mostly consisted of bug fixes. No new program functionality has been added.

The program is different from most computer monitoring applications as it sits quietly in the system tray until a value climbs over specified parameters. These are then shown as overlays on the Windows desktop giving the user a direct indication of the processes or hardware that is causing the increased usage of computer resources.

The values that are monitored can be configured in the program’s options. These can be reached by right-clicking the system tray icon.

The options are divided into two sections. The data is by default displayed in three panels with the possibility to remove panels from being displayed and moving so called prisms, which are the hardware, software and processes that are monitored around so that they are displayed in different panels.

Available prisms are cpu, memory disk, network and processes of which all but the first are divided into further sub-prisms. The process prism is for instance further divided into cpu, memory usage, page faults and IO Kbytes prisms.

Each prism comes with its own options that can be used to configure the thresholds that trigger the display of the prisms on the computer desktop.

Each panel on the desktop can be moved around independently from each other so that all are placed in the exact locations the user wants them to be.

Prism does not use lots of system resources which is surprisingly for a program of its kind. Cpu usage never went above 2 and the memory usage stayed at a steady 7.5 Megabytes of computer memory.

Prism Hud can be downloaded from the developer’s website. It is compatible with most Microsoft operating systems including Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

Multi Monitor Manager is a lightweight portable solution to control multiple monitors that are connected to a computer system from the main system. The software program will immediately display the screens of all connected computer monitors with the option to interact with each of them using the computer mouse and keyboard.

A click on a computer monitor window makes it possible to interact with the elements that are displayed on the computer screen. It is possible to resize the screen for better access. This is recommended as the default window size is rather smallish. Everything that can be done directly on a computer system with the mouse and computer keyboard can also be done using the Multi Monitor software. This includes opening and closing programs, typing text, launching commands or taking screenshots.

The multi monitor manager uses mostly cpu resources while running but barely any computer memory. Users who operate computer systems with multiple monitors might want to check out the portable software program. It was developed by Skrommel who is a member of Donation Coder. It can be downloaded directly using this link.

F.lux is a small computer software program for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux that adjusts the brightness of the computer monitor according to the time to day. The lighting software will automatically adjust the color temperature of the computer monitor. Speaking in technical terms this means that the software will reduce the Kelvin degrees of the light to make the light feel more natural and pleasing to the eye.

Adjustments to the default settings can be made in the program’s options. This makes it possible to change the Kalvin degrees for the daytime and night, the location of the computer system in the world and the transition speed.

A click in the main interface will run a quick 24-hour preview of the computer light changes. Some users might feel that the color of the night light is to yellow but this can be attributed to the time they view the preview. Still, the light can be adjusted in the options to produce a more natural looking color for the user.

One of the main advantages of Maxto is its multi-monitor support. After executing Maxto for the first time each of the computer monitors currently connected to the computer system become preyed out. This is the configuration phase of the application. The user can then divide each computer monitor screen horizontally or vertically numerous times until the desired partitioning has been defined. Each are can be manually adjusted by moving the dividing bars around. The actual computer monitor shines through which makes it easy for users who want to adjust the settings according to current window placements.

It is furthermore possible to load a monitor profile instead of configuring the areas of the computer monitor manually. Profiles exist that divide the computer monitor vertically or horizontally. The new areas become active once the preparations are done. Another option is to configure an alternate setup for the computer system which can be switched to easily. Perfect if you run two different kind of application sets that have different space requirements.

Keyboard shortcuts are available to move the windows into adjacent areas quickly, to maximize windows full screen or to enable the alternative layout.

The drawback of the application is its resource usage. While the application itself ships with a size of less than 200 Kilobytes it uses more than 30 Megabytes – and the same amount of virtual memory – while running on a computer system with one connected computer monitor. It should also be noted that Maxto requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 or higher.

An alternative is Winsplit Revolution which is more resource friendly or Acer Vista Grid which despite the name works on both XP and Vista.

Maxto, via Lifehacker.

Screensavers nowadays are more for showing off than to really save the computer screen. Many users prefer to turn off the computer monitor whenever they will leave the workspace for a longer period of time.

Still, if you like screensavers you might fall in love with the ones listed below. If you got or know of an extraordinarily cool nerdy screenshot let me know in the comments.

TwittEarth (Windows XP, Mac coming soon)

A Twitter world map mashup. The screensaver is displaying Twitter messages of random Twitter users in their correct location on the world map. Each user is displayed as a avatar on the world map which gets crowded pretty fast.

Mapped Up (Windows, Mac OS X)

Unfortunately dead since 2006 a screensaver at least what’s the latest blog post dating back to Aug 18, 2006 suggests. The screensaver is displaying a world map RSS feeds mashup that is showing updated news in the world. The original website allowed for customization for registered users. Registration is unfortunately not enabled anymore. The default news on the other hand are still displayed fine in the screensaver.

You can use the mouse to hover an entry to read the title. Clicking on a title will load the news item in the default web browser.

Twingly Screensaver

A visualization of the state of the blogosphere according to Twingly. If that does not sound nerdy enough I do not know what does. Twingly is a blog search engine. The screensaver displays updated blog posts in real time. It comes with an interactive mode which gives the user more control over the items and enough time to actually read what it happening.

System 47 (Windows, Mac OS X)

It is pretty common knowledge that Star Trek fans are some of the nerdiest humans in this planet. System 47 should be the best possible screensaver for their computer systems. It comes with sounds and all kind of schematics that they will surely love.

Cities of Earth

Geography seems to be another favorite topic among nerds. The Cities of Earth screensaver displays a wonderful rotating real time image of earth. It highlights cities on the planet and provides basic information such as names and the population count.

The specialty of the Online Monitor Test is that it comes as a online service but also as an application. Both versions are divided into different test areas: Color Range, Trailing, Homogenuity, 1×1 pixelmapping and Text. Each section is accompanied by a info panel that is explaining the test at hand so that the user understands what the test is about. The info panel can be turned off once the user knows what the test is about to have full access to the screen without obstruction.

Both versions can be run in full screen mode for maximum effectiveness. The Color Range test is basically testing the color reproduction of the computer monitor by displaying color gradients and percentage screens.

The trailing test is testing movable objects on the computer screen. The speed can be altered as well as the color and position of the box that is moving on the screen.

The third option is to test the computer screen for homogenuity. It fills the screen with one solid color. This can also be used to test the monitor for dead pixels.

The 1×1 pixelmapping test is mostly useful for televisions and not computer monitors. The test displays a 1 by 1 checkboard of white and black pixels.

The last and final test is about text display on the computer monitor. The website contains a second service which can be used to test input lag on two computer monitors.

There is not much information about the software application that can also test the computer monitor. It worked fine on a Windows XP Service Pack 3 test system.

Many computer monitor manufacturers provide a data disk with a free monitor calibration software but there are also multiple free alternatives that can be found on the Internet. One was covered today at the Lifehacker blog. Calibrize is only taking care of the black, white and color ratio of the computer monitor and works on flat screen computer monitors but also on CRT monitors.

It does so by displaying two easy to follow steps. Step 1 is being used to adjust the contrast and brightness settings of the computer monitor. Each step consists of a description that tells the user what to do, a test image and example images that display how the images should not look. The description mentions how the test image should look like.

The second step which is also the last step adjusts the gamma settings of the computer monitor. Another test image and a few sliders are shown that can be used to adjust the settings for red, green and blue values. The settings can be saved after calibrating the monitor.

An alternative is the online tool Screen Check which provides the means to adjust the same monitor settings.

It was mentioned at the New Morning site which had a short article about it and a link to the developer’s website. Monitor Test is a portable application which makes it a handy tool to include on an USB Stick that contains all kind of tech support tools.

Once executed the application starts in full screen mode showing all the tests that can be performed. Each test can be selected with a left-click of the computer mouse. The utility offers a wide variety of monitor tests like colours, gradients, geometry, speed and text tests.

As you can see lots to test and explore. Some monitor tests span across several screens which can be switched with another left-click of the mouse.

Monitor tests works well with aspect ratios of 16:9, 16:10 wide screen monitors and 4:3 monitors. No information about operating system compatibility is available on the author’s website. Monitor Test runs fine on Windows XP.

Monitor Info View is a Nirsoft application that can display information about flat screen monitors or crt monitors. The software is portable and can be executed from any location. This could come in handy when analyzing computer monitors, for example before making a purchase.

The software extracts the information from the EDID (Extended display identification data) records of the computer monitor. Displayed are information like the serial number of the computer monitor, the build week, frequencies and image sizes among other information.

Monitor Info View displays the supported resolutions and their refresh rates of every computer monitor as a bonus.