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Archive for the ‘Tips and Best Practices’ Category

Vantage Update 2.2.0.43

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

We’ve just released an auto update for WebSpy Vantage (Premium, Giga and Ultimate) as well as the Web Module.

This is a great update for Vantage Ultimate users as we’ve introduced a new feature/tab into the Web Module called ‘Dynamic Reports’.

If you’re publishing the same report to the Web Module each day, you can use the Dynamic Reports tab to select a date range and a department (or whatever organizational groups you have defined) and the Web Module will collate all the daily reports that match that filter into one report. This allows you to report on entire week, month or year by simply ‘reporting on reports’, rather than reporting months of raw storage data.

Here’s the full list of changes since the last auto update (2.2.0.32 on the 14th April 2010).

Application Changes

  • Added Dynamic Reports feature to the Web Module.
  • Rewrote the Web Module transfer protocol. New protocol adds version checking, connection checking, and integrity checking for high latency environments.
  • Purge data from storage task no longer prevents importing new hits when all data is removed from an input within a storage.
  • IPv6 addresses now show IPv4-mapped addresses as plain IPv4 addresses in summaries.
  • IPv6 and IPv4 addresses are now freely interchangable in filter expressions.
  • Fixed IPv6 drilldowns on the Summaries screen
  • SQL inputs can now be resumed from the previous position. Previously any input that was partially imported would be skipped when importing new hits.
  • Template-based analysis has been fixed, no longer results in blank/non-existent analysis.
  • Added new string manipulation functions to expression language; Contains, StartsWith, EndsWith, IndexOf.

Loader Changes

  • Astaro: Now checks that the ID field is present in a line before attempting to read it.
  • Barracuda Web Filter: Added this format to replace Spy Filter.
  • BlueCoat Proxy SG W3C: Added support for gmttime, timestamp, x-bluecoat-surfcontrol-is-denied and x-bluecoat-transaction-id.
  • ClearSwift: Added a new loader group for ClearSwift that includes the MimeSweeper loaders
  • ClearSwift SECURE Web Gatway: Now supported with the Web Appliance loader
  • Clearswift Web Appliance: User summary displays Source IP if Username is blank.
  • IronPort WSA: Fixed memory usage issues.
  • Microsoft FTMG: Added category name lookup to SQL loader.
  • Microsoft FTMG: No longer fails to import lines where the rule field contains square brackets.
  • Microsoft FTMG: URL Category field is now a string instead of an integer. Added URL Categorization Reason field.
  • Microsoft FTMG: Fixed memory usage issues.
  • Microsoft IIS W3C: No longer hangs or crashes when loading a file that isn’t IIS W3C.
  • NetAsq: Added support for srcname field. The Username summary is populated with user first, and then srcname if user is blank. The User summary is also now populated with Source IPs if the Username summary is blank.

To update WebSpy Vantage, simple select Tools | Check for updates.

To update the Web Module, login to the Web Module server, right-click the WebSpy system tray icon, and select Check for updates.

As always, please contact us if you have any issues or questions.


Dedicated WebSpy and Forefront TMG pages – Everything you need to know about TMG Log Reporting

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

forefront_v_webMicrosoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) popularity is starting to pick up. WebSpy added support for analyzing and reporting on TMG logs even before the public release and have been improving our compatibility ever since.

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How and When WebSpy Vantage’s Web Server Reporting Beats Google Analytics

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

I’m actually not trying to compare WebSpy Vantage with Google Analytics (GA), it’s like comparing apples and oranges. Both solutions provide powerful ways of tracking how visitors find your site and how they navigate through it, ideally giving you rich insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness. However, GA is a pure web analytics tool and comes with additional resources on optimizing AdWords campaigns, click-able heat maps, goal conversions, interactive tips and much more. The fact that GA is free for everyone to use makes it pretty compelling as well.

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Soho Alpha Release – Issues and Workarounds

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

It’s been a crazy few weeks but we’ve finally managed to get the first release of WebSpy Soho out the door.

For those that don’t know what Soho is all about, check out this video: (more…)


8 Reasons NOT to Use Microsoft Forefront TMG’s Reporting

Monday, February 8th, 2010

I’ve been having a look through the reporting functionality included in Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway to find that not much has changed from ISA Server 2006. There is some new information regarding the newly implemented URL categorization and threat management technology, but there is very little flexibility or customization for those with reporting requirements beyond general overviews cluttered with irrelevant information. (more…)


Top 10 Stupid Things you can do at work to get yourself fired!

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

  1. Browse for awesome porn!
  2. Find awesome porn and then attach it to a group email, sent to everyone who works with you in accounting…
  3. Overrun your lunch hour by 4 hours because poker_champ03 is beating you at 5 card stud…
  4. Write an email to your lover describing in intimate details what you would like to do to them tonight.
  5. (more…)


More Students Bypassing Schools’ Internet Security

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

International Business Times (IBT) recently reported that “Many young people are turning to proxy servers to get round their school’s internet security systems to access banned websites, including social networks and gaming sites.”

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