WebCopier and Compare Suite for competitors' site monitoring

My name is Keith and I was looking for solution to monitor any kind of web-site for some information. An easy to use solution, not expensive and effective. So my conclusion is that the best solution for that kind of purposes is some off-line browser + some comparison tool + some search tool if you need it. In this article I describe "WebCopier + Compare Suite" solution, which is beneficial for me.

What tools do I need?

Just two tools - WebCopier and Compare Suite.

WebCopier is an off-line browser, that enables you to download any web-site and keep it on your local hard disk. It it useful for anyone include executives, financiers or sales. As all of them need to download some information to browser it lately in airport or when some changes analisys needed. You can find WebCopier on http://www.maximumsoft.com/ 

Compare Suite is a tool for file comparison. It was designed for office use, I mean it is beneficial for those who works in a paperless office and deals with all popular files - Word, Acrobat, Excel documents and Web-Pages. You can find Compare Suite on http://www.comparesuite.com 

What the cost is?

As WebCopier costs 30$ and Compare Suite costs 60$ you'll have to spend 90$, but it's a good deal, because for 90$ you'll get: off-line browser, comparison tool, and web-sites monitoring solution.

Configuring WebCopier

It's easy to configure WebCopier in a right way.

1) Create new project. Select New command in File menu. Click Next button.

2)  Specify project name, for example Test Project. Click Next button.

3) Select the way you want to enter URL. The first one is preferable. Click Next button.

4) Put URL of site you want to monitor, for example http://www.amazon.com  Click Next button.

5) Skip password entering dialog by clicking Next button (if this web-site doesn't require password).

6) Now you will make the first step to monitoring process setup. WebCopier suggests you to enter destination folder to save the project, you should add to the end of the line \[%d]. 

So the resulted line must be just about this one:

C:\Program Files\WebCopier\Download\Test_Project\[%d] 

7) On the next page you should specify your custom download options. It depends on what you want to get, but I would recommend to download only .htm files, so you won't spend your time for downloading graphics you don't really need.

8) Finish creating your project file and save it to the local hard disk.

9) Now you should setup scheduler. Select Scheduler in Edit menu. Find and click small "Insert new project" button. Then specify download parameters you want to use.

Using Compare Suite

You should have two folders, for example ..\my project\011704 and ..\my project\011705, which contain old and new web-sites downloaded by WebCopier.

1) Now run Compare Suite. Select "New folder comparison" in File menu.

2) Click "..." button to specify folder's path on the left (..\my project\011704) and on the right panel (..\my project\011705)

3) Compare Suite will compare two folders

4) Then you can: generate comparative report by selecting Report option in File menu or use Compare Suite and compare changed files on by one.

Useful note: Compare Suite can compare web-pages in a two ways - as a htm coded text or as a easy readable text from web-page. You need the second one. Make sure .htm converter is enabled. Go to Tools -> Options. Select there Plugins-HtmL, the check box must be checked.

Any questions

Well, if you have any questions about WebCopier then I'd recommend you to visit it's home page and use forum or contact e-mail. The same thing about Compare Suite, those guys will be happy to help.

If you have some suggestion for me personally, then please use this e-mail to contact me

but remove NOSPAM, so my e-mail must looks like keith_ge...

Thank you!

Keith

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