Determine when user clicks start or launches an app?

[demonic]

Hey,

Does anyone know of an application that can determine what has been run or where the prompt is?

For example, if a user clicks Start, Run, types in cmd and then dir. There is an app that can take all that. More specifically, it knows you clicked start, you clicked Run and then typed in cmd. Im looking for more than just a keylogger.

Or another example. You click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools and then Active Directory Users and Computers. You ran the Add user wizard and typed in Paul Smith in the First and Last name inputbox. The app knows you put in Paul Smith in the First and Last name inputbox, as the focus changed from one to the other.

The reason why, if I set a user a specific task for Windows, to test their knowledge. I want to be able to track what exactly a user does.

This is nothing to do with hacking, logging passwords, viruses, cracking or whatever malicious you might think. Just so you know.

This is more about api hooking (i think).

Thanks for any answers

 

[Davros]

i very much doubt it

what i would do is write an app that looks like the part of windows your trying to test the user on

 

[Humus]

I don't know any existing app that does this, but you could probably write one. You can hook into most kind of stuff that goes on in a Windows system. Basic keyboard and mouse input is not hard to get. The tricky part would be assigning any meaningful semantics to the input you're logging. You can get window handles for everything, input field IDs, and you could identify what processes things belongs to and so on. But you'd have to keep a long list of various "known apps" with data about what clicks here and there means. For GUI components that have text I suppose the text alone would be good enough (depending on how user-friendly logs you need), but for other components I don't see any generic solution to creating a readable log other than having a database of known apps and their complete set of dialog boxes etc.

 

[Mize]

Desktop sharing and a video camera would be the quick and dirty route.

 

[Davros]

the apps that ive seen do what you want all use a fake windows desktop - thats not to say other ways wont work of course