Logs to see a workstations use?

[robjduk]

Is there such a piece of software which can tell me how often a machine on a network is logged into over a period of time? I know things like impero do it but I just want a stand alone solution which will tell me if my staff are using the stations we spend thousands on because the old ones were "too slow to use".

[ADMaster]

There are a number of logon tracker ideas on here. I use a vbscript that runs a logon and logoff, all it does is write the username, computer name, ip, mac, date and time to log file.

 

It’s crude, but gets me the basic info of who logged on last to a machine.

 

Here is the EDU logon tracker

EduGeek Logon Tracker

 

Here is an old thread that might help.

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/scripts/4882-script-track-user-logins.html

[Vee]

BGInfo can log all sorts to an Access DB silently when run - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897557.aspx

[2097]

Craig A Rodway

 

hes logon tracker is the best i have ever used ! its a simple webpage and mysql database

 

and you just run a script for each user at logon and logoff

[chazzy2501]

I'd love a bit of software that showed me a heat map and allowed me to alter the time line.

[AJWhite1970]

These two lines in a batch file does the job for me, logs computer usage and keeps an individual user log:-

 

echo LOGIN %date%, %time%, %computername%, %username%, >> \\server\Logs\PCs\%computername%.csv

echo LOGIN %date%, %time%, %computername%, %username%, >> \\server\Logs\Users\%username%.csv

 

Andrew

[sted]

or even a version that asks users why they are on a pc

 

Option Explicit
Dim objFSO, objFolder, objShell, objTextFile, objFile
Dim strDirectory, strFile, strText
Dim Message, result
Dim Title, Text1, Text2, mydatestring, mytimestring, WshNetwork, wshShell, strComputerName


Set WshNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")
Set wshShell = WScript.CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )

myDateString = Date()
mytimestring = Time()
strComputerName = wshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings( "%COMPUTERNAME%" )

strDirectory = "\\servee\share$\folder"
strFile = "\netbook usage.csv"
'strText = ""

' Define dialog box variables.
Message = "Why are you using this PC/Laptop"           
Title = "PC Usage Survey"
Text1 = "User input canceled"
Text2 = "You entered:" & vbCrLf

' Ready to use the InputBox function ' InputBox(prompt, title, default, xpos, ypos) ' prompt:    The text shown in the dialog box
' title:     The title of the dialog box ' default:   Default value shown in the text box ' xpos/ypos: Upper left position of the dialog box 
' If a parameter is omitted, VBScript uses a default value.

result = InputBox(Message, Title, "", 100, 100)

' Evaluate the user input.
'If result = "" Then    ' Canceled by the user
'    WScript.Echo Text1
'Else 
'    WScript.Echo Text2 & result
'End If

'writeout bits
'
' Create the File System Object
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

' Check that the strDirectory folder exists
If objFSO.FolderExists(strDirectory) Then
  Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(strDirectory)
Else
  Set objFolder = objFSO.CreateFolder(strDirectory)
  WScript.Echo "Just created " & strDirectory
End If

If objFSO.FileExists(strDirectory & strFile) Then
  Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(strDirectory)
Else
  Set objFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(strDirectory & strFile)
  Wscript.Echo "Just created " & strDirectory & strFile
End If 

set objFile = nothing
set objFolder = nothing
' OpenTextFile Method needs a Const value
' ForAppending = 8 ForReading = 1, ForWriting = 2
Const ForAppending = 8

Set objTextFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile _
(strDirectory & strFile, ForAppending, True)

' Writes result every time you run this VBScript
objTextFile.WriteLine("Pcname," & strComputerName & "," & "Username," & WshNetwork.UserName &"," &"Date," & myDateString &"," & "Time," & myTimeString & "," & "Reason," & Result)
objTextFile.Close

[sted]

been having a look at this again and trying to code something that recorded the time difference between logon-off as well as actual time stamps when i found this on my pendrive (no idea if i wrote it / modified it / pinched it from somewhere) but this seems to do a decent job records to a csv on username, {date, time}logon,{date, time}logoff,minutes difference,pc name

 

option explicit  
'On Error Resume Next

dim loggedtime, strComputer, objWMIService, colItems, objItem, logon, logoff, strComputerName, wshShell, WshNetwork 
dim strDirectory, strFile, objFSO, objFile, objfolder, objTextFile

Set wshShell = WScript.CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )
Set WshNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Const wbemFlagReturnImmediately = &h10
Const wbemFlagForwardOnly = &h20

strComputer = "."
strComputerName = wshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings( "%COMPUTERNAME%" )
strDirectory = "\\server\share$\test scripts\"
strFile = "userlog.csv"

Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\CIMV2")
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_Process WHERE Caption='explorer.exe'", "WQL", _
   wbemFlagReturnImmediately + wbemFlagForwardOnly)
dim creationDate

For Each objItem In colItems
   creationDate = WMIDateStringToDate(objItem.CreationDate)
Next

loggedtime = DateDiff("n", creationDate, Now)
logon = left(creationdate, 10) & "," & right(creationdate, 8)
logoff = left(now, 10) & "," & right(now, 8)
'wscript.echo WshNetwork.UserName & "," & logon & "," & logoff & "," & loggedtime & "," & strComputerName

' Check that the strDirectory folder exists
If objFSO.FolderExists(strDirectory) Then
  Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(strDirectory)
Else
  Set objFolder = objFSO.CreateFolder(strDirectory)
  WScript.Echo "Just created " & strDirectory
End If

If objFSO.FileExists(strDirectory & strFile) Then
  Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(strDirectory)
Else
  Set objFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(strDirectory & strFile)
  'Wscript.Echo "Just created " & strDirectory & strFile
End If 

set objFile = nothing
set objFolder = nothing
' OpenTextFile Method needs a Const value
' ForAppending = 8 ForReading = 1, ForWriting = 2
Const ForAppending = 8

Set objTextFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile _
(strDirectory & strFile, ForAppending, True)

' Writes result every time you run this VBScript
objTextFile.WriteLine(WshNetwork.UserName & "," & logon & "," & logoff & "," & loggedtime & "," & strComputerName)
objTextFile.Close


Function WMIDateStringToDate(dtmDate)

WMIDateStringToDate = CDate(Mid(dtmDate, 5, 2) & "/" & _
Mid(dtmDate, 7, 2) & "/" & Left(dtmDate, 4) _
& " " & Mid (dtmDate, 9, 2) & ":" & Mid(dtmDate, 11, 2) & ":" & Mid(dtmDate,13, 2))
End Function

[timbo343]

You are probably after a free solution, however, i cannot recommend userlock enough. Here is the link UserLock® Access security and concurrent login control for networks. We have used it for nearly 9 years now and its been great, never let us down and just works.