Someone reviewed v on Jul 5, 2022

Pros: 555

Cons: 555

Bottom Line: 555

dubstepmaker reviewed v13.0 on Feb 14, 2013

great app!

uberfly reviewed v13.0 Beta 2 on Jan 25, 2013

This program is perfect. Highly customizable and goes the extra miles to do everything you ask of it. I love using it.

cricri_pingouin reviewed v11.5 Beta 1 on Oct 3, 2011

Neanderthal66:
"lots of free products around which do the job correctly"

Alright, it would have been easy to just name one then. It obviously has to support regular expressions like Website Watcher to "do the job correctly".

Neanderthal66 reviewed v11.3 on Jun 20, 2011

Looks likes a 20 years old thing, behaves like a 20 years old thing, and is slow like a 20 years old thing. Indeed, lots of free products around which do the job correctly, this one doesn't (and probably never will)

Plumber reviewed v11.0 on Feb 4, 2011

This top-of-the-line software is being lanced by morons simply because the author doesn't want to work for free.

New Doraemon reviewed v11.0 on Feb 4, 2011

You b!tches rating this under 3 stars are simply joking, aren't you? You freeware weirdos can't think of paying for a top-notch product, can you?

WSW is a great product, reasonably priced and can do lots of things that that FFox add-on surely can't. Please review apps for their purposes and not their price. Then that would be interesting to read.

Now you can get back to your Ubuntus... :weirdo:

Plumber reviewed v10.5 on Nov 9, 2010

I am rating this shareware product highly, therefore I must either be the developer, or a friend of the developer. Definitely.

Plumber reviewed v10.2 on Jun 30, 2010

It's all been said before. WsW cannot be competed against with a stupid Firefox extension or an MSIE add-on.

supersonic reviewed v10.1 on Apr 16, 2010

Just saw that UpdateWatcher now also supports Firefox...

cricri_pingouin reviewed v10.1 on Apr 9, 2010

Let me reiterate what has been said: comparing Website Watcher with products such as UpdateScanner and UpdateWatcher is ludicrous. I do use Firefox, and I did try UpdateScanner. However, WW has a feature which is critical in my view, namely regular expressions support. I quickly stopped using UpdateScanner because the lack of regex makes it largely inadequate. For instance, if I was checking the Fileforum Firefox page, I just want to know if there is a new version, not if there is a new comment or its average rating changed. That's where WW blows the competition out of the water, and despite searching/testing at length, WW stubbornly remained my tool of choice. Don't get me wrong, I'd be delighted to see a serious cheaper contender, but we are nowhere close to see it happening with the alternatives mentioned.
It is true however that quality doesn't come cheap, and I do find the price hikes of WW to steer towards being prohibitive, hence a point taken out, and why I stick with v5 (which itself didn't offer much more than v4).
To conclude: although it is not always the case, in this case don't listen to the freetards as you do get what you pay for. I tried UpdateScanner, didn't pay anything, and didn't get anything.
Shrek: if your definition of bloatware is "offers sufficient features to flexibly carry out everything you might need", then yes, WW is definitely bloatware. Size-wise, the installation package lets you make it portable. My installation on my pen drive is 5.3MB in 55 files (excluding bookmarks archives of course). If this is bloat, Firefox+UpdateScanner on your pen drive would be a hell of a lot more (and yes, you could technically use WW to browse, although that's not its purpose). But then you were not trying to be honest.

emanresU deriseD reviewed v10.1 Beta 2 on Mar 18, 2010

The advice to use a Firefox extension instead of WsW is akin to the advice to use AdBlock Plus instead of Ad Muncher. Both recommendations ignore the fact that not everyone uses Firefox, and that both extensions don't do (nearly) everything the other software does. WsW does a lot more than simply check websites for changes. WsW does not take up much space. If having lots of features makes it "bloatware", then sure, it's bloatware. Whatever.

supersonic reviewed v10.1 Beta-1 on Mar 12, 2010

For IE user that want a lighweight alternative, I would recommend a look at http://www.flekdev.com/UpdateWatcher.html. Very easy to use and only $1.50

FixXxeR reviewed v10.1 Beta-1 on Mar 4, 2010

shrek, what if I do not use firefox? Why would I care about a FIREFOX addon? You seem to be mistaking an addon that has very limited functionality for this program which offers far more than any addon currently in development. How about giving a recommendation of a program that does NOT require another program be installed in order to use it.

shrek412 reviewed v10.1 Beta-1 on Mar 3, 2010

This is a bloat-ware :) @ "emanresU deriseD", I think you're a developer of this BLOAT-WARE :)

But for other BetaNews Fans

If you wanna monitor web pages for updates. Even websites that don't provide Atom or RSS feeds. Use "Update Scanner Firefox Addon" (http://updatescanner.mozdev.org).

Features:
* Select how often each site will be scanned
* Changes to pages are highlighted automatically
* Minor changes can be ignored
* Full international support
* Right-click on any page, and select "Scan Page for Updates"
* Totally Free & Easy
* No need to run as a separate process or a program

emanresU deriseD reviewed v10.1 Beta-1 on Mar 2, 2010

You're right, shrek. That's the kind of solid thinking we should all employ in other facets of our lives. I just visited an automotive site and gave the BMW Z4 a really terrible review, because hey, feet are free, and both feet and the BMW Z4 can get you from one place to another.

Oh, almost forgot: " :) "

shrek412 reviewed v2010 10.0 Beta-6 on Feb 2, 2010

I use "Update Scanner Add-on" with "Mozilla Firefox". its free :) and does the job.

emanresU deriseD reviewed v5.1.5 Beta 2 on Nov 5, 2009

Awesome application. I was rather shocked to see the new price, though (over $80 USD). I paid $30 for a new WebSite-Watcher Personal license back in 2004. (There is a 50% upgrade discount, but I think it's still expensive.)

FixXxeR reviewed v5.1.1 Beta 1 on Jul 27, 2009

This application saves me time from browsing various websites looking for updates. Now, with this running, I can easily check and don't have to waste time individually checking them. I have checked out other solutions, including one which incorporates itself into the firefox web browser, and none are this comprehensive or complete. Great application!

emanresU deriseD reviewed v5.1.0 Beta 6 on Jun 10, 2009

If you think WsW is bloated, you're nuts.

klone reviewed v5.0.1 Beta 1 on Jan 20, 2009

Use to be great (4.0) but has now become slow and bloated with the new version (5.0). For example, compare the startup times and how long it takes the new version to load links within website-watcher when you initially start it up. Also, the new AutoBackup feature is S-L-O-W and runs by default every day.

It's way too expensive for what it does and the licensing scheme is a rip off and is basically an effort by the author to extort money from existing users. Bug fixes should be free. Period.

cricri_pingouin reviewed v5.0.1 Beta 1 on Jan 16, 2009

Due to licensing, I actually use "Update scanner" at work. Yes it is free, yes it can spot some changes automatically, but rating Website Watcher low and recommending Update Scanner over it is puzzling. It's like comparing... hum, actually, the capabilities of Website Watcher are so far beyond what Update Scanner provides that I can't even think of a suitable comparison.
So Update Scanner works: true; it's free, true; it does the same thing as Website Watcher: that would make a white whale roll laughing on my ceiling.

chinobis reviewed v5.0 Beta 9 on Dec 25, 2008

Totally awesome for what it is supposed to do. The low rating makes me wonder...sabotage?

SilentStar reviewed v5.0 Beta 3 on Nov 12, 2008

@ScottNY845:

Honestly, I cannot comprehend why you are telling people that that Firefox-addon is better than Website-Watcher. Update Scanner is a nice addon for Firefox, but it's lightyears away from a full-fledged software like Website-Watcher. Everyone can tell that after five minutes of comparing. I monitor about 100 totally different website with it. And I don't wanna ever miss it. 5 Stars!!

Undesired Username reviewed v5.0 Beta 2 on Nov 5, 2008

Have I simply not noticed? Is it in this site's ToS that one must smash one's head against the wall 10 times before posting? Claiming that some Firefox plugin is the equivalent of WebSite-Watcher is ridiculous.

WSW can handle newsgroups, forums, RSS feeds, and local files/folders. It has advanced filtering and notification options. It can be scheduled. It supports macros and provides a means for handling JavaScript. It can use MSIE or its own internal rendering engine. It is not tied to any particular browser, and is developed by an attentive, competent vendor, not someone developing freeware on a whim during his or her off-hours.

The "there are free alternatives!" crybabies really should start trying to make sense. Even a little bit of sense will do.

uberfly reviewed v5.0 Beta 1 on Oct 31, 2008

What's not to like? It works great (small memory usage and stable) and has nice features. I rely on it every day and find it invaluable.

ScottNY845 - The FF addon isn't quite the same. See, this app does the comparisons automatically without narry a click needed. Don't review software you've obviously never tried.

ScottNY845 reviewed v5.0 Beta 1 on Oct 29, 2008

Firefox offers the same type of plugin and for FREE and does a fantastic job. Any page that you are monitoring, whatever changes are made since your last visit are highlighted in YELLOW...

Do not waste your money on this when FF can give it to you for free.

The plug-in name is: UPDATE SCANNER

BH reviewed v4.42 Beta 5 on Jul 2, 2008

I agree with wickedfeel. Some competitor to WW is sabotaging the ratings. I call on Betanews to look into the voting IP log to figure out who is doing it. Website Watcher is probably the only reason I still run Windows on my Mac. I use it all day, every day for work and goofing off. Martin updates his program continuously and gives responsive support.

wickedfeel reviewed v4.42 Beta 4 on Jun 21, 2008

It looks as though someone is slowly sabotaging the vote for this program. I can't believe it would ever average under a 4.0 (nor that 424 people have voted) I won a license as a user on the DonationCoder website about 2 years ago. This program saves so me so much time every day. I mainly use it to check for changed prices on various websites, along with software updates that I am interested in. Great stuff 5.0 all the way!

Metshrine reviewed v4.40 on Mar 26, 2008

This program single handedly saves me hours of time a day. I can monitor various different websites to check for changes. By doing this, I save myself having to go to each site manually just to see if anything has changed. This is very useful in monitoring change logs of a program on its webpage. Top notch!

SilentStar reviewed v4.40 Beta 4 on Mar 12, 2008

Great Software.

guti reviewed v4.40 Beta 1 on Jan 29, 2008

Totally agree with Chris12923 opinion.

Chris12923 reviewed v4.35 on Jan 2, 2008

Great program but on the expensive side.

HelgeFossmo reviewed v4.35 Beta 3 on Nov 14, 2007

I used this on daily basis for a long time now, even though i switched over to Linux i still run this through Wine. It works perfectly and it is one of the few software I use daily that I paid for (the other is UltraEdit). And No, I do not use pirated software.

I bought a licence of this software because there is simply no open source or freeware alternative that is this good. It saves me alot of time and enables me to keep track of 60 or so different web projects. I often use it to keep track on a ChangeLog from a cvs/svn repository's web interface which is brilliant.
Also wiki-style worklogs/changelogs such as the one the Ogre3d team is using is a breeze to keep track on using this software. Once I got used to it, I cant live without it!

Point Zero reviewed v4.33 on Jul 30, 2007

A simple, yet usuable feature request to open changed links in external browser (which could simply be switched on/off in preferences).... The author always uses the same respons "Nah, it would cause instability." I've seen people requested seriously usuable, yet simple to integrate options for over 2 years, the author : "Yeah, I'll add it".... Yet, nothing gets added. and the program configuration structure is a complete buggy mess, the checking can be done using IE tech, using IE cookies, but when you want to look at what changed, you get an internally rendered page, which uses no cookies..... So, you'll understand the mess. Overprices, a real mess to properly configure, and once you finally got it somehow working, it forgets the changes, and start crapping out yet again. A 2 because there still aren't any free alternatives.

zridling reviewed v4.32 on Apr 23, 2007

"Bloat" often denotes useless or superfluous features added in order to get to the next major upgrade in a hurry to make more money. You'd be amazed at the crap people want thrown into various utilities — "why doesn't it have a word processor?!!" and so on. It gets really silly. In the last two versions, however, Website-Watcher has expanded its functions to the point where maybe it needs to be renamed. "Watching" was only one of the things it used to do.

comeoffit reviewed v4.31 Beta 4 on Apr 7, 2007

Why do people whine about "bloat"? What is this term supposed to mean?

"Oh noes! The author added new features! Woe is me! BLOAT! BLOAT! BLOAT! GRAB THE PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES!"

The WebSite-Watcher executable is 1.6-MB in size. Is this too much? Does it take too much RAM now? Is the interface too confusing now? Are the options too cluttered? Is the startup too slow now? What is your issue? What is the problem? What is the basis for the whining? What is your point?

Of course, the real basis for the "bloat" complaints are probably what they almost always are: Someone complaining simply because features were added that they don't immediately think will benefit them.

I appreciate the new newsgroup-monitoring feature. It saves me lots of time and hassle. I can monitor threads I need to without the hassle of launching a separate newsreader, then fumbling through all the separate groups and threads.

zridling reviewed v4.30 Beta 2 on Oct 23, 2006

Good point.

HelgeFossmo reviewed v4.30 Beta 1 on Oct 21, 2006

This tool is great as it is, but reading the changelog it seems the program is becoming more and more bloated!

Newsgroup functionality?
Built in email capabilities?

Bloatware! I hope they will start to release a "lite" edition without these extra features.

zridling reviewed v4.30 Beta 1 on Oct 20, 2006

I'll disagree that the Website-Watcher's UI needs updating. It stays out of the way and is never distracting. Besides, there's very little interaction with its interface as I'm either reading websites or feeds.

john_mcpherson reviewed v4.22 Beta 5 on Oct 13, 2006

As a registered user, I agree with Bagobie. I love the program but it needs a more updates/appealing GUI.

Bagobie reviewed v4.22 Beta 4 on Oct 2, 2006

I love it but I think the UI needs a makeover

stopbuggingme reviewed v4.21 on Jul 19, 2006

One of a kind is right... But since clueless folk always insist on making pretentious comparisons to freeware offerings, I'm waiting for some freak to come in and say that the "ReloadEvery" Firefox extension does the same thing WebSite-Watcher does, "for free".

wickedfeel reviewed v4.20 on Jul 16, 2006

One of a kind. I love this program!

zridling reviewed v4.10 Beta 2 on Jan 14, 2006

Great review, mousermanager. Website-Watcher makes keeping up with upgrades and changes of programs easy, among a million other uses.

utomo reviewed v4.04 Beta 9 on Aug 5, 2005

The Features
http://www.aignes.com/features.htm
Need to add the Yahoogroups monitoring functions & screenshot)
so we can
Stay informed with new postings or answers in discussion forums, WebSite-Watcher will notify you as soon as possible

hkm reviewed v4.04 Beta 4 on May 24, 2005

Nice prog, decent price. As an alternative, take a look at a very nice program, Check&Get. I've used that for years, tho it is a bit pricey -- $39.95. Find it at

utomo reviewed v4.04 Beta 2 on Apr 27, 2005

Still need many improvements on watching keywords.

Quote:
Highlight specified words in a page. Looking for specific words within a website's pages? Or perhaps you're waiting for a certain word or phrase to appear? Website-Watcher can handle both tasks with ease.
http://www.aignes.com/img/wsw_screenshot01.gif

I hope it will be improved for easier and more usefull functions.
This will make more user coming on website watcher.

httpd.confused reviewed v4.03 Beta 7 on Feb 9, 2005

What the crap are you talking about? Shareaza is in an entirely different software category than WebSite-Watcher. And WebSite-Watcher is not adware.

Oh, never mind--I get it. You're just spamming. Gotcha.

proph3t reviewed v4.03 Beta 6 on Jan 30, 2005

Not bad, but adware! I prefer shareaza.

zridling reviewed v4.02 Beta 4 on Nov 18, 2004

This is an indispensable utility for my daily work. I have over 200 websites listed and can keep up with what's changed, no matter when I walk into the office. An elegant and efficient solution.

utomo reviewed v4.00 Beta 7 on Aug 30, 2004

Better than before, but still not enough to monitor a keyword in many news site or other site.
this is needed by many people to monitor about some news they want.
so it is not yet ready for WW 4.0 Final.
Need more work :)

Regarding my previous suggestions, please look at News Interceptor
http://www.digitaldream....SITOR_FEATURES&l=en
Plus it can monitor our keyword, so we can see only news which related to keyword we monitor.
instead of monitor all things manually.

utomo reviewed v4.00 Beta 4 on Jul 14, 2004

Beta 4 is better than before.
but it still need many improvements to be really useful for most people.
look at my previous comments. otherwise it is only useful for some people only.
I hope WW releasing another betas with improvements I propose before it goes to final.

utomo reviewed v4.00 Beta 2 on Jun 14, 2004

Website watcher need to create a super watcher functions. example user wants to monitor xyz in :
1. All news site
2. All computer news
3. All Business news
4. All tech news
etc.
so user just input the keyword, without need to create many task for many news site.
This is much more effective for user, and user will like it.

MentholMoose reviewed v3.60d Beta 2 on May 14, 2004

Good program. If you search for a freeware alternative, there's WebMon. Not as powerful as Website-Watcher, but do the job, if you want to be inform when a website change its contents.

utomo reviewed v3.60d Beta 2 on Apr 30, 2004

Website-Watcher need to define/create group bookmarks which user can use it easily and still able to be customize if needed.
example now we want to monitor about staroffice in all tech news/site (sample list of the site look at http://dailyrotation.com/), it is not easy to to this using current Website-Watcher. it is not funny to create 300 task. or if we need to monitor all business sites, hobby sites, store sites, ETC.

Other monitoring features needed is monitoring in Yahoo Groups, other discussions forum and newsgroups.
Global according to topics or custom groups.

it need also features to monitor store sites such as amazon, bn, ebay, for some keywords we wants and limit price we can set. example we want to buy computer model xyz123 if the price is lower than $456. etc.

I will test this more later.

  reviewed v3.60d Beta 1 on Apr 4, 2004

When I decided to try WebSite Watcher, I FULLY expected it to be a complete turd. What a pleasant surprise--it is wonderfully designed, and works beautifully. Every time I hoped a particular configuration option would be present in WebSite-Watcher, I thought to myself "Most careless developers would have left this out, so it's probably not there", but there it was. I do deduct 1/2 a star because of the fact that the documentation is lacking in some ways, and because the filters work in a somewhat unexpected manner, but overall, this is a really great piece of software. I registered soon after installing it, and even the registration process works well--you receive a key immediately.

zridling reviewed v3.60d Beta 1 on Apr 4, 2004

I absolutely love this program and use it several times a day to check for site updates. Solid as a rock, I have over 110 sites listed and in less than one minute, they're checked for updates. Using Website-Watcher is like fast-forwarding through commercials — it saves you an enormous amount of time throughout the day and week. GET THIS PROGRAM NOW!

guti reviewed v3.60 Beta 13 on Nov 20, 2003

Very useful idea with an average implementation.
Still 5 stars since is the only utility of that kind that I know.

Ragle Gumm reviewed v3.60 Beta 2 on Aug 27, 2003

This program rules. It´s one of the few "must haves".
Another one I can highly recommend because I can´t live without it :-) is ContentSaver from Macropool. I´d give it a 10 out of 5 ....

gammapooka reviewed v3.50 Beta 8 on Sep 7, 2002

I'm a registered user of WSW, i tryed many other programs like this, but i think WSW is the best

thebrix reviewed v3.31 Beta 7 on Dec 31, 2001

I've tried several packages which purport to do what WebSite-Watcher does, and WSW actually works - I've come across no false positives or negatives so far, and traps such as marking a site as updated because a banner ad changed are avoided. For those reasons alone I bought it.

Some of the features, such as the "change preview", are wonderful - you can see the new copy of the page within the program with the changes from the old copy highlighted.

I also like the bookmark handling - WSW merges new bookmarks straight from the browser, removing duplicates (unlike Opera, for example).

Finally, there are a _lot_ of customisations below the surface - WSW is a very complex package - but, fortunately, the default options are OK.

klumy reviewed v3.31 Beta 7 on Dec 30, 2001

One of the best web monitoring tools in the web.
Maybe the best you will ever find.
The software ist updated often, so don't worry your version will get old.

Latch reviewed v3.31 Beta 2 on Nov 26, 2001

I have been using this program since it was new. It's the best website changed-content highlighter that I've ever used. Many apps try poorly to do what this one does well.

more10s reviewed v3.30c on Nov 10, 2001

great program that saves me a lot of time !

Jim reviewed v3.02 Beta 4 on Nov 27, 2000

great program! i visit about 20 websites from my favorites each day, 2 or 3 times a day, now I just set this to check every hour, and it saves alot of time!