The Portable Freeware Collection Forums

Key Catcher is a simple, portable keylogger written in AutoHotkey. It is intended primarily as an admin tool, not for spying on anyone!

Also included is Mouse Trap. It records mouse activity to the same log file used by Key Catcher. They can be used together or separately as needed.

The main advantage of Key Catcher is that it is unlikely to set of any malware alarms. The main disadvantage is that the method used by AHk to monitor keyboard activity is 'shallow', and so may not work in some circumstances. Both programs should work in 2000/XP but I do not know about Vista or Win7. I simply do not have access to them for testing. Have a look at the readme.txt file or ask if you have any questions.

Please play with both programs and let me know any ideas for improvement.

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I've been looking for something like this. Can you include the source code?

As stated in the readme, for now I will provide the source on request. I fully intend to release it with the source eventually, but only when it is further along in its development. At this point it is mostly a programming project.

Is the log file not generated until something is typed??

Could you add the ability to open log files from the application??

Further could you set the program to "play" text log files into a text file? eg: backspaces,
and spaces included along with shift key for capitalization etc,
so I can recover work after bad editing choices.

(sleepy editing is as bad as drunk driving sometimes for writing)

1. Currently the log files are named with that day's date, so yes, it waits till it has something to log before generating the file if it does not already exist. This is intended to prevent log files from getting overly large. This behavior is not set in stone; if someone wanted to argue for a better option I would be glad to consider it.

2. I would very much like to add an Open Log File option to the tray menu. It is something that would come a little later though, after I am sure the program is functioning satisfactorily.

3. I do not think I understand the question. Would you be kind enough to elaborate on what ""play" text log files into a text file" means?

Thank you for your interest. Knowing someone may actually have a use for my programs is an excellent motivation to keep working on them.

Its great that this has been created in AHK and you know I always support your projects, but have you tried Hooker? As you know programs like this can have serious consequences!

dmg wrote:As stated in the readme, for now I will provide the source on request. I fully intend to release it with the source eventually, but only when it is further along in its development. At this point it is mostly a programming project.

I know it sounds crappy to get something for free and then ask for more, but my frustrations with closed/binary-only software have been mounting for a while now.

By play I mean all keystrokes repeated into an rtf, or txt file, I mean retyping the entire sequence including backspaces, spaces, tabs, and shifts, etc. (shifts for capitalization, backspaces for deletions, etc)

Effectively I would like to be able to play the recording (made by your key logger) of a document I have typed into a new document.
(of course I am hoping your logger will catch all or most keystrokes, so I can replace a document without cut/paste and deletions, removing spaces etc)

@guinness
I am aware of Hooker but have never tried it. I don't personally have much use for a keylogger. I just wanted to try writing one as a project. I am aware that any such software has the potential for misuse, but I intend to include a strong admonition against illegal use, and the application itself is not designed to be stealthy. There will be a permanent tray icon, and possibly even an on start splash screen. If anyone has any specific concerns I would be happy to hear them.

@donald
Wow! That sounds like it would be a very nice function. Unfortunately it is both outside my intentions for Key Catcher and beyond my current programming abilities. Sorry.

It sounds like what you are really looking for is a keyboard macro recorder. Or at least an editor with an advanced undo system.

key Catcher is now in beta! Yahoo!

http://www.mediafire.com/?8lxm1imhhdclxu7

Features:
Monitors most common keys and key combinations.
Writes activity to log.txt in the application folder.
The log can be managed from the tray menu.
Portable, can run from removable media and makes no changes to the host system.
Open source, written in AutoHotkey (http://www.autohotkey.com).

Known bugs:
When read from the log some text may be a little confusing do to the endkey requirement. (see recognized keys file)
Sometimes use of copy and paste keyboard shortcuts result in odd symbols being written to the log file.

Please let me know of any bugs or problems you find. As well as any ideas for improvement. A list of recognized keys is included; feel free to recommend other keys you think it should cover.

I don't know if this is spam? But I am going to be kind and answer

There is a new development of AutoHotKey called AutoHotKey_L, the original AutoHotKey is now called AutoHotKey Basic. It appears that the development of AutoHotKey Basic has ceased, so it's suffice to say that AutoHotKey_L is the new version of AutoHotKey. Plus for those interested in starting to use AutoHotKey, I would recommend SciTE4AutoHotkey_3.