OPERATING SYSTEM SHUTDOWN REVERSAL AND REMOTE WEB MONITORING

• US 20100153951A1
• Filed: 12/17/2008
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Safe Outlook Corporation
• Original Assignee: Computer Parenting, LLC
• Inventors: Jones, David K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,719,820 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/302 where the computing system component is a software system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3089 Monitoring arrangements determined by the means or processing involved in sensing the monitored data, e.g. interfaces, connectors, sensors, probes, agents software debugging using additional hardware using a specific debug interface G06F11/3656; performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring G06F11/3466
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/442 Shutdown
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence

Abstract

A method is disclosed for reversing operating system shutdown, including: detecting, by a monitoring program, an attempt by a user to log off, shut down, or restart a computer containing an operating system capable of running a plurality of program windows; determining if any program window is still open in the operating system; automatically cancelling, by the monitoring program, the logoff, shutdown, or restart request if it is determined that a program window is still open; and attempting to close any open program window by the monitoring program.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of reversing operating system shutdown, the method comprising:

detecting, by a monitoring program, an attempt by a user to log off, shut down, or restart a computer containing an operating system capable of running a plurality of program windows;

determining if any program window is still open in the operating system;

automatically cancelling, by the monitoring program, the logoff, shutdown, or restart request if it is determined that a program window is still open; and

attempting to close any open program window by the monitoring program.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reinitiating the logoff, shutdown, or restart of the computer system after all the windows are closed within a predetermined length of time.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

launching two programs when the computer starts up, wherein the two programs comprise the monitoring program for monitoring actions by the user remotely through a web browser of a communication device, and a watchdog program;

wherein each of the two programs continues to launch the other of the two programs every predetermined number of seconds to prevent either of the two programs from being disabled.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

disabling all system programs run by the operating system during normal operation that could be used to prevent the two programs from running or restarting each other.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the system programs comprise at least one of a registry editor, a task manager, an operating system configuration program, and a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

detecting by at least one of the two programs a command to restart the computer; and

rewriting instructions of the programs to an operating system of the computer to ensure the programs are properly restarted when the computer is restarted.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking and disabling a plurality dialogs created when the user attempts to delete browsing history or Internet cookies.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the open program window comprises an editing program window, the method further comprising:

sending instructions by the monitoring program to the open program windows to close; and

prompting the user to save work in the editing program window.

9. A computer-implemented method of remote monitoring and control of a computer over a Web, the method comprising:

providing a program to be installed on a client computer, wherein when installed, the program communicates over the Web with a server through web-based code, wherein a plurality of commands reside on the server to provide remote access to the client computer by the server, wherein the client computer and the server intercommunicate through standard secure web form posts that automatically communicate through a port of the client computer that bypasses typical firewall settings;

enabling, by the server, a third party monitoring device coupled with the server to reconfigure the plurality of commands residing thereon such that the server remotely reconfigures a plurality of activity control settings on the client computer, wherein the activity control settings include a plurality of rules, and wherein the program regularly requests new and updated commands from the server for execution by the client computer;

enabling, by the server, monitoring of activity of a user as performed on the client computer through a web browser of the third party monitoring device;

detecting, by the server, an action taken by the user in a program or system window of the client computer that violates at least one of the plurality of rules; and

receiving, by the server, monitored data from the client computer containing recordation of the rule violation and activity of the user on the client computer.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the program on the client computer automatically responds to the rule violation by taking action in accordance with an activity control setting stored on the client computer.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

enabling an operator of the third party monitoring device to send a manual command to the server so that the server remotely controls a program window in response to the operator noting a violation by the user in the program window.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the program comprises first and second programs comprising a monitoring program for monitoring the activity of the user and a watchdog program, respectively, the method further comprising:

launching the first and second programs when the client computer starts up, wherein each of the first and second programs continues to launch the other of the first and second programs every predetermined number of seconds to prevent either of the first and second programs from being disabled.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

installing the program in a folder of the client computer that requires administrative access or a password for files to be deleted therefrom; and

scrambling dates or times associated with the files so that locating them chronologically in the folder by the user is made more difficult.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

disabling, by the client computer, all system programs run by an operating system thereof during normal operation that could be used to disable the program, wherein the system programs comprise at least one of a registry editor, a task manager, an operating system configuration program, and a combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

tracking and disabling a plurality dialogs created when the user attempts to delete browsing history or Internet cookies.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

storing monitored data, gathered through monitoring the activity of the user, locally on the client computer;

encrypting the monitored data; and

sending the encrypted monitored data to a remote server for storage thereon.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the monitored data comprises names of active or open windows or names of a title bar or window of a web browser.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

sending the encrypted monitoring data also to the third party monitoring device; and

enabling the decryption of the monitoring data for display through the web browser of the third party monitoring device.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein detecting a rule violation comprises detecting opening an unauthorized program, or accessing a web page having an unauthorized term in its title bar or window name.

20. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

enabling the server to send an alert email or message to the third party monitoring device through the Web in response to detecting the rule violation action.

21. A computer for reversing operating system shutdown, the computer including a processor and having installed thereon a monitoring program, the client computer containing an operating system capable of running a plurality of program windows, wherein the monitoring program in conjunction with the processor:

detects an attempt by a user to log off, shut down, or restart the computer;

determines if any program window is still open in the operating system;

automatically cancels the logoff, shutdown, or restart request if it is determined that a program window is still open; and

attempts to close any program window that remain open to access by the user.

22. The computer of claim 21, wherein the monitoring program in conjunction with the processor reinitiates the logoff, shutdown, or restart of the computer system after all the windows are closed within a predetermined length of time.

23. The computer of claim 21, wherein the processor launches two programs when the computer starts up, wherein the two programs comprise the monitoring program for monitoring actions by the user remotely through a web browser of a communication device, and a watchdog program, wherein each of the two programs continues to launch the other of the two programs every predetermined number of seconds to prevent either of the two programs from being disabled.

24. The computer of claim 23, wherein the monitoring program or watchdog program disables all system programs run by the operating system during normal operation that could be used to prevent the two programs from running or restarting each other.

25. The computer of claim 24, wherein the system programs comprise at least one of a registry editor, a task manager, an operating system configuration program, and a combination thereof.

26. The computer of claim 21, wherein the open program window comprises an editing program window, wherein the monitoring program:

sends instructions to the open program windows to close; and

prompts the user to save work in the editing program window.

27. A system for remote monitoring and control of a computer over a Web, the system comprising:

a server having a processor to provide a program to a client computer to be installed thereon, wherein when installed, the program communicates over the Web with the server through web-based code, wherein a plurality of commands reside on the server to provide remote access to the client computer by the server, wherein the client computer and the server intercommunicate through standard secure web form posts that automatically communicate through a port of the client computer that bypasses typical firewall settings;

wherein the server;

enables a third party monitoring device coupled with the server to reconfigure the plurality of commands such that the server remotely reconfigures a plurality of activity control settings on the client computer, wherein the activity control settings include a plurality of rules, and wherein the program regularly requests new and updated commands from the server for execution by the client computer;

enables monitoring through a browser of the third party monitoring of activity of a user as performed on the client computer;

detects an action taken by the user in a program or system window of the client computer that violates one of the plurality of rules; and

receives monitored data from the client computer containing activity of the user on the client computer.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the program on the client computer automatically responds to the rule violation by taking action in accordance with an activity control setting stored on the client computer.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the server enables an operator of the third party monitoring device to send manual commands to manually control, to include close, any number of system or installed programs of the client computer.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the server sends an alert email or message to a mobile device of the operator of the third party monitoring device in response to detecting the rule violation action.

31. A computer recordable media including program code that causes a computer to perform the operations of:

detecting, by a monitoring program, an attempt by a user to log off, shut down, or restart a computer containing an operating system capable of running a plurality of program windows;

determining if any program window is still open in the operating system;

automatically cancelling, by the monitoring program, the logoff, shutdown, or restart request if it is determined that a program window is still open; and

attempting to close any open program window by the monitoring program.

32. The computer recordable media of claim 31, wherein the program code causes the computer to further perform the operation of:

reinitiating the logoff, shutdown, or restart of the computer system after all the windows are closed within a predetermined length of time.