OCN Whatpulse Setup Guide and FAQ

CONTENTS

1. FAQ
2. Installation Guide
3. Troubleshooting Guide

FAQ


What is Whatpulse?

Whatpulse is a small client that can be installed on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS to keep track of your keyboard and mouse activity. It can keep track of how many keystrokes you take, how often you press each key, mouse clicks, and how far your mouse has traveled. It does not record WHAT you do, only how many times/how far you do it.

What’s the point?

In reality, there isn’t one. By that I mean there are no rewards, no real end goal, and no point to the competition. You can see how often you use your peripherals and it is extremely addicting. It is fun and just one more thing to have on your PC.

Competition? I thought it was just a simple program…

Oh yes, there are team, rivalries, and other such nonsense that goes with any competition. OCN has a team and you can find how to join later on in the guide.

How do I check my stats?

You can view your stats online at Whatpulse.org. When you install Whatpulse, you will create an account if you do not already have one. The client on your computer will send your statistics online to be saved. It will break them down by what computer they were used on.

Couldn’t people just cheat and write a script that pushes buttons?

Yes they can. And they have in the past. But it is pretty silly to cheat in something that doesn’t really do anything and it is quite easy to tell when someone is averaging 500 keys per second.

Where do I download Whatpulse?

You can grab the correct client for your OS from the Whatpulse website .

How do I install? and What settings should I set?

Please see the next post in this thread for that information.

WHATPULSE INFOMATION:

Whatpulse Privacy Policy


See next post for the Installation Guide
Edited by IEATFISH - 5/10/11 at 6:48pm

Installation Guide



Program Installation

Once you have downloaded the correct version of Whatpulse, proceed to install it. You can get it here. In this guide, the Windows client will be used. When installation finished, run Whatpulse from the installer option, Start Menu, etc.

You will be presented with a Setup Assistant to help you configure Whatpulse and associate a Whatpulse account. If you have an account already, chose that option and continue. Assuming you don’t have an account, choose a username and password. The field asking for a Computer Name is used to differentiate computers you may be using Whatpulse on. So give it a name descriptive enough that you can tell which computer you were referring to. Later on, you can add more computers such as a work PC or laptop. You should only add computer you personally use as multiple users on a single account can cause issues. This screen also has the option to set proxy information if you need to use one.



Tray Icon and Menu

Once you have completed the account settings, the window will disappear and you will notice that a small icon that has appeared in the notification area. Right click it to see the options you are given.

The icon:


The pop-up menu:




Here are the different options you are presented with in the right-click menu of the tray icon:

Pulse Now – A pulse is the term for the sending of information. Whatpulse sends the statistics only when you have told it (unless we set it up automatically, keep reading). This is called a pulse and can contain a single keystroke or millions. To manually Pulse, right click the tray icon and click Pulse Now. You will see the icon turn into an arrow pointing up until the pulse has completed.

Account – Here you can see some Account details, link directly to your Online Stats, reset your token, and logoff from your account.

Preferences – Pretty clear, use this to access the program preferences.

Open Geek Window – Opens a small window that contains your stats since your last pulse and overall.

Key Frequencies – If you have told Whatpulse to keep track of your key frequencies, this will bring up a window with the data and give you the option to make an image graphically showing the usage.


Extras – Creates Dynamic Images, often known as signature banners.
Help & Support – You can figure this out…I hope…

Exit – Exits Whatpulse. Remember that just closing an open Whatpulse preference window or geek window does not close the program. You must exit from this option.

Adjusting Preferences

Open up the Preferences window and have a look around. They are rather self-explanatory but I’ll mention a few items I find especially useful. You’ll find some extra ways to manually pulse. Adjust the settings to your liking. At the bottom of the Program Settings tab is a section called Timers. Here you can set certain parameters for Whatpulse to manually send a Pulse. This is generally a good idea to do as it isn’t uncommon for large key counts to become corrupt or for computer crashes to wipe out the keys you otherwise might have pulsed. I have mine set to pulse every 10,000 keys. You can use Whatpulse for a few days to see what options would fit best with your usage.



In the Program Settings #2 tab, you will find a few useful toggles. You can disable the logging of key frequencies. It will tell you how many key presses you have, just not which keys were pressed. There are also options to disable any of the other ways Whatpulse can log your usage. Whatpulse is NOT a keylogger but if you feel more comfortable disabling the key portion of the program, you would do that here. You’ll find more Proxy Settings and settings for the geek window in the other tabs.

Feel free to adjust things to your liking and there you have it, you’re done with the program! You can now view your stats online and see your (probably more than you thought) usage of your mouse and keyboard. You won't see anything, remember, until you Pulse either manually or automatically at your set times.



Joining Teams

”WAIT A MINUTE!” , you yell. ”YOU SAID OCN HAD A TEAM I COULD JOIN!?!” … Can’t I join?

Of course you can! Let’s go get you signed up for the OCN Whatpulse Team. While I’ve explained the local client settings, I haven't even touched on the online portion. I’ll leave that for you to find out. To join the OCN team follow these steps:

1. Access your account here
2. Click the button that says Teams.
3. Choose Join a Team.
4. Type OCN
5. Choose the team named OCN – Overclock.net

That’s it, you’re on! You can now click the Team Stats button on the left of the site or go straight to this link to view OCN’s team stats. Feel free to head to our OCN Team thread to talk smack (friendly banter, of course), discuss events, etc.



See next post for the Troubleshooting Guide.
Edited by IEATFISH - 5/13/11 at 10:06am

Troubleshooting Guide

Under Construction

I've been using it for years and so have tons of other people. It doesn't record how much is done in order, just a tick mark for each time, if that makes sense. No worries about being paranoid, though, it's your own choice for sure.