Mouse/keystroke capture utility for debugging?

[jhsachs]

I'm trying to debug a problem that a user can reproduce with fair regularity, but I can't reproduce at all. I need a tool that will tell me exactly what the user did in the browser to make the problem occur.

 

I'm looking for recommended tools. I think these are all the requirements:

• It's very simple to install and use. The user will have to do this herself, and I can only help her by phone or email.
   
  
• It's very simple to remove when we're done using it.
   
  
• It operates only in the browser, and preferably only in a particular window or with a particular domain name. I don't want something that will capture passwords and bank account numbers!
   
  
• It's reasonably easy for me to interpret the results.
   
  
• Any common Windows browser is OK, but Firefox is preferred.
   
  

What's available?

[kicken]

Can the user re-produce it on-demand, or is it a random occurrence?  If they can re-produce it on demand the easiest thing to do probably would be to try and get them to use something like teamviewer to let you monitor their session remotely and watch what they do.

 

Otherwise what your looking for is basically a keylogger program, most of which are designed to capture everything and not be that easy to remove.  Perhaps someone else knows of something out there fitting your requirements though.

 

[jhsachs]

Teamviewer looks like it might be a useful tool here. I haven't tried installing it, but they appear to have made it really easy.

 

One problem is the cost. A little research made it clear that my use would be considered commercial, and although non-commercial use is free, for commercial use it's pretty darned expensive.

 

I came across another application called Camstudio, from the Camtasia people, which is open source and thus completely free. It doesn't have a collaboration function. It records a session on the user's computer which they could e-mail to me. That might work even better.