Online Investigations

[case2detroit]

Anyone specialize in online investigations. Our department is expanding and need to find some solid resources. I have heard some people use screen-capture tools to annotate time/date, etc.

Any thoughts/ideas/experiences?

[JuniorMPD]

Well for screen captures you just have to hit PrintScrn on your keyboard, then go to MSPaint, Photoshop, PSP, and hit paste.

[sorrel]

A great deal depends on how you intend on using it.

If you need to capture a series of events, lotus screen cam is a gem.
By the way I am not LE, so your needs may be very different.

Now, I use screen cam to teach friends, family...etc how to perform a function, or use a program.
Lotus screen cam can work very well in a teaching setting, or to capture individual screens or a series of moves and/or screens.

The benefit is that you can capture a number of individual screens without having to worry about returning to your desktop to paste them into another program.
This can be a life saver, if you forget to paste your captured screen, it will be erased by the next copy using conventional printscreen. Using screen cam it will be auto loaded into the program just waiting for you to save it and give it a name.

Then I have to say I favor lotus anyways, it still has all the DOS commands in it, it is faster to keep your hands on the keyboard then to have to jump to the mouse all the time. Of course all the mouse commands are there too, it is just after years of using lotus, I find it more robust then Microsoft office.

[dwf]

If you are a computer ninny like me, you are likely as confused by the above post as I am!? Had to take a walk after reading it!

Maybe a little more information about what is you are looking for? We've been involved in several internet related investigations from tracking down a child porn freak to stringing someone up for misuse of the office (i.e. gov't) computer.

I could dig through the case files and see if there is some mention of the resources used. We did not outsource, but managed to find some really cool tools and toys.

[sorrel]

Umm, did not realize I was being confusing.

However dwf did bring up an important issue, ease of use.
And we do not know either your experience with computers or the resources of your dept.

There are many other programs made just to do what you need, as mentioned by dwf.
No one is born knowing how to use a computer or the almost functional programs on it.
There are a lot of different knowledgeable ppl here on the site, of course as with anything in life, each with different experiences.

Since this part of the board can and is read by anyone I suggest it become more of a private conversation. (This is not intended to offend anyone, I just think some things are better kept from the public, myself included).

P.S. Oh and dwf don't blame your walk on me.............lol.

And you are not a ninny.....how much you do or do not know about computers has nothing to do with intellect. Rather it is opportunity, inclination, and available time to burn.

[Stump]

Unfortunately, I have some personal experience. My neighbor was arrested a few months ago for some instances involving the internet.
It is a very difficult thing to investigate. There are MANY hoops and regulations for the investigators to go through. There are many programs they can use to pull up files that people thought were deleted on their computers, and look up histories that people don't realize are stored. I can't go into specifics because I am not sure what procedures I can share or not. :( Sorry.

PS dwf - I don't think you are a ninny because you didn't understand her post - I just think you are a ninny because you are you! :D (smooch! Kidding!!!)

[dwf]

Rough crowd!