MING Chat Spy
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User Guide

Installation

Once the file has downloaded completely, please open the folder containing the file you downloaded.

Double-click the installation file you just downloaded to start installing MING Chat Spy on your computer.

At the end of installation, you must install the WinPCap 3.1 package.

Starting Chat Spy for the First Time

After you start MING Chat Spy, just click the "Start" buttonor click menu item Control->Start to start capturing packets. Then a window will show as below:

After select a correct network interface, you should select users to monitor.  You can select up to 10 PCs on the LAN to monitor.

Then all computers in the network of the interface will be found and displayed in the left:

Main Window

Main window is divided into two parts: the left is the list of computers in the network; the right shows the information of the computer.

Computer List

The Computer List shows all the computers in the network. The computer's name displayed can be IP address, PC Name or custom name. If the computer that has a custom name does not exist, the Icon will be displayed. Icon means that this computer has received new messages. At the same time, an item (such as +participant's name) will be displayed under the computer.

Conversations Tab

The Conversations Tab shows list of all active conversations captured in the computer. The conversation with bold font means that administrator has not read it. Double clicks on the conversation item can view the content of the conversation.

User Tab

The User Tab shows some information of the computer selected. Field "Start time" shows when the capture started. "Summary" area shows summary of all kinds of instant messengers. Field "All packets" shows all messengers packets captured in this computer. Field "Time" shows the chat time.  Field "Total time" shows all the chat time of different messengers. "Messengers" area shows information of each messenger in the computer. 
Message Archive

All conversations are stored in a local database. You can analyze the data based on the participants, time or date, or you can scan the conversations for keywords. 

In the Message->Message Archive Window, you can browse conversations in the database of messages. 

Double-click one conversation item to view the content of the conversation.

Click "Output" button to output the conversation to a file.

In the Message->Search Window, you can search conversations by keyword. After input keyword string and click "Search" button, the conversations that contain the keyword will be displayed as below. 

You can click "Stop" button to cancel it. Select one conversation and click "Messages" button (or double-click) to view. 

Statistics

You can click menu item Tools->Statistics to view statistics of messages, and get statistics result of one computer or all computers in the network. "Summary" area shows summary of all kinds of instant messengers. "Messengers" area shows information of different messenger. Underside, there are a distribution figure of different messengers usage by messages or time. 

Top Users

Here, you can view top users by date, time,  messenger or messages.

Block chat conversations

You can block chat conversations of any instant messengers. Just click "Setup" button on "Users" page of the main window to configure it.

Stealth Mode

Click menu item Control->Settings to Enable stealth Mode. When the settings are shown the top option is "Run at Windows Start up". Click the Ok button to save your changes. Chat Spy is now set to run when Windows starts. (If you also choose the "Stealth" mode option Chat Spy will not be visible and will only be accessible using the hot key.) If "Automatically minimize to system tray when run" item is  selected, this option will cause Chat Spy to be minimized to the system tray when Chat Spy is run. This option is recommended if you choose to use Normal Mode.

In Stealth Mode, you must set a hotkey. The default hotkey is CTRL+ALT+0. You can use second hotkey to prevent unauthorized users from "guessing" Chat Spy's hot key simply by trying all possible combinations.

You can use a password to access MING Chat Spy. This includes viewing chat logs, changing settings, and so on.

Automatic E-Mailing

The E-Mailing feature will automatically e-mail you the chat logs at a set time. The chat logs will be sent as plain-text attachments readable by any text editor such as Notepad. The e-mailed chat logs will have a .txt extension.

To enable and configure the e-mailing select the "Enable email delivery".

Description of Fields:

  • Send to - E-Mail address to receive the chat logs.

  • Send from - E-Mail address used to send the e-mail (may be the same as Send to)

  • Username & Password - User account information (When use SMTP authentication login)

  • SMTP host - This is the SMTP server used to send your e-mail. If you are unsure what to put here, contact your ISP.

  • SMTP Port - This is the port used by the SMTP server. In most cases, this is 25.

  • Mode - if "Send at midnights" is selected, Chat Spy will e-mail you at about 12:00pm.

To test your e-mail settings click the Test EMail Settings button. A test message will be sent using the e-mail settings.

Automatic FTP

The FTP feature will automatically uploaded chat logs to the FTP server at a set time. 

Description of Fields:

  • User Name - The user name required to log in.

  • Password - The password required to log in.

  • FTP Host - The IP address or host name of the FTP server (do not include ftp://).

  • Port - This is the port used by the FTP server. In most cases, this is 21.

  • Directory - The directory on the FTP server to store the chat logs.

To test your FTP settings click the Test FTP Settings button and Chat Spy will attempt to connect to the FTP server. You will be notified if the test connection was successful.

How to Achieve Maximum Security

If you activate stealth mode, please follow the guidelines below to make Chat Spy as secure as possible. Not all recommendations are required. Please use the ones that fit your situation and needs the best.

  • Test Chat Spy before it is used by other users.
    This is a very important recommendation. For best results, after installing and configuring Chat Spy please become familiar with Chat Spy by letting it log some test instant messages. By doing this, you will become to accustomed to Chat Spy and its features. This will also help you to determine if any of the following recommendations would be helpful. 

  • Install Chat Spy in a different location.
    When installing Chat Spy, you have the option of which folder to install Chat Spy to. The default folder is C:\Program Files\MINGChatMonitor. You can select a different location, something more inconspicuous as C:\Windows\ZG, and not affect Chat Spy's operation. 

  • Remove Program folder.
    The default program folder is "MING Chat Spy" ( or "MING Chat Spy Home" ). You can remove the program folder by right-click "MING Chat Spy" program folder and delete it.

  • Delete desktop icon.
    When installing Chat Spy, it will create a desktop icon "MING Chat Spy" ( or "MING Chat Spy Home" ). You can remove the desktop icon.

  • Rename the MCM.exe file.
    When Chat Spy is running, you may notice it in the Processes list of the Task Manager on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. While it is impossible to remove a process from this list, you can rename the MCM.exe file so it is not as noticeable. You may rename MCM.exe to any file name as long as it ends in .exe. Examples include: zg.exe, solar.exe, and so on. 

  • Use two Hot Keys
    If you just use one Hot Key, it is possible that the user of the computer may discover Chat Spy is running by accidentally pressing the hot key. You can avoid this by setting Chat Spy to use two Hot Keys. The two hot keys must be pressed in ascending order to Show Chat Spy. This will prevent any accidental discovery of Chat Spy.