Simon

I reviewed this software, thinking it would be useful and easy to setup for several monitoring tasks. I find Simon difficult to use. The filters work counter intuitive. One of the things I tried was to check mail with apple iCloud. I could not get the map working, as it does not support TLS out of the box. I really missed a logfile of what the service is doing under the hoods. There is no (conventional) log, just an output line which does not help much when setting up new rules. Also, the help is very basic. No instructions, just a few simple examples. Left me wondering quite a few times. Waste many hours just to get some simple stuff done. I consider leaving Simon and writing custom scripts by myself, so I have full control, debugging facilities and most importantly: understand exactly what is going on. (btw, many of the services are just scripts in the Simon interface as well). too bad, tried to like it and get stuff done quickly....

Powerful and reliable, but expensive if you don't need all the features, and I found it complicated to set up initially. My main use is monitoring the pages of some internet sellers who occasionally put up stuff which sells out quickly. Simon can do this, of course, but not with the default settings, since many web pages have ads, counters and other junk that trigger false positives. So setting up an alert in Simon requires digging around in the HTML of the webpage, then adding "block filters" that check for changes in only the parts you're interested in. I feel that some kind of setup wizard could make this task a lot easier.

I'm trying to download it - both via the MacUpdate Desktop AND by downloading it via the MacUpdate download page.. but all I'm getting is "An error occurred Application error" on the download... Is there a problem with the MacUpdate download link??

Excellent app. French localisation should be great but not compulsory :)

Great monitoring software. I check customers internet connection, mailservers and voip servers.

I was thinking of using this, but I managed to reliably, repeatedly, crash the software within 1 minute of using it.

Pity because I would like software with this functionality. Perhaps if they could guarantee a fix I would consider it, but I guess it won't be at this good price again!

This software is functionally very comprehensive. It can accomplish tasks that few other titles can. But, the new interface is atrocious. The goal of making everything so light, so absolute minimal contrast makes it so you have to stare at the screen, just to find out what is going on.

I really want to love this software. It performs a task we really need. But, the interface has completely killed its viability in our environment. I wish developers would stop trying to copy everything Ive does and make an interface that fits the application it is used in. This is not about making everything disappear. In fact, it is about making the important stuff appear, and not without having to be six inches from the display. Monitoring software should be good at seated position or at 5 feet. Intermapper and Lithium understood that. Your old version might have been a little busy for an interface, but functionally, it worked so much better than this one.

We were ready to purchase three licenses when we heard about the new Simon. We keep evaluating the trial, but in the end, we are not investing in this with this interface. The old systems will have to do.

Outstanding software ! Master Value. I use it to monitor 8 sites : http/ftp/imap ... + . Never had any errors

It simply works, wonderful and easy to use interface, if you are an admin, webmaster or anyone needing a third eye to keep on monitoring servers and network resources Simon is the right tool for the job.

I love this app. Keeps track of 6 sites on three different ISPs.

I started using Simon about two weeks ago. Since then, it has done exactly what I hoped it would - let me know when my website servers are down without disrupting my workflow or hindering system memory. I'm quite impressed and look forward to seeing just how reliable my web hosts are. :)

I've used Simon for several years. Quietly monitoring my own sites for uptime and speed. I've always been impressed with the stability of the product. Over the years, new features have been added and I've really taken for granted just how powerful Simon is. With v3.0 I'm very pleased to be able to fine-tune filters and monitor my sites with more granularity.

I really like Simon - its probably not replacing a permanent monitoring solution but it discovered problems with some off my webservers so often that i really don't want to miss it :)

I cannot speak highly enough of this product and company. Simon allows monitoring of websites to be performed in the background and records of up/down time to be kept. It also allows sophisticated filtering/conditions to be set up on the sites checking for changes etc. The interface is nice and clean and I had this application downloaded, installed and starting to do its job within 15 minutes of purchasing. IMHO - Simon is the best in its class on the Mac. A word about the company...by far the best customer experience I have had with a software company in a very long time. Quick and honest replies...a real pleasure to deal with. Product, price and customer service are all winners for me!

Lets face it monitoring your website is much the same as backing up your computer, you just don't think about it until you have a problem. If you don't use a program such as Simon then the first time you may know you have a problem will be when you accidentally find the problem or even worse, like me, when you are officially given a take down notice because your website had been hijacked for a week. Simon is a fantastic way of ensuring your personal or business websites are running smoothly and can even let you monitor other (competitors) sites for changes. I've always found Simon to be easy to use and configure and once set up there really is nothing you need to do other than start it and let it alert you to any changes or downtime. I've been using Simon 2 for a few years and after using the beta version of Simon 3 for a little while I can say without reservation that this is the best version of Simon yet. It has managed to remain a simple to use program but has packed far more features into what was already a pretty feature packed program. I would have to say Simon 3 really is a necessary upgrade for existing users, there are just simply too many new features and refinements to not consider an upgrade and if you have any type of web presence or website that you care about and don't have this program then you owe it to yourself or your business to buy this program.

This is one of those programs that "runs in the background" and therefore is seldom noticed. It just works! But it's saved my bacon on more than one occasion when a site or blog went down. It pretty much just works out of the box - not hard to figure out at all. Also, I've never had an issue with it. But the developer has a good rep so I suspect I'd have no problem getting help if I needed it.

Oh man, no one got the free copy? Boo!

OK, I see there is still no winner, so I am going to check if I am lucky enough to grab it during last minutes. Sorry for spamming.

Have used this for about a year and it has been very good.

excellent app, just a bit more than I would probably need.