Further Explanation and Examples |
On this page:
What is a window title?
TerminatorX operates by scanning the window titles of all the applications that your users have opened on their workstation. The title of any window is the text at the top of the window in the blue section if your color scheme is standard.
The window:
Has a window title 
The text of the title is Facebook | Welcome to Facebook! - Microsoft Internet Explorer
If we were to view the same page in a different, for example Firefox, we would get a different title:
This has a different window text of Facebook | Welcome to Facebook! - Mozilla Firefox
What does the asterisk (*) do?
So, web page titles are different when looked at using different browsers. Also, some web page titles change if a person is logged in. We need a way of matching the titles even though they might vary.
The asterisk * means 'any set of letters'
So in the Facebook example above, the part which stays the same is Facebook | Welcome to Facebook!. Therefore, we can match the web page when it is viewed in either browser by using:
Facebook | Welcome to Facebook!*
- the * matches any set of letters, both - Microsoft Internet Explorer and - Mozilla Firefox.
In fact Facebook | Welcome to Facebook!* will match any window title that starts with Facebook | Welcome to Facebook!
Most times there is a key set of letters that are common to all the window title for a web site. In the Facebook example, the letters Facebook are somewhere in the titles of each page on the site.
So we can use:
*Facebook*
to match any page on the site. The first * matches any letters before the 'Facebook' and the second * matches any letters after the 'Facebook'
Matches are 'case sensitive' so *Facebook* is NOT the same as *facebook*
Some examples
The following eamples are merely used to illustrate the matching of a window title. They are not suggested as web sites that you should block.
1. Yahoo Games| Window title |  |
| Match text | Yahoo! Games* |
| Explanation | The letters Yahoo! Games appear at the start of the title so we do not need a * at the beginning. The end * matches the browser name (- Microsoft Internet Explorer or - Firefox etc.) If you wanted to block ALL of Yahoo, you could have used *Yahoo* as the letters Yahoo appear on just about every window title throughout the site with some letters before the 'Yahoo' and some letters after. |
2. 888.com - an online casino
| Window title |  |
| Match text | *888.com* |
| Explanation | The letters 888.com appear only at this site. As there are letters before and after the 888.com we need starting and ending asterisks (*) to match those letters. If you wanted to block ALL Poker sites, you could have used *Poker*,*poker*,*POKER* The 3 parts are separated by commas (,) and would match the word Poker and in lower case and upper case. |
3.
www.e-messenger.net now called eBuddy
| Window title |  |
| Match text | *eBuddy* |
| Explanation | The letters eBuddy appear throughout this site. In the above title there are no letters before it and so eBuddy* could have used, the * matching the rest of the title. However, as on other pages on the site, there may be letters before the eBuddy, it is best to put asterisks (*) before and after to match those letters. |