WebSentinel 1.0

WebSentinel is intended for monitoring changes in the contents of specific webpages. In this respect, the tool lets you enter a list of terms that you want to search. Likewise, it allows setting when or how often you want the scans to be carried out.

The application could not be any easier to use. Tasks are shown in table form, with such columns as URL, Search Time, Search Terms and Countdown. Luckily, you can create a new search task by simply dragging and dropping the desired URL as well as clicking on the Current Browser URL to import the address currently active. Next, you should enter the search terms on the corresponding column. Finally, you can proceed to schedule the task, by entering a specific time.

For additional options, you can open Preferences. For instance, you can set to show a Clock and a Calendar for scheduling tasks and set the frequency at which the tasks are to be repeated. You may also decide to receive email alerts only when the page contains the searched item. There is also the possibility to configure email data, such as address, subject and SMTP mail server info.

All in all, WebSentinel is a good choice when you need to be alerted on the event that a webpage has changed its contents and now includes a specific term. Unfortunately, unlike other tools of this type, the application looks for the term in the entire page as restricting the search to a given region is not supported. Good news is that there is a trial version available on the developer’s page, from where you can also purchase the full version. It is a shame, though, that the current version has not been updated to run on Catalina or Big Sur.