WhatPulse

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WhatPulse

Screenshot from WhatPulse 1.5 beta
Developed by	Martijn Smit
Latest release	1.5 beta / August 19, 2006
OS	Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Genre	Key & mouse click counting and cursor distance measuring
License	Freeware
Website	whatpulse.org

WhatPulse is a key counting program which monitors the number of keystrokes and mouseclicks, and more recently the distance the mouse moves, that a user makes over a period of time. The program is not spyware,^[1] as it does not record the keys that are pressed (software that does this is called a keylogger), but instead measures the number of times that keys are pressed. In this way, one can see the number of keystrokes and mouseclicks over a period of time.

The software also enables a user to see the frequency at which he or she types different letters on a keyboard. It enables that user to see how fast he or she is typing over a period of time by taking an average over that period.

The latest version (1.5.0) also records the distance that the user's mouse moves across the screen. The user is able to set what measurement is shown: mile, kilometer, or meter. This enables the user to see just when and how much they use the mouse.

Periodically, one can upload the number of keystrokes that one makes to the server; this is called "pulsing". Users can see where they are in the leaderboard of people who have joined the program and compare themselves against people from their own countries. Users can also join teams, which enables them to compare themselves against people with similar interests. As of January 7th 2008, more than 130,000 users have joined WhatPulse, and that amount is rapidly growing.

There is also a "WhatPulse" anti-cheat team being formed to help stop cheating for WhatPulse. The latest version of Whatpulse (1.5.0) includes many anti-cheat measures.

WhatPulse is a closed-source cross-platform application, compatible with Windows and Mac, but it should be noted that the Mac version of WhatPulse is somewhat lacking when compared to its Windows counterpart.