1.1 What are the system requirements for WebLog Expert?
1.2 Is it possible to install the program on a server?
1.3 How can I upgrade to a new version of the program?
1.4 How to backup program settings or transfer them to another computer?

2.1 What are log files?
2.2 Where can I get log files for my site?
2.3 What log formats does the program support?
2.4 Does the program support log files from load balanced servers?
2.5 What log path should I enter in the profile settings?
2.6 Does the program redownload log files each time when using FTP or HTTP log location?

3.1 The program doesn't determine the users' top-level domains, what should I do?
3.2 How does the program determine users' countries, states and cities?
3.3 How to make the program determine users' organizations?
3.4 How does the program determine number of visitors?
3.5 How to get statistics about one site if the log file contains information about several sites hosted on the same server?
3.6 How to filter out requests from spiders (robots)?
3.7 How can I get information on specific directory and its subdirectories only?
3.8 How to filter out requests from specific IP addresses?

4.1 Can the reports contain more than 50 items per table?
4.2 Why don't the reports list referrers, browsers, operating systems?
4.3 Reports always show zero bandwidth, how to fix it?
4.4 Is it possible to view queries in reports?
4.5 How to get reports on screen resolution and color depth?
4.6 How can I e-mail reports from the program?
4.7 How to generate PDF/CSV reports?
4.8 Is it possible to save generated HTML report?
4.9 How can I print reports?
4.10 Where can I find definitions of "hit", "visitor", "page view" and other terms used in reports?
4.11 Is it possible to setup the program so it uses output report location depending on the current date?
4.12 Why doesn't the program show the "Tracked files" report while I enter list of files to track?
4.13 Is it possible to get reports in my native language?

5.1 How does the schedule service work?
5.2 Where can I get information on schedule activity?
5.3 I get error "No log files to analyze" when I run analysis from the scheduler, how can I fix it?
5.4 I get error "Unknown user name or bad password" even though my account name and password are correct, hot to fix it?
5.5 How can I setup scheduler to send reports by e-mail?

1.1 What are the system requirements for WebLog Expert?
The program works under Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008/7/8/2012/10/2016/2019/2022/11.

1.2 Is it possible to install the program on a server?
Yes, you can either use the dynamic HTML reports in a web server (built-in or IIS) or setup the program to generate static reports and place them to folders published by a web server (e.g. IIS).

If you wish to set up the program to generate static reports for multiple domains and place them to specified folders, you can use the batch command line mode instead of creating separate profile for each domain.

1.3 How can I upgrade to a new version of the program?
You can find detailed information on upgrade conditions on the order page.

If you are entitled to a free upgrade or purchased an upgrade, you should download the latest version and install it on top of the old one. Your settings will be preserved.

1.4 How to backup program settings or transfer them to another computer?
You can backup and restore settings using the "File > Backup" and "File > Restore" commands from the main menu.

Alternatively, you can backup and restore settings manually. Program settings are stored in the files located in the subfolders of WebLog Expert data folder (usually C:\Program Files\WebLog Expert under Windows XP/2003 or older and C:\ProgramData\WebLog Expert under Windows Vista or newer). The following files should be backed up or moved to another computer:
Profiles\*.pfl - profiles
Config\Main.cfg - main program settings
Config\IgnoreLists.cfg - ignore lists
Config\Tables.cfg - report tables
Config\Schedule.cfg - schedule settings
WebServer\WebServer.cfg - web server settings

Note: if you use Windows Vista or newer, the C:\ProgramData folder is hidden by default (unlike the Program Files folder), so you need to set Windows Explorer to show hidden files and folders. To do it, click the "Organize" button on the toolbar in Windows Explorer and choose the "Folder and search options" item. Open the "View" tab and select the "Show hidden files, folders, and drives" option.

2.1 What are log files?
Raw log files are files that contain information about website visitor activity. Log files are created by web servers automatically. Each time a visitor requests any file (page, image, etc.) from the site information on his request is appended to a current log file. Most log files have text format and each log entry (hit) is saved as a line of text.

Here is a sample of log entry in Apache Combined format:
213.135.131.79 - - [15/May/2002:19:21:49 -0400] "GET /features.htm HTTP/1.1" 200 9955 "http://www.weblogexpert.com/download.htm" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; Q312461)"

2.2 Where can I get log files for my site?
Most hosters provide access to log files via FTP or control panel. If you have your own web server you can find and change log location in the server settings.

2.3 What log formats does the program support?
WebLog Expert supports IIS (W3C Extended) and Apache log formats. It also supports log files of Amazon S3 and Amazon ELB, as well as log files of servers that use formats similar to Apache (e.g. Nginx) and IIS (e.g. Amazon CloudFront, Microsoft ISA/TMG, and Windows Azure). The program can also read GZ and ZIP compressed logs. You can find more information on the log formats here.

2.4 Does the program support log files from load balanced servers?
Yes, you need to choose the "Multiple" log location mode on the "Log Files" page of the "Profile Properties" dialog, create one or several log locations for each server and check the "Analyze log files from load balanced servers" setting.

2.5 What log path should I enter in the profile settings?
If you download logs manually you need to specify log file path on your drive. You can use wildcards like c:\Logs\*.log to analyze multiple log files at once. [View demo]

You can also setup WebLog Expert to download log files via FTP or HTTP automatically. We recommend using the FTP mode as it is possible to use wildcards to download and analyze multiple logs at once in this case.

2.6 Does the program redownload log files each time when using FTP or HTTP log location?
The program uses log cache to store previously downloaded log files. Every time it needs to download a file, it first checks whether this version of the file is already in cache. The program checks not only the name of the file but also its size and date to determine whether the file has been modified since the last download.

3.1 The program doesn't determine the users' top-level domains, what should I do?
You need to set the "Lookup DNS names" option in your profile settings. [View demo]

3.2 How does the program determine users' countries, states and cities?
If a log file contains IP address of user's host, the program can determine user's country, state and city using an IP-to-geolocation database. If the log file contains already resolved IP addresses (domain names), or the geolocation database is missing while the Lookup DNS names option (see the question above) is enabled, the program determines country by the top-level domain, but cannot determine state and city. In most cases log files contain unresolved IP addresses. Determining country by IP using the geolocation database is more accurate than using domain names.

3.3 How to make the program determine users' organizations?
The program can determine user's organizations using an IP-to-organization database.

3.4 How does the program determine number of visitors?
The program determines the number of visitors by the IP addresses. If a request from an IP address came after some time (timeout) since the last request from this IP, it is considered to belong to a different visitor. The timeout is set to 30 minutes by default but you can change this value in the program options, "Analysis | General" category. Requests from spiders aren't used to determine visitors unless the "Count spiders as visitors" option is enabled.

3.5 How to get statistics about one site if the log file contains information about several sites hosted on the same server?
Use the "Virtual domain" filter.

3.6 How to filter out requests from spiders (robots)?
Create an exclude "Spider" filter and use "*" wildcard (without quotes) as a spider name. [View demo]

3.7 How can I get information on specific directory and its subdirectories only?
Create an include "File" filter with wildcard like "/dir/*" (without quotes). [View demo]

3.8 How to filter out requests from specific IP addresses?
If you wish to filter out requests for specific profile only you can use an exclude "Host" filter. You can also exclude such requests from all profiles using the host ignore list in the program options, "Analysis | Ignore Lists" category.

4.1 Can the reports contain more than 50 items per table?
The program shows top 50 items per table by default but you can change this number (up to 10000) in the program options ("Report | Contents" category) or profile properties. Just select an appropriate item and click the "Properties" button. [View demo]

4.2 Why don't the reports list referrers, browsers, operating systems?
The analyzed log files don't contain information about referrers and user agents (OS, browsers). You should configure your web server so it produces log files that contain such info. You can read more about the supported log formats here.

4.3 Reports always show zero bandwidth, how to fix it?
The analyzed log files don't contain information about bandwidth. You should configure your web server so it produces log files that contain such info. You can read more about the supported log formats here.

4.4 Is it possible to view queries in reports?
You can do it by unchecking the "Truncate text after question marks (?) in file names" option in the program options, "Analysis | General" category.

4.5 How to get reports on screen resolution and color depth?
Log files created by web servers don't include information on screen resolution and color depth by default. However, it is possible to install a special tracking code on the pages of your site so this data will be written to the log files and WebLog Expert will be able to show statistics on it. You can find additional information on it here.

4.6 How can I e-mail reports from the program?
You need to choose "E-mail" report destination on the "Report" page of the "Profile Properties" dialog. In this case the program will automatically email report after analysis.

4.7 How to generate PDF/CSV reports?
Choose PDF/CSV report format on the "Report" page of the "Profile Properties" dialog.

4.8 Is it possible to save generated HTML report?
Yes, you need to save all the files from the report output folder.

4.9 How can I print reports?
We recommend to create reports in PDF format and then print them.

4.10 Where can I find definitions of "hit", "visitor", "page view" and other terms used in reports?
You can find them in the Glossary.

4.11 Is it possible to setup the program so it uses output report location depending on the current date?
You can do it using date macros.

4.12 Why doesn't the program show the "Tracked files" report while I enter list of files to track?
You should check that you entered full file names like /dir/page.htm . You can also use wildcards like *.htm or /dir/*.htm .

4.13 Is it possible to get reports in my native language?
You can find information on it here.

5.1 How does the schedule service work?
The schedule service works as a system service. It runs one task at a time. If there are overlapping tasks, the service queues them and runs as soon as the previous task has been completed.

5.2 Where can I get information on schedule activity?
You can find it in the schedule log, click the "View Log..." button in the "Schedule" dialog to view it.

5.3 I get error "No log files to analyze" when I run analysis from the scheduler, how can I fix it?
If your log files are located on a network drive you need to enter your account name and password in the schedule options. When the scheduler runs as a system service it works under local service account and cannot access network without this authorization information. You also need to use full network (UNC) paths, mapped drives cannot work without manual mapping in this case.

5.4 I get error "Unknown user name or bad password" even though my account name and password are correct, hot to fix it?
You should try to enter your account name in the schedule options as DOMAIN\UserName.

5.5 How can I setup scheduler to send reports by e-mail?
You need to choose "E-mail" report destination in the profile properties. In this case the program will automatically email report after analysis.