10 free ways to keep track of changes to any website, without an RSS reader

Filed under: Utilities, Features, Web services

Do you need to know about a new product release the minute it happens? Are you watching Amazon price changes like a hawk? Is your F5 key worn out from overuse? You might want to look into some automatic ways to monitor website changes. I know RSS is the trendy way to keep up with new posts on websites -- I use it all the time -- but some sites don't offer RSS feeds, and some people either don't know how to use RSS or don't like it.

That's where site monitoring services come in. Sure, it might be a little 2005, but it can still help you get the concert tickets you want as soon as they go on sale. Here are 10 alternative ways to track changes to a website. They're all free, and they all work whether the site you're monitoring has an RSS feed or not.


Check4Change

If you're running Firefox, you can install this add-on to periodically check a website for changes. The frequency of the checks is up to you. The major problem with Check4Change is that you have to keep the site you want to monitor open in your browser. You can tell Check4Change to use a pop-up, or an alert sound to notify you, or just bring the browser window to the front.

Update Scanner

Update Scanner is a competing Firefox option that places an icon in the status bar. Click to pop up a panel listing all the sites you're monitoring, so you can visit the sites, manually check them for changes, or set preferences. Update Scanner checks once a day by default, but you can set an interval as short as 5 minutes.
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10 free ways to keep track of changes to any website, without an RSS reader originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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