Anonymity when scanning with Distill Web Monitor

Help and Support
1

Hello.

I’m scanning a website (exchange) for updates in the form of new trade entries. According to the rules, using trading software is not allowed on this site. Does the administration see that I’m scanning the web page every 2 seconds?And if they can see it, is there a way to hide it using an app?

2

If monotonous scanning is determined by the site administration, is it possible to set a random scanning interval in Distill Web Monitor, say, every 15 seconds? For example, the first time the page refreshes every 4 seconds, the second time every 10 seconds, the third time every 6 seconds. And so on, each time differently, within a 15-second window.

3

Unfortunately, I didn’t receive a prompt response here. I’ve already figured out how to set a random scan interval in the settings.
But I can’t understand if it’s possible to trigger the sound alert when only a new post appears on the page? That is, if the same post disappears from the page, there won’t be a notification.

4

@luck31 Thanks for your patience, and great to hear you were able to figure out the random interval setup!

Regarding your follow-up question — to trigger a sound alert only when a new post appears (and not when one disappears), you can configure a condition in your monitor to focus on added content. Here’s how:

  • On your monitor, click the Black Down-Pointing Triangle (▾) and select “Edit Options”.

  • Under Conditions, add a rule like:
    “Added text > is not empty”

This way, alerts will trigger only when Distill detects something new matching that rule.

5

Ok , thank you.

And what about anonymity? Can they see the scan if a random number is set?

6

@luck31 While setting a random scan interval can make monitoring behavior appear more natural, website administrators can still potentially detect page requests — even if they’re spaced out irregularly. Most websites log incoming traffic, including:

  • IP address

  • Request frequency

  • User-Agent headers (browser type, etc.)

Distill’s local monitors work through your browser, so any page loads are similar to manual visits — but frequent checks (even randomized) may still raise flags on sensitive websites.

7

Wait what can a website see when i use the 3 different options of checks and where are these checks running?
Cloud

Any local device

google chrome

are all these being run thru my ip?

8

@808trap Great question — happy to clarify how each monitoring method works in terms of visibility and IP exposure:

:small_blue_diamond: Cloud Monitors

These run on Distill’s cloud infrastructure, not your device. That means:

  • Your IP is not exposed to the monitored websites.

  • Requests come from Distill’s servers (with static IPs).

  • Useful if you want monitoring done in the background without keeping a device on.

:small_blue_diamond: Local Monitors (Chrome extension or Desktop App)

These run directly on your device, using your browser (Chrome extension) or Distill’s desktop app:

  • Requests come from your IP address.

  • Websites will see this traffic as coming from a regular user.