> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://syteca.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# URL Monitoring Parameter

> Record the browser addresses visited on Windows and macOS Clients, alongside screen captures, to see which websites users have visited.

<Note>
  Applies to Windows and macOS Clients.
</Note>

URL monitoring records the text entered in the browser address bar at the same time as a screen capture, so investigators can see which websites a Client's user visited. Combine it with an [alert](/docs/session-monitoring/alerts) to get notified whenever a user opens a forbidden URL.

## Enable it

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Monitoring tab">
    On the **Editing Client** / **Editing Client Group** page, select the **Monitoring \[Windows/macOS]** tab.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enable URL monitoring">
    Scroll to the **URL Monitoring** section and select **Enable URL monitoring**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Optionally limit to top and second-level domains">
    Select **Monitor top and second-level domain names only** to record just the domain (for example `facebook.com`) instead of the full URL (for example `facebook.com/johndoe`).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Optionally disable URL monitoring for Firefox">
    If you notice performance issues or crashes in Firefox on monitored endpoints, select **Disable for Firefox**. URL monitoring will continue as normal in other supported browsers, such as Chrome, Edge, and Opera. *(Windows only.)*
  </Step>
</Steps>

Monitored URLs appear in the Session Player's **URL** column and **Details** area.

<Frame caption="The URL Monitoring section on the Monitoring tab.">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/syteca/muaukZ_40R_8Outj/images/url-monitoring-config-1.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=muaukZ_40R_8Outj&q=85&s=deffa679ba5839d97d6d4dcb43e43890" alt="Url Monitoring Config 1" width="1920" height="984" data-path="images/url-monitoring-config-1.png" />
</Frame>

### Example behavior

| `.ini` file parameter                       | Result                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| ------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `URLMonitoring=0`<br />`MonitorTopDomain=0` | No URL recorded — activity title shows only the application, for example "John Doe - Google Chrome."                                                                                               |
| `URLMonitoring=1`<br />`MonitorTopDomain=0` | Full URL recorded, for example "John Doe - Google Chrome (URL: `https://facebook.com/john.doe`)."                                                                                                  |
| `URLMonitoring=1`<br />`MonitorTopDomain=1` | Only the top/second-level domain recorded, for example "John Doe - Google Chrome (URL: `https://facebook.com`)."                                                                                   |
| `DisableURLMonitoringForFirefox=0`          | URL monitoring in Firefox works as configured by `URLMonitoring` and `MonitorTopDomain` above (default).                                                                                           |
| `DisableURLMonitoringForFirefox=1`          | URL monitoring in Firefox is disabled, regardless of the `URLMonitoring` and `MonitorTopDomain` settings. Other browsers, such as Chrome, Edge, and Opera, continue to be monitored as configured. |

## Limitations

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Windows">
    * Only standard browsers are supported: Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Internet Explorer.
    * URLs from Metro versions of Chrome and Internet Explorer aren't monitored.
    * URLs entered in web anonymizers aren't monitored (proxy server anonymizers are supported).
    * URLs can't be monitored if the browser has no address bar (for example, due to user settings).
    * Unicode symbols in domain names aren't monitored.
    * The **Disable for Firefox** option isn't available for the **PAM Endpoints** group.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="macOS">
    * Only standard browsers are supported: Chrome and Safari.
    * URLs entered in web anonymizers aren't monitored (proxy server anonymizers are supported).
    * URLs can't be monitored if the browser has no address bar (for example, due to user settings).
    * The **Disable for Firefox** option for URL monitoring isn't currently supported on macOS.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Windows Clients" icon="windows" href="/docs/administration/clients/windows">
    Full Windows Client installation and configuration reference.
  </Card>

  <Card title="macOS Clients" icon="apple" href="/docs/administration/clients/macos">
    Full macOS Client installation and configuration reference.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Alerts" icon="bell" href="/docs/session-monitoring/alerts">
    Trigger notifications on visits to forbidden URLs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Filtering parameters" icon="sliders-horizontal" href="/docs/session-monitoring/recording/filtering">
    Limit which applications, users, or time windows are monitored.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>