Abstract: A method and system is disclosed for providing to a plurality of users information obtained over a computer network, wherein each of the plurality of users each use a remote computer. The method includes allowing a plurality of users each to specify one or more investment preferences such that an investor profile can be created. A server creates a plurality of tasks from the plurality of investment preferences and uses these tasks to monitoring information about financial instruments, such as equities, by executing at least some of the plurality of tasks on user computers. The tasks send to the server information about the one or more financial instruments using task report messages. The server then takes the information and filters it and distributes the information about the financial instruments to the interested users based upon their respective investment preferences.