Only PC Tattletale and Spector Pro offer ways to deny access to Web sites. eBlaster offers the option of showing extended keystrokes, which include keys like Shift and Ctrl.Īll four programs we tested record the times that sites are accessed eBlaster and Spector Pro also log the amount of time spent on each Web page. IamBigBrother places keystrokes underneath the application name in linear order, making text more difficult to read. PC Tattletale and Spector Pro both use a split-window approach they list the application in one pane and the keystrokes in another. You can use a key logger to reveal your kids' passwords, though reading through key logs is a tedious task. PC Tattletale also uses colors to differentiate users-which is a nice touch. PC Tattletale and Spector Pro offer the best views, displaying conversations in a split window. Each also lists user names, so you can easily see who said what. All these programs log incoming and outgoing e-mail, as well as conversations in popular instant-messaging clients. And if your teenager finds out you're doing that, it could be a devastating blow to your relationship. Reading someone's personal e-mail or chat sessions may seem unethical. In addition, Spector Pro lets you block chat sessions, e-mail access, peer-to-peer services, or any other app that requires an open port. eBlaster and Spector Pro also capture data for peer-to-peer programs like Kazaa, so you can see what your kids are downloading.
But only eBlaster and Spector Pro provide the total time the given app is open as well as the active time-the amount of time the program remains in the Windows foreground. All of them list the time a program is loaded. These programs do a decent job of tracking applications each user has opened. None of them appear in the Windows Task Manager or the Add/Remove Programs list, but eBlaster and Spector Pro do the best job of hiding: We found no traces of either app in the Windows Registry. Some programs do a better job of hiding themselves than others. In extreme cases, though, it may be necessary to monitor your kids without their knowledge. Ideally, you should inform your children that they are being monitored in the hopes of curbing their behavior and creating a certain level of trust. eBlaster and Spector Pro, on the other hand, provide abundant options for customization-which is great for power users but may perhaps be overwhelming for novices. In fact, IamBigBrother offers little beyond settings for screen capture and keyword filtering. All of the programs track multiple users on the same PC, with everyone bound to the same rules.Īll four of these solutions are intuitive, but IamBigBrother and PC Tattletale really stand out as the easiest to use, partly because they offer fewer options to configure. Unlike other solutions, which let you set up different profiles for multiple users, these programs allow only one profile per computer-unless, in the case of eBlaster or Spector Pro, you purchase additional licenses.
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