Good Monitoring Software

I looked in the downloads section for monitoring software and am not sure if the right thing is there for me. Any suggestions for monitoring software, as far knowing what users are doing on the computer? Maybe one that takes screen prints every so often? I've heard of programs that take screen shots, but don't know any of their names. It's probably marketed as software for parental control of children's activities on a computer.

This is for my mom, who would not do well reading a log file (pictures are better). She wants to monitor what her employees are doing. Another option that might be nice, but not required of this, would be software that would also allow my mom to place restrictions on Internet usage, etc.

Thanks!

 

We really need to know more about your network to be able to advise the best course of action. Is it a Windows network? If so, what version? Is it on a domain? What type of access do users have to their machines? Are they administrators, or limited users? How many users? (believe me, this IS a factor - policing hundreds of people in the manner you are suggesting would be a nightmare, IMO - imagine going through all the screenshots of all those users!!)

You can actually block websites right in the browser with Internet Explorer, and then use group policies to restrict a user's access to the blocked sites list.

To block a site in IE, please do the following:

1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Click on the 'Tools' menu
3. Select 'Internet Options'
4. Select the 'Security' tab
5. Under 'Select A Web Content Zone to specify its security settings' select 'Restricted Sites'
6. Press the 'Sites' button

You will be presented with a dialog where you can add URLs to the Restricted Zone. Add whatever URLs you would like to block, and apply your settings.

You can then remove the 'Internet Options' function from the 'Tools' menu of Internet Explorer using group policies. XP Pro has a local group policy editor that you can use for an individual machine to do this. However, it would need to be done on every machine, and if a user has administrative access to the local machine, they could remove the setting.

It could also be done with a domain group policy, would affect all specified users in one fell swoop, and could only be undone by someone with DOMAIN admin privledges. However, this depends on your network, and brings me back to the original questions.

 

Let me know if you need more info. Here are the answers you need:

Windows Peer to Peer network consisting of four computers
All computers are Windows XP, but she only wants to monitor two of them with screen shots
No server, no domain
All users are administrators, because of QuickBooks is used by all four computers on the network. If they were limited, it was a nightmare, never worked consistently.


I am aware of the site blocking option of using IE, but they're looking for a blanket blockage of most sites. They want to block most and allow a few.

 

I'm more interested in the monitoring with screen shots, than the blocking of web sites, etc.

 

Theres a good program called 007 Spy software
Heres the link http://www.majorgeeks.com/007_Spy_Software_d3939.html
It takes screenshots every 30 seconds u can adjust it too but 5 seconds i think too the program records all key strokes and websites
Its only a trail u have to buy the full version or the registration key

 

Thanks! I will definitely check it out. I appreciate the input.

 

np