Free or low-cost PC monitoring software?

**CingularDuality** · 05-02-2007, 08:07 AM

So, I'm gonna let my kid have a computer on his desk in his bedroom, and we're debating whether or not to allow him have internet access in there.

I'm of a mind to let him have internet IF I can remotely see everything that he does. I know that the IT guys at work can do this using Novell, but I was wondering if there was any consumer level software that does this. Right now, I'd rather just monitor his usage closely and talk to him and/or beat his ass if he does anything stupid, instead of using some sort of filter.

Anyone know of anything like this?

J.Agnew7 · 05-02-2007, 10:16 AM

Net Support School.

netsupportschool.com

It's used so the teacher can have a computer and let everyone see what he does. How ever, it's also used so he can monitor all the computers without gettin up. You can 'Watch' 'Share' or 'Control' a computer.

You install the Teacher side onto your PC and the Student onto his. Once it is installed on both computers. Load it up on yous and sign in as "Dad" or what ever.. he does not see this. Once logged in it will search for all computers with net Support on ur Network. Once done. you can drag your mouse over his screen to get a small picture of what hes doing. if you want a full sized view you click on it. Remember to click Watch right when you do that so any of your mouse movements is not seen on his screen.

If you want to freak him out, take control of his computer and then drag the mouse up to the x and exit his program:P

You can do anything on his computer when in Conrtol mode. When in Share, he can move the mouse and has full control over hios PC as well, so you guys are "fighting" with eachothers mouse.'

And if he gets good and starts to End Process(via Task manager) you can set it as a System Priority, so that he cannot shut it down. Dont know how to do that however.

Everything you need to know is on that website.

Agnew

I am 17, and have alota experience with thsi program.. i mess with my sister all the time. its a great program to have.

**Pokerface** · 05-02-2007, 10:24 AM

I don't know how savvy your kid is, but something simple like VNC or the netsupportschool that Agnew suggested would probably be pretty keen. I use VNC for my daughter's computer: initially it was there for monitoring, but I've found that it's ten times better as a "DADDY I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS THING THAT POPPED UP MEANS CAN YOU PLEASE COME FIX THE COMPUTER" thing. I don't have to get up anymore!

**CingularDuality** · 05-02-2007, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pokerface

I don't know how savvy your kid is, but something simple like VNC or the netsupportschool that Agnew suggested would probably be pretty keen. I use VNC for my daughter's computer: initially it was there for monitoring, but I've found that it's ten times better as a "DADDY I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS THING THAT POPPED UP MEANS CAN YOU PLEASE COME FIX THE COMPUTER" thing. I don't have to get up anymore!

I was wondering about VNC or Windows Remote Desktop. With both of those, he can be using his computer and I can be monitoring without his knowledge? Assuming that I make it a requirement that VNC/Remote Desktop is always running on his computer...

**Grunt 70** · 05-02-2007, 03:14 PM

I run a program called Spectorsoft Pro on my son's computer and check what he's looking at every week or so. Here's a linky for it: http://www.spectorsoft.com/products/...sp?refer=12080

At $100 it isn't cheap but there isn't anything he's doing that isn't captured. It does not allow for remote monitoriing or interface.

He's 15, a good boy, in ROTC, doing well in school...but it just makes sense to be cautious. He's not doing anything bad but has surfed some porn sites occaisionally. I had a talk with him about how porn stars arent real life...he seemed to get it. I asked him not to look at porn on his machine and he hasn't since. At 15 I knew I'd find something like that and frankly I was more worried about drugs than anything else...thankfully drugs are not not an issue.

I was mulling over filter vs. stealth and chose stealth because A. he'd probably find ways to beat the filter and B. he'd act like he knew he was being watched which wouldn't give me an accurate picture...I don't know why I went into all this detail but thought I'd share my experiences...

**Pokerface** · 05-02-2007, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

I was wondering about VNC or Windows Remote Desktop. With both of those, he can be using his computer and I can be monitoring without his knowledge? Assuming that I make it a requirement that VNC/Remote Desktop is always running on his computer...

Remote desktop won't work, as it logs a concurrent session. Two users will be logged in without noticing each other, or, if a single username is used, the remote connection will lock out the monitor screen.

VNC will work for unnoticed monitoring, if configured correctly. By default, it does stuff like strip the desktop picture which (among a couple of other things) might be noticable. Depending on what your kid is up to at the time, too, there might be some lag or such (don't remote in if they're playing a fullscreen game like CS or something).

**CingularDuality** · 05-02-2007, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pokerface

VNC will work for unnoticed monitoring, if configured correctly. By default, it does stuff like strip the desktop picture which (among a couple of other things) might be noticable. Depending on what your kid is up to at the time, too, there might be some lag or such (don't remote in if they're playing a fullscreen game like CS or something).

Hmmm.... So this might be good in combination with some sort of simpler event log that will allow me to see whether or not I should check up on him with VNC...

I briefly toyed with getting VNC to work a few months back and I gave up. I guess I need to read up on it.

**Dick Blonov** · 05-02-2007, 11:20 PM

If you ever consider a hardware solution, I use Smoothwall with URL filter. You can also use IPCOP. I ended up using this because I was not satisfied with small home routers. You can look at logs from the proxy to find out who's going where:

Log
Time Source IP Website
21:16:49 192.168.0.222 http://adfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/js/706-6204-11351-27?
21:16:49 192.168.0.222 http://bsav.search.yahoo.com/serv?
21:16:50 192.168.0.222 http://us.bc.yahoo.com/b?
21:17:02 192.168.0.222 http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr
21:17:02 192.168.0.222 http://babelfish.altavista.com/sponsored-results?
21:17:03 192.168.0.222 http://bsav.search.yahoo.com/serv?

and the URL filter to find out who went where they should not have gone:

Log

Total number of websites matching selected criteria for 2007 May 2: 164

Time Category Client Destination
07:05:47 ads 192.168.0.222 http://adserv.tacticalgamer.com/adjs...at=zone:12&tar...
07:08:29 ads 192.168.0.222 http://adserv.tacticalgamer.com/adjs...at=zone:12&tar...
07:09:52 ads 192.168.0.222 http://a.tribalfusion.com/j.ad?site=...pace=Windows&s...
07:09:52 ads 192.168.0.222 http://a.tribalfusion.com/j.ad?site=...pace=Windows&s...

I use an old PIII Dell Optiplex to run this. The other benefit: you can block ads, spyware, warez, etc.

Example of a web site barred by URL filter as seen by the visitor's browser.

DB

Hambergler · 05-02-2007, 11:23 PM

VNC is a great program. In addition, how about including a stealthy key logger. You can remote to the log or have it periodically send you a log via email.

This is for your kid RIGHT? ;-p

05-02-2007, 08:07 AM	#1 (permalink)
CingularDuality Join Date: May 2003 Location: Dallas/Ft. Worth area of Texas, USA Age: 33 Posts: 17,134	Free or low-cost PC monitoring software? So, I'm gonna let my kid have a computer on his desk in his bedroom, and we're debating whether or not to allow him have internet access in there. I'm of a mind to let him have internet IF I can remotely see everything that he does. I know that the IT guys at work can do this using Novell, but I was wondering if there was any consumer level software that does this. Right now, I'd rather just monitor his usage closely and talk to him and/or beat his ass if he does anything stupid, instead of using some sort of filter. Anyone know of anything like this? __________________ Become a supporting member! Buy a Tactical Duck! Take the world's smallest political quiz! "I was touched by His Noodly Appendage." TacticalGamer TX LAN/BBQ Veteran:

05-02-2007, 10:16 AM	#2 (permalink)
J.Agnew7 Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 100	Re: Free or low-cost PC monitoring software? Net Support School. netsupportschool.com It's used so the teacher can have a computer and let everyone see what he does. How ever, it's also used so he can monitor all the computers without gettin up. You can 'Watch' 'Share' or 'Control' a computer. You install the Teacher side onto your PC and the Student onto his. Once it is installed on both computers. Load it up on yous and sign in as "Dad" or what ever.. he does not see this. Once logged in it will search for all computers with net Support on ur Network. Once done. you can drag your mouse over his screen to get a small picture of what hes doing. if you want a full sized view you click on it. Remember to click Watch right when you do that so any of your mouse movements is not seen on his screen. If you want to freak him out, take control of his computer and then drag the mouse up to the x and exit his program:P You can do anything on his computer when in Conrtol mode. When in Share, he can move the mouse and has full control over hios PC as well, so you guys are "fighting" with eachothers mouse.' And if he gets good and starts to End Process(via Task manager) you can set it as a System Priority, so that he cannot shut it down. Dont know how to do that however. Everything you need to know is on that website. Agnew I am 17, and have alota experience with thsi program.. i mess with my sister all the time. its a great program to have.

05-02-2007, 10:24 AM	#3 (permalink)
Pokerface Join Date: May 2003 Location: MD, USA Age: 30 Posts: 5,787	Re: Free or low-cost PC monitoring software? I don't know how savvy your kid is, but something simple like VNC or the netsupportschool that Agnew suggested would probably be pretty keen. I use VNC for my daughter's computer: initially it was there for monitoring, but I've found that it's ten times better as a "DADDY I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS THING THAT POPPED UP MEANS CAN YOU PLEASE COME FIX THE COMPUTER" thing. I don't have to get up anymore! __________________ NS Game Officer. TF2 Admin. BF2 Admin / Scripter. PM with issues. Tempus: Pokerface is nailing it right on the head. Everyone who is arguing against him is simply arguing against reality. <anmuzi> it is not permitted to have privacy or anonymity <LazyEye> yeah when I play on TG the server digs though my trash Arm yourself with knowledge: TG NS TF2 BF2

05-02-2007, 03:14 PM	#5 (permalink)
Grunt 70 Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Massachusetts Age: 43 Posts: 2,494	Re: Free or low-cost PC monitoring software? I run a program called Spectorsoft Pro on my son's computer and check what he's looking at every week or so. Here's a linky for it: http://www.spectorsoft.com/products/...sp?refer=12080 At $100 it isn't cheap but there isn't anything he's doing that isn't captured. It does not allow for remote monitoriing or interface. He's 15, a good boy, in ROTC, doing well in school...but it just makes sense to be cautious. He's not doing anything bad but has surfed some porn sites occaisionally. I had a talk with him about how porn stars arent real life...he seemed to get it. I asked him not to look at porn on his machine and he hasn't since. At 15 I knew I'd find something like that and frankly I was more worried about drugs than anything else...thankfully drugs are not not an issue. I was mulling over filter vs. stealth and chose stealth because A. he'd probably find ways to beat the filter and B. he'd act like he knew he was being watched which wouldn't give me an accurate picture...I don't know why I went into all this detail but thought I'd share my experiences... __________________ \|TG-22nd\|Grunt "When force is necessary, it must be applied boldly, decisively, and completely. But one must know the limitations of force; one must know when to blend force with maneuver" - Leon Trotsky

05-02-2007, 11:20 PM	#8 (permalink)
Dick Blonov Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: In a Vortex! Age: 51 Posts: 3,398	Re: Free or low-cost PC monitoring software? If you ever consider a hardware solution, I use Smoothwall with URL filter. You can also use IPCOP. I ended up using this because I was not satisfied with small home routers. You can look at logs from the proxy to find out who's going where: Log Time Source IP Website 21:16:49 192.168.0.222 http://adfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/js/706-6204-11351-27? 21:16:49 192.168.0.222 http://bsav.search.yahoo.com/serv? 21:16:50 192.168.0.222 http://us.bc.yahoo.com/b? 21:17:02 192.168.0.222 http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr 21:17:02 192.168.0.222 http://babelfish.altavista.com/sponsored-results? 21:17:03 192.168.0.222 http://bsav.search.yahoo.com/serv? and the URL filter to find out who went where they should not have gone: Log Total number of websites matching selected criteria for 2007 May 2: 164 Time Category Client Destination 07:05:47 ads 192.168.0.222 http://adserv.tacticalgamer.com/adjs...at=zone:12&tar... 07:08:29 ads 192.168.0.222 http://adserv.tacticalgamer.com/adjs...at=zone:12&tar... 07:09:52 ads 192.168.0.222 http://a.tribalfusion.com/j.ad?site=...pace=Windows&s... 07:09:52 ads 192.168.0.222 http://a.tribalfusion.com/j.ad?site=...pace=Windows&s... I use an old PIII Dell Optiplex to run this. The other benefit: you can block ads, spyware, warez, etc. Example of a web site barred by URL filter as seen by the visitor's browser. DB __________________ \|TG-6th\|Blonov «Any situation that involves the line "I was ran over by a dumptruck..." can't be good.» eGoatBoy BattleField2 SOPs \| Teamspeak \| Server Rules and SOPs \| The 6th Devil's Brigade

05-02-2007, 11:23 PM	#9 (permalink)
Hambergler Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Houston, TX Age: 34 Posts: 1,124	Re: Free or low-cost PC monitoring software? VNC is a great program. In addition, how about including a stealthy key logger. You can remote to the log or have it periodically send you a log via email. This is for your kid RIGHT? ;-p __________________

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