Monday, February 7, 2011
The Advantage Of Software Monitoring And Why You Should Have It
These programs allow the owner of a computer network or a PC to control the online content and activity that is being accessed via his/her computer networks or PC. In today's life, almost everyone has a computer and the PC and networks are the only shared technology. With different users, these networks remain vulnerable to abuse and illegal downloads. There is therefore need to control the content and activity on the internet.
The parents who have minor children have probably benefited more from this program. Since it allows one to monitor incoming and outgoing messages, both in the email and chat rooms, parents have been able to protect their underage children from online predators and other questionable online activity. They have also been able to regulate the content accessible to their children.
This has also helped institutions especially the public ones to regulate what users of their computer networks can access. Universities, colleges, libraries and cyber cafes are some of the main beneficiaries of these programs as they can control what the public accesses.
The emergence of social networks, has brought social risks and vulnerabilities upon every user especially children. Apart from predators who prey on minors, there are other aspects such as internet bullies and addiction which put your child at risk. This calls for monitoring and controlling such sites to ensure that your child's developmental process is not interfered with.
Monitoring programs also allow parents to assess the friendships that the children keep especially via emails and chat messages. If there is any problem, the parent can tactfully curtail bad relationships. The main advantage of this program is that the child might not even know that they are being monitored. The key logger in this case the parent can keep it a secret and block any site that they deem questionable on the child.
PC monitoring and administration is another vital feature. This allows the computer owner or administrator to remotely control the computer using common commands. This may include restarting the computer, enabling or disabling software, freezing the mouse among others. The feature also enables one to track the time spent on the internet on a particular site. It should also include automatic screen shots of the desktop's users and it should track documents and store data.
The filtering and blocking feature should enable the computer owner to block any site that he deems questionable. This should also include chat messages and downloads of illegal games, music and software. The filter can be done by either using key words or categories. The reporting feature should enable the computer owner to get feedback as it stores all information necessary for monitoring and blocking. With all these features the software monitoring should be effective.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Desktop Remote Monitoring Service, Monitor Your Worker Activities
When left unsupervised, many employees who have desktop access to the internet spend hours each day surfing the web. They waste countless hours that could be devoted to working do everything but work. Because of this, your business may be loosing considerable amounts of profits due to lost productivity. But there is an effective way to get that productivity back up, and that is through a desktop remote monitoring service.
If your employees require access to the internet, you probably have already tried some different tools and methods to decrease the personal usage of the internet by employees. Unfortunately, many filtering programs are ineffective or are just a waste of money. Even if a filtering program works, oftentimes it not only blocks bad websites, but blocks websites that your employees need access to as well. And cutting internet services altogether is probably not an option either.
Your next choice may be a desktop remote monitoring service. With this type of service, professionals are able to monitor how much time your employees are devoting to being productive and how much time they are spending doing non-work related activities on the internet. Additionally, these services also monitor when your employees access websites that can be harmful to your network or if they are potentially leaking confidential data.
There are many tools available to choose from. Some things that a business owner needs to consider are the cost of the services, what is monitored, and how the data that is being monitored is accessed. Monitoring internet usage can be a full time job for one or more people, so the employer also needs to think about the additional manpower and resources that will be needed.
Cost is an important factor in the quality and services offered by monitoring programs. Nevertheless, do not let this deter you because as technology has become cheaper, these programs are a lot more affordable. In fact, basic monitoring programs can be found free of charge online. Other, more advanced programs can be fairly costly. Choosing an online remote monitoring service gives you the flexibility to have top of the line software support without having to pay for costly licenses or worry about upgrades.
You will also have to consider how in depth you want the monitoring to be. Basic monitoring programs keep lists of what websites your employees viewed without much additional data. More advanced programs can capture detailed information about their internet activities, such as how much time was spent on each website or what was downloaded or uploaded to and from the website. Other programs even log employee keystrokes, capture emails, and can even record voice.
There are two primary ways that data is remotely monitored. The most secure method is to have computer personnel monitor the information directly from the network. This prevents the data they monitor from being leaked to the internet. However, this would require that you hire employees who are skilled and may be too costly. On the other hand, outsourcing to an online monitoring service is much more economical, but all of the data is at risk to being intercepted by potential adversaries to your company.
No matter what software package of service that you ultimately choose, you have a legal obligation to inform your employees that you are monitoring their activities. Otherwise, you could be breaking the law and be punished with lawsuits, fines, or imprisonment. The most effective way to make them aware of the monitoring is to have your employees sign documentation that they acknowledge and consent to the monitoring.
Using a desktop remote monitoring service is a highly effective way of increasing productivity. It allows employers the ability to keep tabs of their employees while they are working at computers throughout the work center. In most cases, the cost of these services is offset by the amount of profits that can be regained by the increase in productivity.