lunes, 7 de febrero de 2011
What To Look For In Software Monitoring Programs
One of the primary importance of the program is monitoring online content. This has particularly been helpful to bosses and parents as it has allowed them to access emails, chat rooms, websites, blog spots among other web material. The bosses have been able to control the web activity at the work place hence, restrain workers from engaging in idle and unproductive online activity during working hours. Some bosses have taken this to another level by blocking social networks and websites which promote idleness at work. Parents and employers among other people have been able to successfully curb any abuse of their PC and shared networks through the monitoring programs. For parents it has been about protecting their children from negatively impacting content and sites while employees have been keen to reduce the wastage of time and resources on unproductive online activities during working hours. Since there are many programs in the market to help one gain control over the internet, there are factors to consider when purchasing the monitoring programs. Top on the list is the eligibility of the buyer. In order for one to buy the programs they must fulfill one of three criteria used.
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.
To acquire the software monitoring program one needs to certify that they are either parents to a minor, owner of a computer or they have the consent of other users of the network to install the program. Illegal installation of such, monitoring programs leads to spyware and this poses legal threat to the owner of the computer.
viernes, 15 de octubre de 2010
Track Your Workers With A Desktop Remote Monitoring Service
Statistics have shown time and time again that employees that have connection to the internet are prone to surfing the web. As a business owner, you are not only paying for all of those wasted hours, but you are also losing significant amounts of productivity and profits. The best way for you to get those hours back and increase your productivity is with 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.
Remote monitoring software prices have dropped considerable over the years as technology has become more affordable. Some basic software can be found online for free, while other advanced programs can be quite expensive. Outsourcing to an online service gives you freedom from worrying about purchasing the programs, software licenses, or 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.
Desktop remote monitoring services work in two different ways. The more secure, costly method is to have the monitoring serviced connected directly to your network. This requires that you have specialists employed for the task, but it keeps all of the data on your local network where it cannot access the internet. Outsourcing to an online remote monitoring service, on the other hand, is much cheaper. However, there is a risk that the data could be intercepted by competitors to your business.
Regardless of what type of service an employer ultimately chooses, they have the legal responsibility to inform their employees that their activities are being monitored. In many places, not making your employees aware of this constitutes illegal search and seizure and employers can be sued, fined, and even imprisoned. Having employees sign a legal document stating that they consent to monitoring is a simple way of informing them of monitoring without violating their rights.
Desktop remote monitoring services are an excellent way to increase productivity and ultimately profitability. Keeping track of employee productiveness is already difficult, but remote monitoring makes it a little easier. And the increased profits may even pay for the monitoring services.