Keystroke software?
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Keystroke software?
| Tue, 02-13-2007 - 12:18pm |
Someone from another board directed me here as the place to ask for computer software that tracks what's been typed.
My 13yo Step daughter was hiding the fact that she had a myspace page, erased the history on the computer, deleted the link out of my favorites folder and lied to my face about it.
If anyone cane give me info or a name for this program, I would really appreciate it!
Thanks!
Liz

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I am not aware of a specific name of a software program, I am certain OP may have some references for you. AOL our internet provider offers similar resources including instant message recording and parental controls that we find effective for time and content monitoring. The history link on our computer can be accessed only be DH or myself.
I hope I am not out of line but my concern would be that she lied about any computer use, in our home that would lose computer privileges, perhaps it did in your home as well. Our 16yo DD has a myspace page, but so we, that was the deal, so that we could monitor her friends and comments to her space. We also reserve the right to review her messages, although we have never had to ask.
Geez computer bring a whole new dimension to parenting!! Good luck.
She did lose her privlidges at her mom's but frankly, she's left alone so much I don't know how that gets enforced.
My DH is reluctant to come on too strong about it here. We feel she'll just go to another venue that we won't know about or don't luck into finding. We'd prefer to find a way to quietly monitor her activity (and the other kids for that matter as they get older).
I have been trying to figure out how to put controls on the history button. Can you tell me how you do that? Is it an AOL thing?
Thanks,
Liz
Like whatsupmom, the poster who answered you initially, my concern would be more that she lied to me than anything else. Rather than monitor her usage, I would just take the computer away from her completely.
I personally do not support keystroke monitoring software for two reasons.
1. If your daughter finds out that you're monitoring her keystrokes, or knows you object to a myspace page, etc., all she has to do is go to a friend's house - or the library - or Barnes and Noble with a friend who has a laptop hooked up to wireless. Heck, the theater my son performs in regularly just installed wireless internet - anyone with a computer can log on - and anyone without can just use someone else's. What I'm saying is you won't stop her usage - only her usage in front of you. Unfortunately, there's nothing stopping her from creating a fake email new myspace account, which you will never know about.
2. Keystroke monitoring is useless to a kid with even the slightest computer knowledge. If she's already erasing your internet history and favorites, being able to bypass keystroke monitoring won't take her long...and if she doesn't know how, someone else will show her - because someone else's parents have done it.
3. To me, "keystroke monitoring" is rather rigid and confining for someone over the age of 10. If you mistrust your dd that much around the computer (and it sounds like you have reason to mistrust her), I would rather just take the computer away than play "computer cop." Checking history once in a while is one thing - even asking to see my kids' myspace messages once in a while (and I will admit to snooping on the rare occasions that they leave their myspace open - hey, you're not smart enough to log out - oh well). But checking the log of exactly what's been said is, in my opinion, a little harsh for teenagers. It says to me that my child isn't responsible enough to use the computer. Which, if he's not, basicaly means he shouldn't be - at all.
But, again, that's just my two cents.
By the way, to my knowledge, you cannot control the history button (other than to control how long before it's deleted). Anyone can delete history at any time. And it has nothing to do with AOL.
As I said earlier - I'd just password the entire computer and not let her near it. Put it in a public room where she can't sneak, and make sure there's a password for her to get on it - if that doesn't work, remove it from the home. Inconvenient - yes - but it will teach her a lesson.
I should have been more clear. The history button and system controls on our home computer are most likely different from most homes. We have a LAN network inside our home or INTRANET so to speak, it was installed by my employer as I work from home several days a week. This feature is most likely not available on home PC's.
I would like to chime in again on this subject. Although we have various monitoring features available with AOL we have NEVER used them, other than the time limits and content filtering. If one of my children caused such concern that I did not trust their use of the internet, it would be simple they would just not use it.
I am curious if you install this type of software and catch her doing something inappropriate, how will that improve the trust relationship? Just a thought.
Just as a precaution our family computer is in our family room, which is directly visible from the kitchen.
Good Luck - Anna
Since you use the computer for business/working purposes, is there any way you can speak to someone from your work to ask if there's a way to set up an administrator system on your computers to keep files from being deleted? I mean, if she's deleting things from your computer, there might be a program you have to have for work to be accidently deleted and make your work difficult. I'm not really thinking she's going to delete anything like that, but it might be a way to get someone in your employer's company to give you a way to keep files in general from being deleted. In other words, a way to get a free consultation to fix your problem.
I know the hospital I work for has a keystroke program that can access any computer there, as I've gotten one frozen up before and they knew exactly which buttons I'd pushed. They might have some info on a program you can check into.
Just a thought.
Sallie
Sallie-
I believe you may have mistaken my response to laughinlizard as part of the original post on this subject. I was responding to her inquiry regarding how do I lock out system access. You may want to forward the comment on to her.
I may have already answered this but just in case I use Spector Soft and have been very pleased with it.
http://www.spectorsoft.com/
It is a very tricky situation here on the subject of computer use.
This girl is my step daughter, so already I have to be very, very careful. Her dad and I agree that we do not want to take away privlidges because she will simply go elsewhere. But I feel like what he allows her to do is unacceptable and sets a very poor precident for my 2 kids (11 and 9). They see her being allowed to openly keep secrets from us about what she's doing. It's not OK in my book.
Last night, for example, she came over in a bad mood (having her period) and wanted to set up AIM on the house computer, which is in the kitchen. She insisted she needed it, could not call, text or email the people or persons she wanted to IM. OK. We set it up and off she goes IM-ing away all evening long. I asked her who she was IM-ing and she refused to say. I then said to her and my DH that we needed to be clear about the ground rules for IM usage. I equated it to inviting a friend into our home, in this case it's accomplished virtually. I would at the minimum want to know who the person is. After that she gave me the name of a boy she used to like and now says is just a friend. Was she just lying to us again? We'll never know.
After researching the software yesterday, I'm not sure how she'd find it since it doesn't show up anywhere and I don't think she could disable it if she did since that requires a password. I'm not convinced the software would help us and it may just create more problems.
Because she has her own laptop at her mom's and a tremendous amount of unsupervised free time there, we are feeling the consequences of those rules or lack thereof here at our house. Here in our home, I'm hoping to find a good balance between openness and control.
Thanks,
Liz
I believe you can download a free version of this:
http://www.kmint21.com/familykeylogger/
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