Stories about: SpectorSoft

It's 9:00 in the morning, or 3:00 in the afternoon, or even 10:00 at night. Do you know what your users are up to?

A Pennsylvania school district is under fire, and is facing a potential class-action lawsuit related to allegations that it spied on students in their homes using school-issued laptops. Organizations have a right, and sometimes even an obligation, to monitor activity on their computers or network, but the ethics involved are often hazy.

The eBlaster parental-control app offers practical tools for monitoring computer usage -- but it can be aggressive.

The Sentry parental-control app offers practical tools for monitoring computer usage -- but it can be aggressive.

Increasing use of stealthy surveillance software for computers and phones is raising legal concerns and alarm among those who help victims of domestic violence.

It must be agonizing to have kids who use the Web. A friend called and asked what I'd recommend to keep an eye on the Internet access of her five kids. Four of the kids are girls; the oldest is about 16 and spending lots of time in chat rooms.

This is some spooky software. Although it politely bills itself as an Internet-monitoring product, under other circumstances you'd probably call Spector Pro 5.0 spyware. Get ready to swallow those scruples.

It's nice when your children take an interest in your hobbies, But you probably don't want to share everything with them.

Let’s cut straight to the chase: eBlaster is a snooping tool, pure and simple. Once installed, it runs in super-stealth mode, can only be sum­moned with a customis­able key combination and password, and continuously monitors all keyboard and application activity. It then sends out regular reports to any e-mail address you specify, all without the computer user’s knowledge.

In the January 2004 issue of PC World, available now: What’s in store for 2004 and beyond -- Technological innovations; Are you game? -- Sizzling hot summer PC and console games; Running two operating systems on one PC; Web and You -- Download dos and don’ts: finding good, safe shareware; LinuxWorld -- Introduction to the Linux desktop; In the Test Centre -- Hard drives. PLUS, Best Buys reviews of PCs and Notebooks, Tech.Files and Sweet Spot.
PLUS on the cover CDs:
40 free MP3s from MP3.com.au; 30 free SMS messages with SMS Press; free version: Adobe Photoshop Album 2 Starter Edition; 5 free games; Adobe Acrobat 6 Professional 30-day trial; Sponsored listings: PDF Converter for Microsoft Word, Page 2 Stage; plus, Browsers, Essentials, Game demos, HelpScreen, Patches and updates; Linux software.