If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Options
ways of checking up
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
Hi,
My younger sister has got her own internet connection now and my mum would like to be able to spy on her from time to time, just to make sure she's not ending up being exposed to anything she shouldnt, or going on anything unsafe etc, because so far she's managed to fuck up the computer a few times.
We want some way of looking what she's doing without downloading anything, without having to rely on the internet explorer history which can be easily deleted.
Anyone know of anything?
My younger sister has got her own internet connection now and my mum would like to be able to spy on her from time to time, just to make sure she's not ending up being exposed to anything she shouldnt, or going on anything unsafe etc, because so far she's managed to fuck up the computer a few times.
We want some way of looking what she's doing without downloading anything, without having to rely on the internet explorer history which can be easily deleted.
Anyone know of anything?
0
Comments
To be honest it pretty much comes down to personal preference and price as there are so many applications that will let you monitor a computer. There is the well known Net Nanny but that has seemed to be a bit of a spammy company.
www.safeeyes.com and www.cyberpatrol.com seem a couple of the best.
We were thinking something more along the lines of a way of checking the system manually for places where stuff may be stored, similar to checking the internet explorer history, but something that the majority of people dont know about. My sister knows how to delete history so thats not much good.
Either that, or remote desktop, would that work? We mainly need to check on her when my sister has her older friend over (she's a bad influence) so maybe watching what they are doing with remote desktop? Although my sisters computer has xp home and not pro, so im not sure if that would work
Try out Index Dat Spy, it's free and you can sort by date and time.
http://www.stevengould.org/software/indexdatspy/download.html
First do the following:
Under Explorer go to Tools -> Folder Options -> View -> Enable Show Hidden Files and Folders.
Now open the program and navigate to the following:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\
'C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\'
and a number of subdirectories with the prefix MSHist, 'C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\MSHist012004073120040801'
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Cookies'.
If she is that worried, surely £20 is nothing? I think a small outlay now would save on tears of regret etc from your mother later.
But then I told her I was kidding, because hey you're only 15 once right? I know I was no angel . I remember my first porn like it was yesterday...
D'ya reckon? I mean, there's a rule she aint going to meet anyone or if she does its with friends etc. or my mum has picked up people from her old school.
But I think a 15 /16 year old girl probably knows what shes saying and everyone has to explore that kind of thing at some age I reckon. Better to be safe thru the internet rather than whatever.
especially if she's not that net savvy, which is a fair guess if she's a only 13 or whatever. it's very easy to fill your pc with malicious stuff accidentally downloading things from p2p networks and the like.
I think that a parent should take some responsibility rather than relying on software to do the job for them.
But I bet there are times when there's not always someone else in or they leave the room/go to bed etc.
EDIT: Also, spying on her at a later date isn't going to fix the computer if she managed to fuck it up by going on dodgy sites.
I agree, I'd sure be pissed of and angsty if I were a 13 yr old and found out my parents were spying on my new found freedom without my knowledge.
Yeaaah I think that's the kind of thing that destroys any form of trust that exists between you and your parents. On par with your parents going through your drawers/belongings just to make sure you don't have any condoms stored, or a baggy with some pills in. You know, it's for your own good so obviously that kind of invasion of privacy is allowed.
We dont want to keep tabs on her msn conversations and emails or anything, so it would be pointless to install nanny software. She's set up as a non-administrator now so that she cannot install anything, too.
What we do want to do is from time to time, check what websites she's been going on. She's started lieing about these sorts of things, especially when she has her friends over, and to be honest she has already broken the trust by lieing about what she does on the internet.
We've already told her that we're going to double check if what she tells us is true, so it'll be no suprise to her if we confront her about some proof we've found about her visiting some sites she promised not to.
What? o_O
I really don't see the problem with blocking the sites entirely instead of well, entrapment. Honestly, why not take away her ability to do it in the first place instead of letting her see all the fucked up shit out there then bursting through the door going "Ah HA!".
Shit, I'm almost 22 and I don't think my parents would be happy if they knew the kind of sites I went on.
it is almost entrapment, you're right
nanny software doesnt checkup on her conversations or anything like that. it'll just block certain websites, and a standard set of websites (like porn & malware sites etc). they're more designed for prevention rather than catching someone in the act. (at least I think so, I've never actually used one)
but on the other hand, as long as she knows that you'll be checking what websites she's been to, then it's fine, you just need to be careful not to be seen as spying on her without her knowledge.
Ive suggested the nanny software and she said no to that. So its her choice how she goes about it, im just the researcher.
I still wouldn't say so, but whatever. Again, it's tantamount to saying "Yeah, I'm going to invade your privacy and there's nothing you can do about it". Not exactly the best lessons to be teaching your kid unless you want them to grow up full of resentment.
As for the original question, there's no way to do what you want. If you want to spy on your kids, you need to download software for it.
Nanny software isn't just for keeping tabs on conversations, you can block sites and see which sites she has been visiting.
I just tested the above program which is free and works really well in pre blocking content rather then spying - looks to see if the kid is access porn, and other sorts of site and then brings up a big warning message - seem good solution to me.