Ease of Use

How easy is it for you as a parent to install, configure and use the software?

Reviews say the Spector Pro is very easy to install and use, and works exactly as advertised. The program is very intuitive and has a streamlined user interface and a very good design. The recorded information is organized nicely and it is quite easy to see what the monitored children are doing. The Spector Pro has a great playback setting, which displays the screenshots it takes in the form of a movie.

Customer Support

What can you expect from the software's customer support? What options are available for you and how much does it cost on top of license fees?

Technical and customer support are available 24/7, except Christmas day via email and by telephone freephone. The company also provides live chat support through LivePerson. Customer support constantly receives great user reviews.

Stealth Operation

Having your children find you monitoring them may be quite awkward. This means that the software you use should be undetectable. How does the software fair in this?

Spector Pro uses stealth technology that makes it undetectable to the monitored children, and they will not know about it unless you tell them. The software will not appear in the Windows System Tray, Desktop, Task Manager or Add/Remove Programs Menu, and it cannot be uninstalled without the password you set it up with.

Recording user activity

What types of user activity can the software record? what can it report to you as a parent?

Spector Pro automatically tracks and records every single thing that the user does on the computer.

• It records every email sent and received � including deleted emails. Copies of all emails are saved to a hidden location on the PC.
• Every website visited, for how long, and how frequently it is visited.
• Every keystroke entered, including user names and passwords.
• Every activity on MySpace and Facebook
• Every online search.
• Every file download and every program activity including document tracking.

It records and reviews all chats and IM (Instant Messages) activities � you can either see them as they are typed or read the full text later. You can play the Screen Snapshot Surveillance recorder like a movie, to see exactly what they do, and in what order. If you don't want to see every single detail, the "Top 10 Summary Report" feature will give you a summary of the user's most important Internet and PC activities for the past day, week or month - such as who they chat with the most, top 10 visited websites, top searches, etc.

Remote Management

The ability to monitor a computer from a location other than the monitored computer itself.
If the monitored computer is in your teenage child's room, you may find it more difficult to have physical access to their computer whenever you want to see what they're doing and why they spend so much time in their room. Remote management lets you use another computer to investigate their actions.

Apart from email or cell-phone alerts on certain pre-defined events, the Spector Pro software doesn't have remote management tools. The program sends you alerts on keywords and phrases that you specify if these are typed in a chat, Instant Message, web page, email etc. The alert can be sent to wherever you specify, such as your office email address or your cell phone. However, you will still need to access the "subject" computer to retrieve and review all the recorded information. Spector Pro does provide remote viewing from any computer within the same internal network, so if you have a local network of two or more computers at home, you can review the activity logs recorded on the monitored computer from a separate computer. You will need to have a license for each monitored computer. Note that you can also use SpectorSoft's "eBlaster" software to have the recordings emailed to you, but this will double the price of the product.

Monitoring Older Children

How does the software monitor older children? How suitable is it for teenagers?

Spector Pro 6.0 is regarded as highly suitable software for monitoring teens, thanks to its comprehensive monitoring features. This software provides an ability to record and review everything the user does on the computer � not just blocking unwanted websites. It also has a warning system that informs you of any inappropriate use of the monitored PC. Every time that a certain keyword that you pre-define (such as "drugs", "nude" etc.) is typed or appears on the website, in an email, instant message, chat and anywhere on the PC, you receive an immediate report with details of when, where and how that keyword was used. You can receive these alerts by email to you home or office address, or by a text message to your cell phone. According to reviews, these features make the Spector Pro an excellent tool for monitoring adolescent kids' computer activity, on and off the internet. The program can also be used in a small business to monitor employees and stopping them abusing the internet during work time.

Internet Filtering and Blocking

What capabilities does the software provide in terms of blocking or filtering Internet content so that your children are not exposed to it? This feature includes the P2P (peer to peer) networks used to exchange files between your children and other people on the Internet.

Internet filtering and blocking is Spector Pro's weak spot. Although the software does provide some blocking options, their focus is on recording what the user actually does on the computer, on and off line. Spector Pro provides you with the list of visited websites and also valuable information such as: the time of the last visit, duration of time spent on the website, active time on website, number and frequency of visits to the website, etc. If you see on that list a website you want to block, you can easily do that with a click of a button. You can also create your own list of websites to block. The software lets you block specific internet applications like AOL Instant Messenger from being accessed at all. Spector Pro has the ability to monitor and record peer-to-peer activity on file sharing programs like Kazaa, Morpheus and Limewire. You will know when these programs are being used, what was searched for and what was downloaded, so you can take appropriate measures and stop or prevent illegal or inappropriate file sharing by your kids. Note that the software doesn't block or filter peer-to-peer applications automatically.

IM Monitoring

There are many predators and bullies out there, and the instant messaging programs make it much easier for them to prey. How does the software deal with these IM programs and the chat activity performed through them?

Spector Pro tracks every user activity on the computer. Part of this is an automatic recording of every chat and IM activity, in AOL chat rooms, AOL Instant Messenger, Google Chat, MSN Messenger, Skype Chat and Yahoo Messenger. Both sides of the full conversation are saved chronologically for your review later. The program will send you instant alerts to an email or cell phone of your choice, every time a certain keyword or phrase that you pre-define is being typed in an IM or chat. Another feature for protecting your children from online predators is the Chat Blocking, which you can use to block someone completely from chatting to your children whenever you feel this person may be a potential predator.

Social Networks Monitoring

Social networks such as Facebook, Myspace and others are hugely popular with children, but they are also open for anyone wanting to harm them. What can the software do for you in the social networking sites?

Spector Pro records all your children's MySpace and Facebook activity so you will know exactly what they are doing. The software records when they update their profile, upload photos, send messages, interact with their friends (including inviting or accepting invitation from a new friend), view their friends' profiles, etc. Also, if any of the keywords or phrases that are on the "on alert" list that you create are typed or appear on their social network activity, you will receive an instant detailed warning to your email or cell-phone.