WebWatcher

WebWatcher Overview

Instant Messages & Chat Programs

WebWatcher records all chat conversations.

This is essential because sexual predators lurk in chat rooms and may wish to harm your child.

By monitoring your child's chat room activity you can ensure that they are using these facilities safely.

WebWatcher has native support for AIM, AIM Triton, Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger (YIM). Other instant messengers can be tracked via the Screen Capture facility (Smart Camera).

Web Sites Visited

WebWatcher will record details of all the web sites your child visits.

This means that you can check to make sure that your child is not visiting sites you don't want them to.

If you should find them visiting undesirable sites, you can block those sites.

Emails Received

Any emails sent and received in popular email programs will be recorded.

WebWatcher has native support for AOL Webmail, MySpace Mail, Outlook, Outlook Express (Windows Mail), Windows Live Mail (Hotmail) and Yahoo Mail.

However, even the more obscure email programs can be recorded using the Screen Capture facility (see Smart Camera below).

This means you can make sure your child is not involved in email conversations with people who may harm them.

Keystrokes

WebWatcher can record all keystrokes entered into the computer being monitored and this includes any user names and passwords that have been typed.

Website Blocking

WebWatcher can block websites in a variety of ways:

• It can block by category. You could, for example, choose to block the 'gambling' or 'adult' categories.
• It can block by website address. You can just type in the URL of the website you want to block and it will no longer be accessible.
• It can block by website content. You can enter a word or phrase which - if found on a website - will result in that site being blocked.

Program Blocking

WebWatcher can block programs from running on the target computer.

It allows you to set up schedules for when you want the blocks to activate.

You can set up many different schedules or just one covering all times.

Then you can add a list of programs you wish to block from running during the times specified in the schedule.

Alert Words

Smart Camera

WebWatcher's Alert Words facility allows you to configure words and phrases that, when entered by child into the computer, will trigger a special warning.

These could be words like 'sex' or 'gambling' or anything that might indicate your child's computer use is drifting into dangerous areas.

The warnings can be set up to trigger the Smart Camera (see right) into action if you wish

The Smart Camera facility allows you to set up WebWatcher so that it takes periodic snapshots of your child's computer.

It can take these snapshots either when an Alert Word (described left) is entered or when a particular application is activated.

Despite the 'Problems, Complaints & Bad Points' I noted above, WebWatcher still stands head and shoulders above the competition.

If you want the most effective way to keep your kids safe online (other than unplugging the computer from the Internet!) then WebWatcher is what you need.

The fact that you can monitor your child's activity from anywhere - without needing to sign onto their computer - is a huge advantage.

It is a little more expensive that other Parental Control Software packages but you get what you pay for and it's still a small price to pay to keep kids safe from Internet predators.

You certainly have nothing to lose by using the risk-free 5-day money-back period to see if the product suits you. Don't forget you can take WebWatcher out for a test drive too.

WebWatcher has an extensive set of features to help protect your kids and I believe it is worthy of its place as the number 1 Parental Control Software package.