Monitoring Software
TOP 5 Ranking 2010

SpectorSoft, the company that develops Spector Pro, has been in business since 1998, and now employs more than 70 people. It is the worldwide leader in Internet Monitoring and Surveillance Software, and has been on the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest growing private companies for two years.

We can see why.

The quality of their products is outstanding. And they back it up with free, 24/7 technical support. They have live, English speaking staff on site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. What this means is that you can call them on the phone, toll-free, any time of the day or night, even on weekends, and you will talk to a live employee. Or, you can email them and expect a response within a few minutes. And they publish their toll-free number right on their home page, front and center, in big bold letters, so you can’t possibly miss it. It is (888)598-2788. Visit SpectorSoft

eBlaster (Remote Monitoring)

What happens if you need to monitor your child's computer, but he or she is always using it?

Or, what if you have employees in remote offices that you rarely have a chance to visit?

In these cases, you need access to the recordings on a fairly regular basis, but you don't have physical access to the computer on a regular basis. If these computers are set up on a network, then a product like Spector Pro is still ideal, because Spector Pro allows the recordings to be viewed across the network.

But, if these computers are not set up on a network, then a remote monitoring solution is well worth considering.

eBlaster is a classic example of a remote monitoring solution, and it has been a popular product since its introduction more than 7 years ago. Visit SpectorSoft

SpyAgent

SpyAgent lives up to its name as computer monitoring and surveillance software. However, if you are a parent looking to limit a child from accessing everything on the Internet or an employer looking to stop employees from accessing inappropriate web sites, then you should look elsewhere because SpyAgent contains no blocking features, unlike other software packages we've reviewed.

The information recorded by SpyAgent is voluminous and very technical — too much and too complicated for a typical computer user. For example, it records all files and documents accessed: all system files, all browser cache files, all temporary files ... all files! Our tester logged thousands and thousands of files in just a few hours. What are you going to do with all that information? It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Further, the log viewer windows are small and not resizable, which makes looking though all this information even more difficult. Even if you have just a little data to review, you'll still have a lot of scrolling to do.

SpyBuddy

We wonder if the developer of SpyBuddy has stopped working on updates to its product.

For example, SpyBuddy does not work under Windows Vista.

Nor does SpyBuddy record Hotmail, Yahoo email, AOL email or Google email.

SpyBuddy also fails to record most chats that your family or employees are likely to engage in.

We were surprised to find that a number of its features did not work as advertised. For example, SpyBuddy did not capture all of the keystrokes typed, nor did it capture any keystrokes in some of the email programs we tried.

Other features promoted on the web site would not be very useful to the average user, such as the Application Activity Log and the Window Activity Log, which show a simple list of executable file names and window titles. If all you can see is "notepad.exe" and "Untitled", you really don't know what was going on or for how long. While we found the user interface easy to look at, we also found the usefulness of the information lacking with most of the detailed information in the logs designed more for technical users.

The Help provided is also not context-sensitive, meaning the user has to work much harder to get help on their own.

IamBigBrother

We wanted very much to love IamBigBrother, because of its cheaper price compared to more established competitors. We were hoping IamBigBrother would be at least somewhat close in terms of features, reliability, quality and support.

Unfortunately, what we discovered is that there are many reasons that IamBigBrother is priced below the competition, and those reasons include poor quality, service and support, not to mention the questionable future of IamBigBrother.

First, IamBigBrother is easily detected and disabled by the majority of anti-virus products on the market, including the extremely popular Norton Antivirus. (We had to disable Norton just to get IamBigBrother to work.)

Second, IamBigBrother appears to be a product that its developer has given up on, and has chosen to no longer update. For example, IamBigBrother does not work with Windows Vista, which has been on the market for over six months now and is the future of Windows computers.

Third, we find IamBigBrother very difficult to learn and use except for true computer experts.

Fourth, there is no telephone-based support for IamBigBrother. Nor is there any street address listed on their web site. To their credit, the IamBigBrother people state that if you want telephone-based support, you should look elsewhere.

Last, but not least, this product should in no way be considered for business use, as it is vastly inadequate for monitoring employees. In addition, we feel strongly that despite its under $40 purchase price per computer, that it is the worst value for the money of the products we are featuring.