Monitoring User!!

[Guest]

I was asked to monitor an employees computer. Basically to see what sites are
visited and maybe how long they were there. These are rare occasions when I
am asked to do this, so investing in some high dollar Enterprise software
isn't an option.
I know there is some freeware out there for caputering screenshots etc. any
suggestions? It would be nice to be able to install it remotely without
actually going to the machine. It's a maintenance guy and anytime I go out to
check anything on there computer there paranoid and observing everything I do
while asking 20 qeustions. (Maybe I could do it after hours) Anyway thanks
for the help.

 

[Steve Parry [MVP]]

In

I was asked to monitor an employees computer. Basically to see what
sites are visited and maybe how long they were there. These are rare
occasions when I am asked to do this, so investing in some high
dollar Enterprise software isn't an option.
I know there is some freeware out there for caputering screenshots
etc. any suggestions? It would be nice to be able to install it
remotely without actually going to the machine. It's a maintenance
guy and anytime I go out to check anything on there computer there
paranoid and observing everything I do while asking 20 qeustions.
(Maybe I could do it after hours) Anyway thanks for the help.

Take a look at

http://www.realvnc.com/

 

[Neil Shaw]

I was asked to monitor an employees computer. Basically to see what sites are
visited and maybe how long they were there. These are rare occasions when I
am asked to do this, so investing in some high dollar Enterprise software
isn't an option.
I know there is some freeware out there for caputering screenshots etc. any
suggestions? It would be nice to be able to install it remotely without
actually going to the machine. It's a maintenance guy and anytime I go out to
check anything on there computer there paranoid and observing everything I do
while asking 20 qeustions. (Maybe I could do it after hours) Anyway thanks
for the help.

Do you not use any sort of firewall or webcache/log system? It wouldn't
tell you how long was spent on a site, but you would know if anything
questionable was being viewed.
Incidentally, what are the legal implications of this sort of thing? I
suspect human rights will come into it somewhere, so be careful.

 

[Guest]

Steve, is this software in the same fimily as Tight VNC, and the new Ultra
VNC. I use Ultra VNC for a replacement to remote desktop.

 

[Guest]

Also as far as the human rights thing. These are company computers, and the
communication policy clearly states whats aloud and not aloud. I beleive
monitoring is included in this.

 

[Guest]

Another thing with VNC. If I want to monitor a users computer I would have to
install the server portion on that workstation. This gives them the ability
to see who is connected and also kill the remote connection. I thought I
remember a stealth type mode in VNC but can't seem to find it.

 

[Guest]

With the VNC though I would have to install the server on the workstation I
wanted to monitor. This would give the user the ability to see and kill the
connection. I thought I remember seeing a stealth type mode in VNC but can't
seem to find it now.

 

[Guest]

We use a very uninvasive computer monitoring software package from
SpectorSoft. It can be installed and run in stealth mode so the user has no
clue its on the machine, although legally, I believe you need to install it

 

[Gary Smith]

Incidentally, what are the legal implications of this sort of thing? I
suspect human rights will come into it somewhere, so be careful.

The company owns the computer. The company sets the policy and has the
legal right to monitor all activity and read all files and communications.
The company has no legal obligation to inform the employee of such
monitoring, but it's generally considered ethical to do so. The employee
has no right to privacy, and if the company has published an acceptable
use policy, the employee has no defense if that policy is violated.

 

[Steve Parry [MVP]]

Gary Smith fumbled, fiddled and fingered:

The company owns the computer. The company sets the policy and has
the legal right to monitor all activity and read all files and
communications. The company has no legal obligation to inform the
employee of such monitoring, but it's generally considered ethical to
do so. The employee has no right to privacy, and if the company has
published an acceptable use policy, the employee has no defense if
that policy is violated.

Our company is Finnish company

Apparently Finnish law states that any and all email sent to an employee
is private and cannot be viewed by anyone else with the express persion
of the recipient.

Although we are in the UK we have to adhere to Finnish law as all the
mail routes via their Domino servers to ours.

Don't make the mistake of thinking any company can work indendantly of
the law.

 

[Gary Smith]

Gary Smith fumbled, fiddled and fingered:

Our company is Finnish company

Apparently Finnish law states that any and all email sent to an employee
is private and cannot be viewed by anyone else with the express persion
of the recipient.

Although we are in the UK we have to adhere to Finnish law as all the
mail routes via their Domino servers to ours.

Don't make the mistake of thinking any company can work indendantly of
the law.

I took the original poster's comments to mean that his was a US company,
in which case my remarks apply. I know that the privacy laws in some
European countries are much more stringent.

Any company *can* work independently of the law -- until it gets caught.
If it has sufficient funds and good enough laywers, it can pretty much
operate without regard to the law indefinitely.

Me, cynical? Nah.

 

[richard]

I work for Spectorsoft and want to confirm your perspective Carl about
informing employees (in writing through an Acceptable Use Policy). An
exception would be if you suspect fraud or other serious violations and
you don't already have an AUP in place. Obviously, if you notify the
user you are about to monitor, the investigation will go nowhere.

Being able to use what is found in court, without previous notification
of monitoring, may be an issue. An attorney should answer that. In any
event, you will know what's going on.

You also make an excellent point about monitoring all employees lest
the employee who is disciplined or fired files a discrimination suit:
"Why didn't you monitor Joe; he does worse than I do. Obviously you
were prejudiced and wanted to get rid of me because of that prejudice."

Also, monitoring everyone is a superb deterrant. After all, you don't
want to catch employees violating policy. You want them not to do it in
the first place.

Richard

 

[Guest]

However, most if not all employers now-days can terminate you at any time
without giving you a reason. If you read the fine print on any application
you'll find this. Just the same as you can quit anytime without giving a
reason(There may be contract issues in some jobs). My employer suspects that
their company computer is being used for something other than company
business, and those people aren't performing there jobs, so they asked me to
monitor them.

 

[Bill Baka]

However, most if not all employers now-days can terminate you at any time
without giving you a reason. If you read the fine print on any application
you'll find this. Just the same as you can quit anytime without giving a
reason(There may be contract issues in some jobs). My employer suspects that
their company computer is being used for something other than company
business, and those people aren't performing there jobs, so they asked me to
monitor them.

:

Just as a side note to this, I was in the position of being monitored
once, and during this period some headhunters emailed me at work. I had
to explain that I was not looking for another job but was being
courteous enough to send a reply, usually after 5 o'clock and on my own
time. The funny part of that was that I knew more about computers than
the IT guy, who quit for more pay at a bigger company, then after about
3 months was practically begging for his old job back.
I am a hardware design engineer so I have a little different viewpoint.
Bill Baka