Solved: Checking History

[thankful]

We have recently checked the history on all three of our computers and plan to do this regularly. This was the history of internet sites that have been recently visited. What other history can I or should I check. For example, how do you check the history of what CDs or DVDs have been listened to, played, etc. on Windows Media Player, Quick Time, etc. What other things should I be checking on the computers for improper usage. Thanks

 

[nessyguin]

Depends on what you consider to be improper usage , to be honest . Without a detailed reason behind your request you'll rarely get a great deal of help on any forum . There are Parental controls built in to Windows and third-party applications such as Net Nanny which limit the opportunity for 'misdemeanours' but there is no more effective way of knowing what is happening on a computer than being in the same room with a clear view of the screen ...

 

[thankful]

Thanks for the reply. Wow - didn't know that I made such a lousy post.
Here's more info: I am involved with a Christian organization, it has three computers, all online, all in different rooms, and different people are at them at different times with and without direct supervision. We checked history to make sure no one is going to objectionable sites (the kind a Christian group would find objectionable). Yes, I know that history can be deleted, but we did, and will do, surprise checks. People could also use media player also for DVDs, CDs, etc. that we might find objectionable. Any way to check on this? Any other things we should check for.
I'll throw it out one more time, and if no one answers, I'll just throw in the towel on this one.

 

[DoubleHelix]

To monitor exactly what people are typing, watching, doing, etc. you need some type of third-party monitoring software. This stuff isn't cheap. Probably a few hundred bucks per computer.

 

[valis]

are these publicly accessible pc's at a church, or are they at your house?

either way, you can lock the machines down quite easily.

I will say that we will not support key logging or monitoring software on this site.

thanks,.

v

 

[DoubleHelix]

With thousands of people looking to lock down computers, I'm curious to hear the "easy" way this is done.

 

[valis]

it depends. on our 'public' pc at work, it has access to the internet, about 300 sites in the hosts file, and everything in IE disabled in gpedit.msc.

If these are public pc's, locking them down from undesirable sites isn't that difficult. Create a secondary account, give it user status, set everything to strict, take the tabs away via gpedit, and away you go.

 

[DoubleHelix]

I don't think most people would find configuring a system using GPEDIT easy. It also requires Windows XP Professional or Vista Ultimate, Business, or Enterprise.

 

[valis]

valid point. I always forget that it's not on xp home......

still, create a user account and edit the hosts file, and that will be fine for 90% of the populace, I would assume.

 

[thankful]

Thanks for the replies Helix and Valis. To tell you the truth, I didn't know this was such a problematic subject, and I don't quite understand why, but I'll accept it as simply someone who doesn't know as much as he thought he did.
The computers are password protected but various individuals who need to get online for valid reasons have passwords. They have the password for the user accounts except for a couple of people who have administrator passwords.
What do you mean by "locking down" computers? I don't know what this means (I guess I thought Password protecting locked a computer down). I guess I know a whole lot less than I thought. I don't really know what "300 sites in the hosts file""everything in IE disabled in gpedit.msc".or "take the tabs away via gpedit", means.

I wasn't really thinking about key stroke monitoring though we had considered Net Nanny.
Valis, when you say "I will say that we will not support key logging or monitoring software on this site" I didn't know I was getting into some sort of problem - legal? facilitating bad stuff?
I guess bottom line - I'll just stick with what we're doing checking history and maybe getting Net nanny. I didn't realize I was digging up a can of worms. Didn't mean to.
Thanks for the time though. I hope to have future questions that are of more value. The site has helped me a great deal.
Thankful

 

[valis]

net nanny is a pretty solid app...doublehelix may know some better ones out there, but as my monkeyboy is not quite 4 yet, editing the hosts is enough for me.

but yeah, any type of keystroke capture, regardless of intent, is pretty much off-limits here. Constitutes malware, so that's definitely in the black.

One thing you can do is to set the options up in IE for strict privacy, and then only have you and whoever else is administering the pc's have the admin password; we've got a few public pc's at work that are locked down like that, BUT we also have a web proxy to help us out, and that you don't have. So your best bet may be a third party app like net nanny or something similar, used in conjunction with creating a user account that is locked down of all rights, can't run .exe's, etc. You can manage the user accounts via the control panel, and designate what rights each account has. So you'd create an account called 'church guest' and give it admin rights, log onto it with the password you gave it, lock down IE, and then log out, log in as your admin account and then change it from admin rights to user or guest rights.

hope that helps,

v