Software Review: Actual Spy
A big fear of
most people that use the Internet quite a bit is the chances of getting
spyware on their systems. It gives hackers and other malicious people
the chance to get ahold of a person’s sensitive private information, and
use it against the real owner. But there is a time when a computer owner
may WANT to install spyware on their computer. One case would be if they
have younger children in the house, and want to monitor the use of the
computer by the kids when the adults are not around (such as after
school when Mom or Dad may still be at work).
A good product
for this use is called Actual Spy.
The software installs very easily on your system. I had no problems
getting it installed or set up, and it was running in no time at all.
Below is a view
of the main program interface:
As you can see
from the photo, there are many areas the program monitors: Keystrokes,
Applications that are run, the Clipboard, Files opened, what is printed,
and, if hooked to a network, which computers were accessed. To round out
the offerings, the program ALSO captures screenshots of the entire
monitor screen, showing what is going on.
There is a
sample screenshot below:
Even though the
only open application in view on the monitor is Actual Spy, if anything
else was opened, it would also show in the image.
This program can
be completely hidden from anyone finding it on the system anywhere. The
program options lets you remove the entry from Add/Remove programs list,
hide the icons for it, even in the start menu, and also hide the program
folder itself. It will be completely invisible to anyone looking for it.
The program will
report ALL activity that happens on the system. You can choose to have
it emailed to you at regular intervals, giving you a chance to monitor
what is happening at work, if you can get email.
Why would you
want to do this? One reason is protection of your children. The Internet
is a bad place at times, especially for youngsters. It will give you a
chance to monitor the places they go and who they talk to, without
seeming to be too nosy. This can be good.
Actual Spy is
not expensive. You may buy it and download it from the makers website at
http://www.actualspy.com/. The
price is $59.95 for a one user registration. They also have process for
other numbers of registrations, so if you own a business, they have a
special price for you if you want to monitor your computer use by your
workers.
This is a small
program, needing only 1.5 Mb of space on your harddisk. It runs on all
versions of Windows from 95 through to XP. It only needs 32 Mb of RAM to
run in, too.
So, even a basic
low-end computer will operate this program with little or no problem.
Your cpu needs to be a Pentium one, and run at least at 100 MHz speed.
I like the idea
of this program, to help protect my grandchild when he gets online. It
may help save him from trouble when it comes along. So, in the world of
where spyware is considered bad, this is actually a GOOD use for it.
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