Computer Monitoring Software

Best Software for Tracking a Computer

The success of a business depends a lot on how well its employees do their jobs. So, all organizations try to keep a safe, comfortable, and healthy environment for their employees to work. But business owners need to keep track of and keep an eye on their employees' computers so they can keep them from getting viruses, being hacked, or downloading harmful content.

Many software developers now make monitoring software for businesses that you can buy and use in your business. Computer monitoring software keeps an eye on what employees are doing on their computers and shows you either live video or reports based on what they are doing. Since so many employees work from home or in other places, monitoring tools have become even more important.

Why would you want to use monitoring software?

Monitoring software is made to keep track of what users doing work on enterprise systems are doing and how they are doing it. It keeps an eye on what users do on their system and gives the system or network administrator information about what happened. This software for keeping an eye on things is also called computer surveillance software.

In this article, we'll talk about some popular Employee Monitoring software, how users rate them, and what their pros and cons are.

1. Employee Desktop Live Viewer

Computer Monitoring software is a lightweight but powerful tool for keeping track of what employees are doing at their desks. It records everything they do and streams its lives. It works like a camera that is set up to watch over the employees' screens. It puts a monitoring agent on the computer of the employee either remotely or by hand. After that, the computer will always be under full surveillance when it is turned on. This gives you the benefits of real-time Desktop Monitoring because you can stop employees from opening bad apps or phishing sites right away and save their data. It is widely thought to be one of the best remote computer monitoring programs because it can watch even remote workstations and laptops that move around.

The best software for keeping an eye on employees can make it easy to set up and track network access permissions, boost productivity, and make the workplace safer.

Employee monitoring software has always brought up negative thoughts about spying on employees. Now, though, it may be more important to make sure the right people can use the right software. Because of this, some ways of keeping track of employees can be more like project management suites.

Modern problems also include security and access permissions, since most data and security breaches happen within a company rather than because of hackers. These breaches could be caused by users forgetting to use the right settings, users visiting a website with malware (opens in a new tab), or even disgruntled employees doing something bad.

So, some employee monitoring software is still used to track time and manage efficiency, while others work more like network monitoring tools by focusing on general activity in the IT network and looking for patterns that might indicate a security threat. Most of the time, this means using artificial intelligence and machine learning to find threats.

Also, because data loss from lost devices like laptops is becoming more of a concern, some monitoring software is designed to remotely lock down and wipe the drives of any devices that can no longer be found. This is done to prevent the data from the missing device from being used without permission.

No matter what kind of employee monitoring software you're looking for, we'll show you a good range of the best ones on the market, based on the needs of your business.

How did we choose the best software for keeping an eye on employees?

At first, it's easy to think of employee monitoring software as a bad thing. It seems like an example of employer overreach, where companies obsessively spy on their employees to make sure they aren't abusing their trust. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are working from home or in a combination of places. This may be truer than ever. But there are other reasons why a business might want to think about using software to keep an eye on its employees. This review has tried to cover a wide range of tools, including some that are more intrusive and others that can just help you track time or keep an eye on your network.

Easy-to-Use and Install Computer Monitoring Software to Keep an Eye on Employee Computer Activity on PC, Mac, and Citrix. Start right now.

Software for PCs and Macs to track what employees do on their computers

SPY24 is software that lets you keep an eye on your employees' computers and see what they are doing in real-time. You can keep an eye on your employee's computers from afar to see how productive they are and how much time they spend working and doing nothing. Monitor everything that happens on your computer, including the Internet, applications and programs, email, IM/chat, file activity, and much more.

With SPY24, it's easy to keep an eye on employee computers because:
There are many ways to sort.
We keep an eye on the employee's computer, but it's up to you how to organize the activity logs. Sort user activities by date, device, user, website, window title, URL, website category, active time, alert word seen on the page, flag, and search term.
Alerts on keywords with screenshots
You can choose as many keywords as you want with the Alert Word Wizard, and SPY24's computer screen monitoring software will automatically take a desktop screenshot whenever a user sees or types the keyword on his or her computer. This alert feature is important to protect your business from fraud, inappropriate office behavior (like harassment), and people who might try to steal company assets (like client lists). Enabling keyword alerts is an important part of any computer monitoring software because it lets you look into the word that was flagged with a screenshot and in the context of other user activities that were being watched.

• Strong Search

The best computer monitoring software is great for internal investigations because it lets you find any activity on a monitored computer in seconds by setting conditions like time/date, user, URL, domain, device, flag, etc.
Reports: The SPY24 Computer Monitoring Report Wizard makes it easy to make reports about what users do on the computer. Customize scheduled or ad-hoc reports to show your organization the most important details about how computers are used. Examples include:

Keeping track of what users do - Find out what's going on by seeing how all computer users stack up for any activity. Find out who the most frequent web surfers or email senders are.
Investigations: Run computer monitoring reports on a few employees to see everything they did at any time. It's easy to find any item in all the stored data.
Productivity: SPY24's step-by-step wizard makes it easy to set up active time, login time, and productivity reports or alerts.
Strange Behavior - Find strange patterns of behavior, like too much printing or downloading of documents, too few keystrokes or emails sent, or strange logins.

• Bird's Eye View

Don't look through a lot of information. SPY24 computer monitoring software does it for you by turning that data into information that you can use and that is easy to understand. The Chart View is a dashboard that gives you a quick look at how your workers are doing in terms of their productivity. Choose from more than 50 charts to make the best snapshot for your business.

Anomaly Detection in User Behavior

If an employee isn't doing what they usually do on the web, it could be a sign of a problem. Software that tracks how employees use the internet will let you know if something strange is going on and give you more information about the situation so you can decide if the strange behavior is legitimate. We'll tell you what's normal, and then you can choose to be notified either of behaviors that are a certain percentage or a certain number above or below the norm.
Let's look at some of the reviews that the Employee Desktop Live Viewer has gotten from people who have used it

"I can watch live video of any worker at my company at any time. The software has given me complete control over the work."

"Great tool that can be used in many ways and is easy to use." 

"I can get the best monitoring tool on the market for the best price."

"It is the best software I know for monitoring a computer from afar."

Pros

• The computer screens of employees are recorded both online and off.
• The global IP address lets employees' screens be recorded from anywhere in the world.
• The software can be used to keep an eye on multiple PCs from afar.
• PCs in a Work Group, the same domain, or a different domain can be watched.
• Remote workstations and mobile devices like laptops are watched 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Monitoring of employees who work from home and BYOD devices.
• All employees' activities are shown live on a single screen.
• Monitoring tasks were given to more than one manager.
• Send instant messages to the computer or computers you are keeping an eye on.
• When needed, shut down or restart the employee system.

Cons 

• There is no way to store videos that have been recorded on the cloud.
• For 15 days, the free trial version works perfectly.

ActiveTrack

ActivTrak is a nice-looking monitoring tool that installs the Agent on every remote computer and shows you the live status of each one. It shows how many hours were productive and how many were not, as well as screenshots of activities and the ability to watch in real-time. Using the productivity screen, you can judge how well an employee is doing on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. It can make a list of the most productive employees and the most visited websites by users.

Here are some of the reviews that its users have written about it.

"The paid service is well worth the money, and the free trial saved me a lot of money." 

"The features are spot-on and match the ones that were advertised." 

"It could become a valuable product for the basis of billing with some product development." 

Pros

• It puts all of the user's tasks on a single, easy-to-use screen.
• You can block certain sites or pop-ups if you want to.
• Up to 3 users can use it for free.
• Charts and pie charts are used to show graphs.

Cons

• Many people don't understand the reports because they are not easy to read.
• For a smaller business, the price is quite high.
• It doesn't keep track of what you type.
• There is no way to search for specific words in the screenshots.

Flexispy

Most monitoring tools can only be used on computers, but Flexispy can also be used to keep an eye on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. You can choose to keep an eye on your Android or iPhone phone and record audio conversations if you want to. But you can use it to keep an eye on all of your employees and think of it as a major monitoring tool.

Here are some reviews from people who use it:

"It's a spy app. But it works better on cell phones and tablets than on computers." 

"A simple app to keep an eye on my kids."

"It has GPS tracking turned on, which lets me find my phone every second of the day." 

Pros

• It makes a detailed report of each call.
• It can take photos with the camera from a distance.
• It takes information from all of its users and sends it to the admin.
• It can record both audio and video calls as they happen.

Cons

• It can't stop any number from calling.
• With this app, you can't get rid of your call history.
• More suited to smartphones than to computers.

SoftAttachment

SoftActivity is a monitoring tool that records what you do on your computer screen and in Skype, Gmail, messenger, etc. It keeps taking screenshots and turns them into a video. The video is saved so you can watch it later. You can also use any computer to watch the live recording. The software is easy to use, and the user can install the agent directly on the computers of the employees. It can record the screens, keystrokes, websites visited, and chat conversations. When you add an employee's computer to the list, it shows up in a list where you can choose when to send a notification.

Here are some reviews of the SoftActivity tool from people who have used it.

"The option to take a picture of the screen is my favorite feature. I can look at what happened on any date." 

"It's easy to set up, lets you see what all users are doing, and gives you proof of what they did and how they used the system." 

"The best way to keep an eye on the staff. Now, no information will get out of my company." 

Pros

• You can protect the tool with a password.
• It can keep track of the websites and apps you use.
• Send a direct message to a user who is doing something that you don't like.
• Real-time recording of the computer screens.

Cons

• Software may crash for some users.
• Some computers may shut down on their own. Each problem needs to be fixed by hand.
• If the database is not looked after carefully, it could get big.

Kickidler

Kickidler is another tool that lets you keep an eye on an employee. It records the employee's live screen and shows it to you. You can find out what your employees are doing, what websites they are going to, and what apps they are using. The software tells you how long each of your employees worked and how many breaks they took.

Users have said great things about the software –

"It has cut the price we had to pay to look at how well our employees do their jobs." 

"The best thing about the tool is that you can use it on as many computers as you want." 

"Every setting is useful and easy to understand." 

Pros

• The software is easy to use because of how it looks.
• It makes sure that no data is lost or taken away.
• You can use the computer from afar.
• It reports on changes in productivity.

Cons 

• There is no way to keep track of email conversations.
• There is no way to keep an eye on what is being printed from the computer.
• You can't connect the software to your IT environment or any cloud platform.
• In conclusion

After learning about the benefits of Employee Computer Monitoring Software and reading the short reviews above, it will be easy for you to choose software that is effective, helpful, and right for your business. You can now choose from the top 5 monitoring programs to keep an eye on your network. Choose any remote computer monitoring software that fits your needs and start recording your computer screens.

How does software that watches over a computer work?

Computer monitoring software works by watching and keeping track of everything a user does on their computer. This includes visiting websites, using apps, sending and receiving emails, moving documents, and more. This information is then used to send alerts about suspicious behavior, make productivity reports, figure out which employees are the most and least productive, and track breaks and idle time. It makes it easy to see what's going on in your business by letting you look at productivity reports, security reports, and even recordings of what your employees are doing on their screens. Many computer monitoring platforms also have add-ons for web filtering and blocking web content, preventing data loss (by blocking file uploads to the cloud or USB, for example), and even GPS tracking for laptops that have been lost or stolen. The best way to use computer monitoring is to combine it with employee cell phone monitoring, monitoring of web activity, monitoring of Chromebooks, and detecting insider threats.

Is it legal to watch what people do on their computers?

Every country and state has its own rules about how to check what employees are doing on their computers. In the US, as a general rule, you can watch your employees at work most of the time. There are no federal laws that say you can't do this. You can watch employees do work-related things in the workplace, so you can put software on their computers or put up cameras in the office. But you might not be able to record in places where work isn't expected to happen, like the break room. If you want to watch what your employees do on their computers, you should tell them right away. Tell them that you've looked into the laws of your state and will only be watching what is legal. Tell them that you're not trying to catch them in the act; you're just trying to make sure they're doing their work and that sensitive company information isn't leaving. Put your rules for computer monitoring in writing and talk about them with your team.

How can I get into the computers of my employees?

If you want to know exactly what your employees are doing at work, you can install cloud-based computer monitoring software on their Windows PC, Mac, Chromebook, Virtual Desktop, or tablet. If you want to see exactly what they are doing, as if you were spying on them over their shoulder, the best computer monitoring software for you will probably be the one that takes screenshots of the desktop in real-time. SPY24 Software is a popular computer activity monitoring system that lets you take three different types of employee desktop screenshots. Each type of screenshot is useful for a different kind of employee surveillance. - "Alert Word Screenshots" takes a picture of your employee's screen when a keyword you choose is typed or looked at on the screen. - "Continuous Screenshots" will take a screenshot of your desktop every time you tell it to. This is best if you think an employee is doing something wrong and think that keeping an eye on them all day might be the best way to catch them in the act. - "Smart Camera Screenshots" are usually used by SPY24 customers who only want to know what their employees are doing while using certain apps or websites. For example, you might want to watch them while they work on Salesforce, but you don't want to spy on them while they use Facebook or do other private things on their computer.

What is the best software for keeping an eye on a computer?

The best computer monitoring software is one that helps the business be more productive, reduces liability, protects against insider threats, and gives the proof needed to close internal investigations quickly. Some organizations may choose on-prem computer monitoring software, especially if they have to follow rules like HIPAA, PCI, CIPA, or others. If compliance isn't an issue, most people agree that cloud-based computer monitoring software is the best choice because it lets employees' activities be watched even when the employee (or the boss) is working outside the office. How much time do you want to spend figuring out what your data means? This is another important thing to think about when choosing the best computer monitoring software for you. If you don't want to have to dig through data logs to find out what your employees are doing on their computers at work, you should choose a product that sends your logged data through an intelligence layer. For example, SPY24 Software turns your data into information and gives you a 6-View Dashboard that lets you look at all your data from six different angles, highlighting different possible areas of interest or concern. These ways of monitoring employee computers do the work for you, so you can spend your time being proactive instead of reacting.