How to Monitor Web Usage

If you are a concerned parent or an employer who needs to monitor employee activity, there are Web usage trackers available for you to download and install online. These trackers allow you to see what sites the people who use your computers are visiting, for how long, and on what days and times. This information will help you make a decision on whether a talk is in order or if you should install Web filters on your computers.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Visit a site like Track4Win.com, SoftActivity.com, or InternetSafety.com to explore the various Web usage monitor services and programs that are available. Evaluate the cost of each service or software program and tracking features to make your final decision.

2. Purchase and download the chosen software to each computer that you want tracked for Web usage.

3. Open the program and edit the settings to fit your preferences. You will be able to choose between having usage statistics sent directly to you or having them uploaded to the reporting service's website for retrieval. Some services allow you to monitor the activity remotely in real-time.

4. Activate the program to run in the background whenever the computer is used by your child, employee or other party. The user will not be able to edit or close the program as this is an administrator privilege. Be sure to set up different user logins for the computer so that the other Web users will not have access to your administrative privileges (see "Resources" for more information on how to do this).

5. Access Web usage statistics using one of the following methods: 1) log onto your administrative account on the computer that was being used and open your Web usage program, 2) go online to log onto your account with the Web tracking service, where you will be able to open statistics for each day, or 3) download the program on another computer and log on remotely to view real-time statistics.

Tips & Warnings

• As an alternative, you can simply check the browser history to see what sites have been visited, though there is no way to tell who visited the sites and the history can easily be deleted by the user after each session. If you find out that your kids are accessing questionable sites, install a Web filtering program like SafeEyes or CyberSitter so that certain sites will be completely blocked from viewing on your computer.
• You could be violating state and federal laws when you compromise someone's privacy, such as reading emails or watching private conversations. In most cases, you can only legally use logging and Web usage trackers on computers that you personally own, but there are other considerations. See "Resources" below for an overview on privacy laws from the Better Business Bureau.

References

• Employee Internet Usage Monitoring: Tracking User Activities

Resources

• Setting Up Separate Administrative and User Logins
• Internet Usage Monitoring Example
• Better Business Bureau State and Federal Privacy Laws
• Example of a Web Filtering Program