How to Monitor Web Surfing

There are ways to monitor Web surfing by children and employees.

Whether it is used for work or fun, the Internet offers information, games and chat to people of all interests. Unfortunately, this can pose a problem with children and employees. Children can easily stumble upon unwanted images and information on the Web and adults sometimes watch YouTube or catch up on Facebook at the office. Filter and monitor computer usage to avoid these problems, keeping your children safe and your workers on task.

Instructions

1. Audit Web material at the office. Go to the "Group Policy" interface to audit material found through the Windows network. Activate auditing and specify the scope of your audit. Web information of every computer linked in the Windows network is now viewable, allowing employers to see all links, Web addresses, files and folders viewed by employees.

2. Monitor the Web by eliminating access to questionable and undesirable sites. With the help of programs like NetNanny or Cybersitter, parents can easily supervise what their children view. At the office, companies like SurfControl, GFI WebMonitor and Websense provide filters allowing you to monitor sites viewed and downloaded files. You can also block URLs. These filters also keep a note of all websites visited by each user, and this information can be accessed anywhere within the network.

3. Learn how to block Web addresses. All Web browsers offer URL filtering, usually found in the "Tools" menu. If you have trouble locating the service, click on "Help" and use "Block" or "Filter" as key words to get started. You must recognize the Web address to block it in URL filtering. Some unwanted sites may slip in if there are no sexual connotations, racial slurs or obvious hacking displayed in the site names.

4. Block unwanted keywords. This feature is available in most firewall and Web-blocking programs to analyze Web pages for unacceptable words and phrases. However, they do not block a site due to recognition of selected words or phrases. Instead, they keep a tally on the mentioning of words within the site, blocking the site if content exceeds the limit. This is helpful because it picks up information from any site visited instead of depending on a database like a URL blacklist.

5. Check what is viewed on screen. Screen capture utilities visually display all Web pages visited. A great addition to URL monitoring, it gives immediate access to time spent on sites while allowing you to personally see what the user was up to. Activities such as checking email, chatting online and updating a Facebook profile while clocked in can quickly be brought to a halt when employees realize their boss has read their remarks of boredom. If you have multiple computers within the home, you can use this to monitor your child's Web activity.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not inform people of monitoring unless problems arise.

• Stop inappropriate Internet activity immediately.

• Businesses can be sued for explicit sites viewed online.

References

• "PC Mag": Office Filtering

Resources

• GFI: WebMonitor