Spector Pro | Mac 2009 – Activity monitoring and recording surveillance

Reviewed by Robert L Pritchett

Introduction

"SpectorSoft Corporation today {March 31, 2009} released Spector Pro mac 2009, the most powerful and easy to use monitoring program for Macs available in the marketplace today. Spector Pro mac 2009 is the software of choice for parents concerned about protecting their children from the dangers of the Internet. Spector Pro mac 2009 is also appropriate for employers concerned about maximizing productivity and minimizing liability in the workplace by keeping track of everything employees do on a Mac.

Vero Beach, FL - SpectorSoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in Internet Monitoring and Surveillance Software, has released Spector Pro mac 2009, the most powerful and easy to use monitoring program for Macs available in the marketplace today.

Just as SpectorSoft's award-winning Windows platform monitoring products - Spector Pro, Spector CNE Investigator, and Spector 360 - lead the field when it comes to PC and Internet activity monitoring, Spector Pro mac 2009 is the software of choice for parents concerned about protecting their children from the dangers of the Internet. Spector Pro mac 2009 is also appropriate for employers concerned about maximizing productivity and minimizing liability in the workplace by keeping track of everything employees do on a Mac.

"The release of Spector Pro mac 2009 is a landmark event in the world of Mac monitoring software," said SpectorSoft President C. Douglas Fowler. "The appearance of the word 'Pro' in the product name indicates the power of this program, as well as its ease of use.

"We at SpectorSoft take great pride in the industry awards and accolades our Spector Pro for Windows program has received over the years, so after the considerable time and effort spent developing this new Mac monitoring program, I am pleased to say its features and benefits deserve the 'Pro' distinction."

Spector Pro mac 2009 goes beyond the original Spector for Mac's unrivaled ability to take screen snapshots of everything a user does at the Mac and on the Internet because the new program includes many of the powerful features of the award-winning Spector Pro for Windows, including:

* Web Sites Visited - See full details of every web site visited, plus actual web site addresses.

* Chat and Instant Message Activity - Record and review conversations on all the major chat clients: iChat, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and Adium.

* Email Activity - Get a copy of every email sent or received with common email programs like Apple Mail, Microsoft Entourage, Mozilla Thunderbird, and other POP/SMTP email clients.

* User Activity - See if and when they are actively using the computer with the User Activity chart.

* Remote Viewer - Review recordings from another computer, PC or Mac, in your home or office without having to return to the computer you are monitoring.

More than 50,000 companies and more than 400,000 consumers have purchased SpectorSoft solutions to crack down on Internet abuse in their business or home, and SpectorSoft has made the prestigious Inc. Magazine List of Fastest Growing Private Companies in the U.S. four times in the past five years. SpectorSoft monitoring technology is a Three-Time winner of the prestigious PC Magazine Editors' Choice Award."

http://www.spectorsoft.com/products/Spector_Macintosh/tour.asp

What I Learned

Back in 2003, we called this "Supersnooper Software". That hasn't changed. Back then we said the app didn't affect system performance. This time, it does. There is nothing it does not track.

Today, the Internet is a much more treacherous place to be. Face it, we live in a litigious society. If you are a business, how do you protect yourself? If you have kids and/or spouse at home, how do you protect them and yourself from the bad-nasties?

Every keystroke, Chat message (both sides), Email, website (including MySpace and Facebook, searches, every program run, you name it and it tracks and logs it. You can even run everything done on the box as a movie, so you can imagine the hard drive space and resources this takes up.

I was able to immediately see the performance hit on my MacBook Pro with this installed. And it wasn't because I also had Norton Security installed on the same machine (installed a little later).

I did download it from the site first and it really did begin recording immediately after I entered the serial number.

This time, the app does snapshots, so the activity is recorded, not every second that the machine is on – unless you really need that level of detail. Yes, it really does act like a VCR. It does use compression so the hard drive hit isn’t as onerous. And yes, the monitoring can be turned off and on and can do recording in either black and white or color. And yes, the snapshots can be exported to BMP, JPEG or AVI.

Besides being a snooper, it can also be a blocker for certain Chats and Instant Messaging. Both sides of conversations are captured as well.

Yes, it really does capture keystrokes – including passwords.

And yes, websites can be individually blocked.

And reports can be generated so you don't have to do all the heavy-sifting. These are done in "Top 10" fashion and allow for instant blocking if things are amiss.

If Email is deleted, it can be recovered.

If there are certain words that need to be tracked, there is a keyword detector too.

It also records who the users are and when they logged in and out.

If files are transferred to other media, it records those transactions as well. Yes, thumbdrives, etc. and records of a documents are also recorded.

And there are really 3 modes – stealth, hotkey and password. Stealth may be the most used version. Just be aware, there is a noticeable performance hit when this is in use.

So now, if you really want to be a network Nazi, you can be. And this also works for non-Mac systems as well.

If that isn't all the big-brother stuff you want in order to command and control SpectorSoft also has another app called eBlaster, that permits remote monitoring.

It not only is easy to turn off, but it is also easy to uninstall. Be aware, If the app is on more than one machine with the same serial number, the app will disable itself.

Conclusions

If employees and children or spouses cannot be trusted, this is the app that can be used to track activities. It is your business or your family. This tool is about the best there is for legally defending your turf. Can this tool be abused? Yes, but if you have employees that are abusing your time instead of using it to earn a living, then you have every right to protect yourself. After all, if they are doing illegal things while being paid by you, who ultimately ends up in court?

If they know their activities are being monitored, they may think twice about doing certain things on your dime. And this really is cheap business insurance, considering the litigation situation today. Think RIAA, MPAA and the Internet thought police. Think Peer-to-Peer and illicit downloads.

For families, don't let this be your principle babysitter. Train them to govern their own activities and not be tempted to break family commandments and laws. Joseph Smith Jr, once said when asked how he governed the once great City of Nauvoo so well and his response was; "We teach them correct principles and they govern themselves." In this case, how do you protect your family from others who would compromise your kids or spouse?  Keep the online sharks and wolves at bay. This watchdog app does the job nicely.

By the way, this app is supported 24/7 and that kind of support is free for the first year.

Of all the monitoring apps out there, this one really shines.