There are many reasons in your home and work life that you may want to know how to use a keylogger or computer monitoring software. At home, you may wish to monitor you children’s internet activities, or have reason to suspect your spouse needs their email monitored. At work you may have reason to suspect your employees or surfing YouTube too much when your back is turned, or that someone is accessing your computer for a malicious reason when your away.

Whatever the reason for wanting to learn how to use a keylogger, a keylogger can definitely help with the above issues. As computers have progressed, so has the keylogger, and so the name keylogger has been replaced with the more ubiquitous ‘computer monitoring software’. Where the keylogger is the more focused term for logging keystrokes, computer monitoring software includes a keylogger along with a whole range of other functions.

So are keyloggers easy to use? There are a wide range of developers out there, who develop a wide range of varieties. But the vast majority are made for the average computer user, not a tech expert. They are easy to download and install (a process that usually takes a couple of minutes) and once installed are easy to use.

If you’re looking to monitor a computer stealthily, most keyloggers have the option to run the software in complete stealth mode. This means the software will run automatically on start up and monitor in the background, without the user ever knowing they are being monitored. No sign of the software will be found in the start menu, task manager, program files directory, or any other place you’d look for an installed program. Keyloggers can also be added to your anti-viruses exceptions list, so there’s no risk of the user getting alerted to suspicious activities.

Computer monitoring software will include a keystroke logger first and foremost, and all keystrokes typed will be reported with the time and date of the typing. However, there are a lot of other added features in a modern computer monitoring software. All websites visited and applications used will be logged, again with the time and date of use. Screenshots will also be taken periodically, so you can see exactly what the user sees on the screen. File and document activity will be monitored, along with anything copied and pasted or printed.

As you can see, computer monitoring software can give you a pretty comprehensive picture of what’s been going on while you’re away. The reports can be viewed either by typing a key combination and password to open the user interface, or by having the reports sent to you via email. Either way, you’ll need to make sure no-one is around while you’re looking through them! Screenshots and documents could also be printed,f if you need them.

This is a post by Lewis Waller. Lewis comes from Gecko Monitor.