Parental Control

Hi,

Can anyone point me to software that records keyboard strokes and works with a Mac. It would have to be very stealthy as my teenagers are computer savvy and they may require some parental control.
Thanks

I hate to see a parent using this sort of software, but I understand that there are reasons why you might need it.

Mac Keylogger
http://aobo.cc/aobo-mac-os-x-keylogger.html

Spector Pro
SpectorSoft - Spector Pro | mac 2011

Mac Spy
MAC Spy - Keylogger and Spy Software for Macs

DutyWatch Remote
ActyMac - DutyWatch Remote employee monitoring for Mac OS X

KidLogger
http://kidlogger.net/blog/kidlogger-for-mac-1-0.html

Keyboard Spy
AlphaOmega Software

KeyCaptor
KeyCaptor - Mac Key Logger

Now that I've given you that list, maybe I can convince you, instead of spying on your child, to simply restrict you child's access to only what you want them to see or be doing? Check out:

Intego Content Barrier
Walmart.com: Intego Content Barrier X5 for Mac: Computers
Best Mac Security Software - Internet Security Barrier X6

___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer said:

I hate to see a parent using this sort of software, but I understand that there are reasons why you might need it. . . .

Now that I've given you that list, maybe I can convince you, instead of spying on your child, to simply restrict you child's access to only what you want them to see or be doing? ___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
___________________________________________

Click to expand...

I appreciate your post. Whenever I see threads like this I go through an inner battle on whether or not to respond.
Having raised three kids I understand parental responsibility and concern, but I can't help but think in this case the cure (spying on your kids) is worse than the disease.

Thank you for the replies. I know all too well the arguments for and against the use of this type of software. My intent is to let the children know they can be monitored and hopefully encourage them to make good decisions. I want to be on equal grounds with them concerning computer knowledge/ability. They have outgrown the parental control that restricts sites, (I am adding new sites for them everyday), it is too cumbersome and slow. Often I'm not home til later in the evening and they have not been able to do homework because of site restrictions.

Thank you again for the list. Is there one of the software packages that is clearly the best and/or highly recommended over the others?

CaptainLoL said:

Is there one of the software packages that is clearly the best and/or highly recommended over the others?

Click to expand...

I'm afraid that I haven't tried any of them, nor do I know of anyone who has tried any of them and reported back.

I sympathize with your situation. A few years ago my wife and I were very concerned that our children were watching too much television. My wife found an ingenious solution on the Internet...a device that added what amounted to a credit card reader to the television. Each child would get a card, and the cards could be programmed (by us) to limit them to a certain number of hours of television per week.

It sounded like an ideal solution. The kids could still watch television, but they would be limited to only their very favorite shows. They would also learn to budget their time as they would be in control of how to use their allotted hours.

It turned out to be a disaster. The children never got over the resentment of having the television locked. They felt that we didn't trust them. Lots of begging, whining and pouting went on. (And that was just from me....oh, wait, that's a different story...) We hoped that they would get used to the arrangement in time if we remained firm. They didn't. It caused a constant state of tension.

I really do recommend that you have a look at Intego's Content Barrier. It is far more flexible than Apple's built-in Parental Controls, and it might make it so that you aren't bothered with your children being locked out of sites they need to access.

Good luck.

___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
___________________________________________

As a child of the internet age, I can honestly say that as a kid I watched TWICE the porn , simply because I loved besting the parental controls, as I would have had there been no controls and my parents just trusted me. I'm not trying to be a smart[butt], that's just how alot of kids are. Now later in life, since we've lost our parents, I've raised my two younger sisters, both currently teen agers and I would be lying if I said I didn't sneak in and read their texts at least twice a week. It's really difficult to find that fine line between trust and supervision, but I've found that the absolute best thing you can do for them is to show them as much love and trust as possible and they'll make the right decisions ten times more often if they have in the back of their mind that you care. Now, this is simply the advice of a brother that's raised two sisters. I can't speak for parenthood. Just my two cents.

Thank you all for the input. You definitely have me rethinking the whole matter. I will check out the parental control suggested if it is indeed better than Apple's. I do trust my children, however, they are young and naive. My daughter has provided our address, phone number, school, etc., information to people over the net. This despite very good conversations we had concerning internet safety. They simply believe they know best. She considered these people friends but she has never met them her only contact has been over the net. They are children and easily fooled by people they believe to be their own age and who are able to show they have the same interests.

Thanks again.

CaptainLoL said:

They are children and easily fooled by people they believe to be their own age and who are able to show they have the same interests.

Click to expand...

Yes, I hear you. I sit in the same room with my children when they use the computer (we have both of our computers in the same room) and they still do stuff that isn't a good idea that get's by me.

This week our school's PTA had a talk on online preditors, and they made everyone paranoid. I came out of the meeting thinking that we should delete all of our FaceBook accounts...

___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
___________________________________________