Florida-based Retina-X Studios, LLC is the manufacturer of the employee monitoring software Net Spy Pro. Formed in 1997, the company seeks to provide consumers and businesses with the best computer employee monitoring software available.
Net Spy Pro allows managers to check multiple workers at once or hone in on the actions of a single individual. The application allows the observance of employees in real time. It can document those employees who are hard at work and those who are simply passing time surfing the web, playing games or engaging in other non-productive activities.
The deployment of Net Spy Pro is fast and straightforward. A supervisor installs the PC monitoring app on his or her own computer and on each employee's machine. The employee monitoring software runs in total invisibility. Detecting the app's presence on the machine is difficult and requires a user with advanced computer skills. Both the Applications Task List and Windows Task Manager omit its listing. Moreover, the software creates no icons or shortcuts on the desktop or start menu.
Managers can also elect to have a splash screen displayed when an employee logs into the computer. The message can remind workers of their monitored status.
Net Spy Pro has numerous online monitoring features. Supervisors can view all accessed websites. With its internet usage monitor components it is easy to learn if an employee is spending their time viewing online pornography, visiting social networking sites or engaging in other time-wasting activities.
Supported browsers include Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and most other popular browsers. The internet usage monitor records the URL of each website visited, along with any username and password. Additional detailed information includes a timestamp and page title. The app also records all search terms.
The employee monitoring software captures both sides of chat and instant messaging conversations. Supported chat clients include Yahoo Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, Paltalk, AIM, ICQ and others.
The PC monitoring application takes screenshots of all email exchanges. The software has support for web-based email services like Yahoo and Gmail plus popular email clients like Outlook, Outlook Express and Eudora.
Net Spy Pro stands out among its competition because of its advanced remote management abilities. The intuitive administrative interface allows supervisors to perform a variety of tasks. Managers can remotely issue commands that lock down a system and prevent its use. Additional system management features include the ability to freeze the mouse, restart the computer, launch an application, control the web browser, run the screen saver, hide the Windows Taskbar and empty the recycle bin.
The document-tracking feature allows managers to view a list of recently opened documents. Supported file types include Excel, Notepad, Word and others. Managers can view the document's full path, username and a timestamp.
Regrettably, the app has no external or portable drive-blocking capabilities. Users can copy confidential corporate information to USB or attached devices. Clearly, this omitted feature could put company trade secrets and intellectual property at risk. Perhaps in future releases the manufacturer will incorporate an external drive-blocking feature.
The app tracks each keyboard stroke a user makes. The data is stored in an easy-to-read format. The information captured includes usernames, passwords, account ids and more.
The employee monitoring software empowers managers with several ways to filter content and computer activities. The app can prevent workers from launching specified applications. Configurable blocking options including blocking by application name, keywords or any app's main window title.
When a worker attempts to access a blocked application, the software prevents the app's execution. This feature is useful to prevent employees from launching computer games, web browsers and other specified applications.
Unique to Net Spy Pro is the ability to block an entire website or to disallow select pages of a specified website. When a monitored employee attempts to access a blocked site or page, the application logs the attempt and automatically closes the worker's web browser. Managers can setup internet blocking by domain name, URL or keyword.
Net Spy Pro reports are viewable from any web browser. Built-in reports include the Applications Log, Chat Transcripts Log, Net Spy Pro Log, Screenshots Log, Websites Log, Keystrokes Log and others. The employee monitoring software has no advanced search capabilities. Supervisors are limited to searching the collected data by date.
Net Spy Pro has advanced computer management capabilities. The application is reliable and is an effective employee surveillance solution.
