Refog Inc., founded in 2002, is the manufacturer of REFOG Employee Monitor. Desiring to assist businesses with the protection of intellectual property and trade secrets, the company strives to develop robust employee monitoring software solutions.
REFOG Employee Monitor can help a supervisor oversee their employees' computer and online activities. The employee monitoring software allows for the monitoring of multiple computer workstations at once. Supervision is possible from the comfort of the manager's own workstation via an administrative console. Clearly, this app is a powerful network monitoring system.
The Real-Time Remote Monitoring feature of this network monitoring system empowers supervisors with the ability to look on as their workers carry out assigned tasks. This feature can assist in the identification of employees who need assistance in the completion of assignments or require constructive criticism regarding their overall job performance.
REFOG Employee Monitor tracks all search engine keywords and phrases. A comprehensive history of website visits is available. Supervisors can learn if their subordinates are doing work-related research or wasting their paid time visiting Facebook, MySpace or playing online games.
The interception of email exchanges and chat conversations can help establish if an employee is disclosing intellectual property, trade secrets or client contact information to individuals outside of the company.
REFOG captures sent email exchanges by combining several of its employee monitoring software key features. These features include application monitoring, file tracking, keylogging and taking screenshots. Unfortunately, if the supervisor does not check each feature's individual log, it is possible to miss the contents of received email.
The employee monitoring software is compatible with the majority of instant messaging and chat software. Supported apps include Facebook, Yahoo!, Skype, ICQ, AIM and others.
REFOG has excellent capabilities as an employee monitoring software. However, lacking from this network monitoring system is the ability to filter and block a worker's online and local computer activities. The software can alert a manager to a violation of company policy, but it cannot prevent the act from occurring.
In stealth mode, REFOG Employee Monitor performs its surveillance in secret. Computer users are unaware of the software's presence on their PC. Alternately, managers can choose a visible software installation that can remind employees of their monitored status. In both instances, a hotkey sequence and password protect the network monitoring system's administrative console and preference settings from the potential tampering of curious employees.
The keystroke-recording feature structures the collected data in an easy-to-read format that includes the name of the application, hour and date, plus the duration of use. Moreover, the keylogger can record language-specific characters such as umlauts or other foreign characters.
The app has customizable screenshot capabilities. Managers can select the frequency and quality of the captured images. Other capabilities available in REFOG Employee Monitor include document tracking and launched applications.
Missing from the software is the ability to remotely shut down the monitored PC, block an employee's ability to launch specific applications or the issuing of remote commands that control the remote PC's operating system.
Preventing sexual harassment, racial comments, threats of violence and other undesirable behaviors are usually among an employer's highest priorities. When a designated alert word is typed or other concerning event occurs, the app can send a notifying email or FTP alert.
REFOG Employee Monitor has multiple reporting methods. Supervisors can have activity logs delivered to them via email. Reports are also available over the local area network. To view network logs, managers must know the PC's administrative username and password.
REFOG Employee Monitor successfully captures and documents an employee's computer and online activities. However, because the employee monitoring software lacks filtering and blocking capabilities, the app cannot prevent undesired employee behaviors.
Pros
REFOG can catch your employees goofing off.
Cons
The app has no filtering or blocking capabilities.
REFOG can dependably monitor an employee's productivity.