Spector CNE Investigator receives the TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award in our employee monitoring software review. The software's content blocking and comprehensive reporting features are superior to our third place product, Spytech NetVizor. However, the app lacks the content filtering features of our highest ranked product, Sonar. Also missing is the ability to schedule when specific users can use a computer or access the internet. Sonar comes equipped with both of the above elements.
Florida-based Spector Corporation is the manufacturer of Spector CNE Investigator. The company researches, develops, supports and markets multiple monitoring software applications for education, government, businesses and home users.
Honored by Inc. magazine, the company earned a position on the publication's list of the "Fastest Growing Private Companies in the U.S." on five separate occasions. SpectorSoft has received multiple awards for the quality and excellence of its products. Other monitoring software solutions offered by this manufacturer include Spector Pro and eBlaster.
Spector CNE Investigator has many tools that can monitor employees and assist an employer work force management. Once implemented, the software can assist businesses with the mitigation of coworker harassment allegations and other legal issues. Additional benefits of the employee monitoring software could include increased workforce productivity, the protection of trade secrets and intellectual property, as well as the meeting of federal requirements for record keeping. Clearly, this employee monitoring software has multiple advantages.
Spector CNE Investigator implements a stealth installation method. Beginning computer users may have trouble with the software's installation and client deployment. However, advanced users will find it a quick and straightforward task.
The employee monitoring software comes equipped with four main server components. The Recorder element is responsible for the automatic capture and logging of all computer and internet activities.
The Control Center is the administrative console for client deployment, configuration, and the review of all client software deployments. The console has a setup wizard that steps the administrator through the tasks associated with deployment and review.
The Data Vault acts as a secure centralized repository for the gathered information. For documentation purposes, the Data Vault maintains an archive of all recordings. Finally, the Viewer component provides an easy-to-use interface for generating reports and reviewing data.
Employees can divulge confidential business data and trade secrets via email communications and attachments. Though most do it accidentally, some employees intentionally engage in corporate espionage. The PC monitoring application has excellent email monitoring capabilities. Spector CNE Investigator's Email Recorder component creates a clear record of all company sent and received email exchanges and attachments. The software records both SMTP/POP3 and MS Exchange email.
When an email is sent, the employee monitoring software creates a clandestine copy of the message and any attachments. The employee monitoring software then stores the email on the server for reviewing and documentation purposes. .
Compatible email clients are Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express and others. The app also logs email sent through a webmail service. Supported providers include Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL.
The PC monitoring app records the transcripts of all chat and instant message communications. Managers can view both sides of the conversation. Compatible software includes AOL, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ and a variety of other clients.
SpectorSoft CNE Investigator's Web Site Recorder logs all employee-accessed websites. The app documents the domain name and specific URL. Detailed visit information includes time, duration, active time and frequency.
Managers can monitor employees who have job duties that require online access. They can also prevent employees from accessing websites that contain pornography, online games or other objectionable content. When identified as inappropriate, the simple click of a mouse adds the targeted website to the app's blocked list. Unfortunately, the app has no proactive online blocking capabilities. It cannot filter online content by category or other keyword.
Perhaps SpectorSoft will implement the omitted features in future version releases of Spector CNE Investigator. Until that occurs, these missing components may render the app ineffective as a preventative tool.
The employee monitoring software's Keystroke Recorder logs all keystrokes. Captured information can contain usernames, passwords, account IDs and more. Additional online monitoring features include a File Transfer Recorder and a Network Activity Recorder.
The app's Program Recorder logs all user-executed applications. Detailed records provide the application name, username, the date and time of access. Also included is the amount of time the user actively used the application.
Spector CNE Investigator has a wide range of document tracking capabilities. The Document Tracking Recording component can help identify those employees who are leaking trade secrets, client lists and other highly confidential business information.
The application records all files copied to removable media such as USB Drives, memory sticks, DVD and other devices. The software logs all printed documents.
Employers can record all instances that files that are created, read, deleted, edited, moved or in any way tampered with. Managers can see the date and time of access as well as the file name, file type and file path. Additional computer tracking components include a Network Activity Recorder and a Snapshot Recorder.
Spector CNE Investigator has no remote system administration capabilities. Managers cannot prevent an employee from running specified applications, installing software. Moreover, supervisors cannot issue remote commands that control the monitored-computer.
The application is an excellent employee monitoring software. It comes equipped with URL-specific blocking. However, Spector CNE Investigator cannot filter online content by category or keyword.
Managers cannot use this surveillance solution to prevent employees from running unwanted applications or from using portable drives and other devices. However, the app is an excellent tool for documenting unseemly employee behaviors.
Despite the fact that the app cannot filter online content by category or keyword, the software comes equipped with a broad-shouldered Keyword Detection & Reporting component. This feature allows managers to designate words or phrases that could indicate a potential threat or compromising situation for both workers and the company network.
The employee monitoring software proactively scans all URLs, keystrokes, emails and chat conversations for the words and phrases that an administrator has designated in the Alert List. Upon the detection of an alert word, the app takes a screenshot of the incident and generates a notifying email of the incident.
The breadth of Spector CNE Investigator's reporting features is extraordinary. All collected data is easily searched and sorted. Numerous built-in reports guide the supervisor through the review of the collected information.
Spector CNE Investigator is a vigorous and reliable employee monitoring solution. The app easily records a worker's computer and online activities. However, the software has limited blocking and content filtering capabilities. If an employer requires an integrated monitoring and prevention solution, they should evaluate other products.
