In an ideal world, we’d all be able to keep our computers secure from unauthorized access. That’s not the world we live in however. Roommates snoop, significant others get curious, and family members decide to check up on each other – without permission.
If you suspect this is occurring, you can monitor your computer to see how it is being used when you’re away. Let’s look at some tools that will do just that.
The easiest way to tell what someone is doing on your computer is to use a keylogger. As you likely already know, this is a piece of software that logs keystrokes, which can then be retrieved later. You will be able to obtain information about what keystrokes we activated, thus providing an activity history.
If you’d like to stick with free solutions, Revealer Keylogger is a good choice. This utility logs keystrokes accurately and also records the process in which the keystrokes were logged as well as the time. The software can also be hidden from the user. It’s basic, but it works. Note that anti-malware software may quarantine this tool upon download, so you’ll need to remove the quarantine before you can install it.
Want more features and options? Then you’re going to have to go paid. One of the better options is AllInOne Keylogger, which captures keystrokes like any other, but has advanced log filtering options and the ability to send logs to specified email addresses, FTP serversor networked computers automatically. In addition, this software can take screenshots and record sounds via microphone. You can use this option free for seven days, but it’s $69.95 afterwards.
Keylogging can pick up a lot of information, but sorting through it to make sense of web activity can be a pain. SurveliStar Activity Monitor provides a easier and more comprehensive way to track web activity.
Once activated, SurveliStar can pick up on a number of online activities including web browsing, file transfers, and emails. These are then logged for later review. The log are very detailed particularly where web browsing is concerned. Everything is picked up including web use through extensions, plugins, etc.
Surprisingly, this software is free. You only need to pay for enterprise use of the software, which starts at $69.95.
Let’s say that unauthorized computer use is just the beginning of your problems. What if you’re also concerned about what’s going on around your computer? A keylogger or activity monitor can’t help you there.
That’s where iSpy comes in. This free, open source software has the ability to automatically record video with your webcam while you’re away. It has motion tracking and scheduling features that allow you to record only when you need to, and it also has the ability to automatically upload recorded video to the web, including YouTube. That’s handy because it allows for remote storage of video immediately, keeping it safe from any attempt to delete it.
Heck, you can even access your webcam remotely via the Internet while it’s recording and catch your roommate eating ice cream in your bed red-handed.
Conclusion
The tools above provide a complete pack for monitoring your PC. You can find out what was typed, what websites were visited, what files were downloaded, and what emails were sent. You can even see what’s going on in front of your computer remotely via your webcam.
Still, there may be an element here that I’ve missed, or software that readers prefer. If you have some advice on how to monitor activity on your PC, be sure to post in the comments.
Sony Vegas Pro has the distinction of being frequently noted as an overlooked but high-powered underdog by many readers. While it doesn't sport as flashy of a resume as say Final Cut Pro, it is feature-packed. Vegas Pro had the ability to mix multiple video formats and resolutions without recoding, a full seven years before Final Cut Pro added the same feature. Vegas Pro started life as an audio editor and was later bought by Sony, but between its roots and Sony inheritance it brought superior sound editing tools to the table before its competitors, and still boasts impressive audio capabilities. Like Final Cut Pro, Vegas Pro has support for add-ons for Vegas Pro, which are actually user scripts coded in Visual Basic or Java Script, cranked out by communities online. Vegas Pro has no specialized hardware requirements and operates on nearly any Windows based machine, giving it both a price and compatibility edge over more expensive and hardware dependent video editors.
When your Mac-loving friends get that look in their eyes and say things like "It just works!" they're under the influence of gems like iMovie. iMovie is a consumer-level movie editing tool available as part of the iLife bundle of media tools. It features professional touches like frame stabilization for smoother movie playback, has drag and drop editing, easy to configure transitions, and even easier special effects for headache-free movie editing. You can get down to the dirty business of creating your stop-motion Lego mini figure space opera without needing to get bogged down thanks to the simple time lines and the easy to use interface in iMovie.
A veritable wise old man in the video editing world, Adobe Premier has been around for 18 years. One of the strongest selling points for Premier, aside from the rock-solid editing provided by nearly two decades of improvements, is the tight integration with other software packages in the Adobe Creative Suite, like Adobe After Effects. Premier lays claim to having some of the fastest HD video importing around, and even supports importing video projects from Apple Final Cut Pro. One of Premier's killer features is the built in speech-to-text function, which creates a search ready index of spoken words in your video. No more scrubbing through hours of footage looking for an exact quotel; you can search directly for it.
Final Cut Pro has built quite a resume in a very short period of time. Several Hollywood movies have been edited using just Final Cut Pro, including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, No Country for Old Men, and Cold Mountain. If it's good enough for academy award winners, and assuming your pocket book can handle it, it should be more than good enough for your next epic masterpiece. Final Cut Pro supports non-linear and non-destructive editing of a wide variety of video formats. You can easily mix video files of varying formats and resolutions without having to spend time recoding the files. There are extensive tools for filtering and color correcting your video built right in with support for third party plugins. Since version 4 you've been able to apply effects in real time thanks to the introduction of DynamicRT.
Although Windows Movie Maker has played second fiddle to the robust iMove in the consumer market—especially since were released around the same time—it's tough to beat free when all you need is basic editing. Windows Movie Maker supports video transfer from most consumer camcorders via FireWire and USB, and sports a time-line-based interface for easy drag and drop shuffling of your video clips. Windows Movie Maker supports over a 100 transitions and movie effects, and the Vista version has Direct3D integration for even higher quality effects. All effects are grabbed from XML, so you can create your own with a little know-how, or look to repositories on the web to find more.
First released in 1989 for the Mac II, Avid Media Composer is the dominant application in professional broadcast and moving editing. Avid Media Composer has extensive support for multiple cameras, making it easy to group and select the best shots. There are a host of effects like inter-frame cloning and removal of imperfections when importing non-digital sources. Avid Media Composer stands out from other high-end video editors by including non-Avid products in its software bundle. Rather that reinventing already excellent products from other companies, Avid bundles software from third parties to fill needed roles like Sonicfire Pro for advanced audio editing and Sorenson Squeeze 5 for DVD compression. The newest version of Avid Media Composer can be used as a stand-alone application, unlike prior versions which were tightly integrated with bundled hardware and network storage tools.
