about to get trolled but [modified]

Lost User

As a parent, sometimes you have to watch your kids. You have 2 ways to do this; either limit their actions entirely or snoop in on them. I have the need to do the latter. As somewhat of a beginner / intermediate developer, I want to create some sort of application to monitor, log and report my children's activities on their respective PCs. After reading the board for a good week now (both VB.NET and C#) I know that this type of post isn't welcomed at all, and I will probably get scolded for branching on the topic due to it's controversy with flirting on the distinct line of privacy invasion but here it goes; I want to create a "key logger" of sorts, to monitor what people do, who they chat with and what they are chatting about. After reading a bunch, trapping the print screen seems like a nice start, but I am afraid that if done frequently, will I be eating to much resources, slowing down the machine, eating to much network traffic and allocating to much disk space where my child will know what is going on? I am not concerned about AV because my child, albeit knowledgeable of computers to a degree, doesn't have an AV. So I guess, where would I start looking to trap all keys pressed in whichever application, or at least solely MSN chat windows and internet explorer. I am not after login and passwords here, just trying to make sure my family stays 'kosher'. So before you distrust the post, understand I wouldn't resort to this unless I had to. Thanks in advance for the reading.

modified on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 9:50 AM

Russell Jones · modified on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 9:50 AM

If I had children of the sort of age that I would worry what they were up to on their PCs, there is no way I would allow them to surf the internet unsupervised. The internet is a crazy place with all sections of humanity in attendance, why would you let your child roam free there?

Lost User

My child is old enough where I shouldn't have to worry. But he forces me in a position where I worry constantly. I'm not talking about a tween. I'm not even talking about a teen.

Sean Mulkerrin · modified on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 9:50 AM

sit your kid down and talk with them, or just supervise them online, well atleast thats what parenting involved back in my day.

Lost User

Sean Mulkerrin wrote:

sit your kid down and talk with them, or just supervise them online, well atleast thats what parenting involved back in my day.

Been there, done that, about 10 years ago.

Simon P Stevens

EliottA wrote:

I'm not talking about a tween. I'm not even talking about a teen

What are you talking about then. Someone >= 20?! If so, you need to let go. Someone over 20 is old enough to make their own decisions. If they want to browse dubious portions of the internet that is up to them. If you are genuinely concerned and unhappy with them doing it, sit them down and have a frank conversation. Explain that you understand that it is their decision, and that you can't stop them, but explain also that you are unhappy with things of that nature going on in your house. Ask, that out of respect for you, they don't browse these particular kinds of sites in your home. That is the most you can do.

Simon

Dan Neely · modified on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 9:50 AM

Then just go out and buy $@#()*@$% BigBrotherWare and be done with it. Just saying "I;m on the side of angels isn't going to cut it for actually being told how to do anything like this"

Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall

Guffa · modified on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 9:50 AM

elie aintabi wrote:

about to get trolled but

Unless you are a newsgroup, you can't get trolled. You probably mean flamed. What possible use would you have of a key logger? You will pr0b4bly n07 und3r574nd w4t ur |<1dz r 74|_|<1n b0u7 4nyw4y...

Despite everything, the person most likely to be fooling you next is yourself.

Humble Programmer · modified on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 9:50 AM

I have three sons, two of whom are in High School, so I feel your pain: the Internet is not only an attractive nuisance, but probably the world's biggest dirty book. After several incidents of "inappropriate usage", I finally found IPCop and installed it on an old PC. It was easy to install and configure, and allows me to review all Internet traffic or block sites as needed; with a little more work, I figured out how to have IPCop send me e-mail notifications when certain "dirty words" were detected. I would recommend it as a possible solution to your dilemma.

Cheers! Humble Programmer ,,,^..^,,,

Lost User

Amazing I'm going to take a peek into that right now. It's not so much the sites he visits as much as the conversations he has. But the second you said e-mail notification that is a feature I would have definitely liked. Thanks very much.