Clever Idea

How do I check Internet Usage

Nov 23, 2009 by Matthew Clark

There are some tools and method out there written to allow you check the internet usage of a PC. It may be your son's or daughter's PC, or the PC of an employee, but checking the usage and which sites have been visited can see whether they are using the internet "healthily".

One simple way of checking their internet usage is but runnnig Internet Explorer or Firefox, and holding down the CRTL key whilst pressing the H key. It will show you the full history for whichever you are interested in. This includes some downloads. It shows where in facebook they have gone, including which profiles/people they are contacting.

If the Internet Usage seems rather empty, either they are using Mozilla Firefox, or another browser, or they have cleared down their usage information. Keep checking, they wil forget.

If your kids are clever - then the history will be deleted and you will not see where they have been or what they have been doing. There are some tools out there to download. They are called Surf Logger, or Internet Watcher and other such names. They are little applications that record the internet history away from internet explorer. Then, when you are able, you can check this history for any evidence of wrong doings.

Businesses should issue a PC Usage Policy. For some extra money, a business can also install a firewall with "content technology". This will block internet access to certain sites, for certain times of a day. A free method for this is "OpenDNS". You follow the instructions and it will block access for free. There are some easy ways to get around this, so it is best to pay for a firewall.

For home users, parents and grand parents, there are some great free tools around for setting "parental" controls on your and your kids PCs. Why rely on the history when you can block the sites you want you kids never to see.

K9 Web Protection is free. Just register, download and install. Instant internet protection and prevention! I found this whilst doing research - and it looks good. There are no strings, it's free and has set itself the goal of child protection on the internet.