I want to spy on my employees

[wupith]

I currently have a lan at my business consisting of 4 computers, 3 of which are being used by my employees. I am their supervisor, and i konw that they are not always doing what they should be doing with their computers. SO, i want to be able to see EXACTLY what they are seeing on their screens, from my computer which is in the other room, what would be the best program?

thx

 

[Escalade]

Are project deadlines being met? Do they show up for work on time? Are they stealing office equipment? If you think they?re goofing off when you?re there, you should see what happens when you?re gone!

Please excuse my frankness, but...

Get a life!


<edit>

Let me give you some constructive advice...

1) A happy employee is 1000x more beneficial to both you and your company. If you intend to rule with a ?strict hand? you?ll end up paying the consequences.

2) If there is an excessive problem, discuss with your employees some guidelines... it could be that they are simply not aware of any policy regarding ?personal use? of the company?s computers.

3) What you are proposing *can* be done, I will not give you anymore detail than that, nor do I belive anyone else here. If your employees were to ever discovered what you are doing (or even proposing), once again be prepared to face the consequences.

BTW... one method disgruntled employees get back at their employers is to report *any* pirated software they have installed... maybe there are some trade secrets that one of your competitors might be interested in? Just something to think about.

Did I mentioned to... CUT THEM SOME SLACK!

 

[swanky]

wupith, please take your lame a$$ out of my sight. I suggest you take a stroll over here:

Electronic Frontier Foundation


And for heaven's sake - pull up your pants!

swanky

 

[wupith]

OMG....FUQ you guys.... just answer the damn question!

i only told you the supervisor part because i wanted to give a valid reason for having the program in hope that someone would honestly respond. Thats not really my situation, i just want a program to do that. SHEESH! just answer the question or dont answer at all LAMERS!

 

[Escalade]

<< i only told you the supervisor part because i wanted to give a valid reason for having the program >>


The only valid use for what you desire is in a training enviroment.

 

[wupith]

so be it


...now, whats a good program?

 

[bret]

ok um...

edit: bump?

 

[gopunk]

lol... you shouldn't get upset when people won't help you spy on others

 

[Shagga]

Why not just spend more quality time with your employees instead of resorting to spying?

 

[odz]

<< so be it


...now, whats a good program? >>



Hey, how about you do a little research and find out your damn self. I'm not going to help you, you little clockshucker.

 

[SaigonK]

<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">I will try to answer your question for you instead of pissing on your leg like others appear to be doing.

Remember a few things before you go this route....

1. NO ONE has any expectation of privacy while at work, from email to web surfing to cameras in dressing rooms, if you are at work then
you are at the mercy (for lack of a better term) of your employers prying eyes.

2. "Spying" on your employees has VERY big implications, not in the legal area so much as it does in trust and losing employees.

You could try WinVNC, but normally it places an icon in the tray next to the clock. I believe there is a reg tweak to remove this icon so that it is entirely transparent. When you use VNC viewer, you simply disable and key/mouse interaction on your end so that they don't see the mouse move when you accidentally hit it.

Console1 for Novell is a remote desktop program for Novell networks, if you have one...get it, it is easy to use and configure.

I for one do not see issues with deploying such software; I use Rconsole to help people in our remote offices.
If I were to login and see what they were doing, discover that they are planning to deface the company website because they are upset that they didn?t get a raise, I would be all over them like stink on crap.

It isn?t about freedom, its about doing your JOB, there are to many people who think that "The company works for me...dont work for the company"
Excesssive use of the net, pron websites, corporat email systems iundated with messages that have chain letters in them, people installing software on their PC's then bitching why it doesnt work and that it needs to be fixed so they can do their job...here's a thought people...don't install crap on what you dont own. It?s not yours. It?s your employers. Don?t cry about being watched, the average slacker employee pisses away enough cash each day to justify it.

Now for the flip side: (So that no one thinks I am entirely cold hearted)

Watching your employees can be a pain in the arse. It?s that simple. What can start out as a tool to catch bad guys or help train people soon becomes a witch hunt. People get nervous thinking you?re watching their every move and then they begin to complain or worse, your start C+ code man quits because he thinks your invasion of privacy is ludicrous! "I can?t handle you watching my every move...I am outta here!"

You know...I know...it isn?t up to him how you monitor your systems and your company, if he doesn?t like it...TOUGH!
Now before you get all warm and fuzzy...get ready to go explain to the Chief Information Officer how that Peoplesoft panel implementation that HAS to be finished wont hit the deadline and you will lose $$....why? Well because I was "Spying" on my users and one got bent and quit...what?s that you say? What was I thinking? Well I was only trying to maintain security and productiveness in our workplace....what? Productive in the unemployment line? Did you just fire me?

Picture it because it will happen.....
You might be better served by telling your employees that you plan to install remote viewing software for spot checks.
The majority of people will stop any bad habits they have. Not that you will watch them, but because they THINK you might be.
When they come and complain about it tell them the truth. I am not watching you, I never have. It is only in extreme cases that we will use this tool.

Purpose served, they will still think twice about perusing Barnes&Noble all day instead of doing their job.


Hope this helps and I now prepare myself for the inevitable fire that people will start under my arse</SPAN>

 

[Ladi]

Instead of desktop spying, which can get time intensive and is considered one of the *most* intrusive ways of tracking your employees' usage of computers/network, you may want to look into a few other solutions. Assuming all systems are connected to the internet and through a single machine or router (or using an internal proxy), all sites visited can be tracked by user and excessive browsing or 'red flag' sites can be seen in the logs...and potentially blocked entirely. Most email servers have addons that allow alerts when specific key words are found in emails. Depending on what type of job your employees are doing, other methods of tracking actual work can be explored as well (checking time code is taken from and brought back into CSVs/sourcesafes, tracking call times in a call center, etc.).

However, the issue here becomes whether or not it's really worth it to spend an excessive amount of time monitoring employees' activities. If work is getting done, is it really a problem for people to spend some time not completely concentrated on work? Some people are more productive with short breaks throughout the day. If not, is there any specific reason people are goofing off a lot? Have you asked?

And what SaigonK said was entirely accurate.... There should be no expectation of privacy at work: you are there to do your job and you're using company resources to do it; at the same time, totalitarian monitoring can waste time and detract from productivity.

Good luck finding a reasonable balance.

~Ladi

 

[gopunk]

if you read his last post, you'll see that he was lying... so all this talk about employees is really irrelevant.

 

[jaywallen]

Yup. And while people are warning the schmuck about what his "employees" might do in retaliation for his spying activities, maybe he should consider what "fellow employees" or "friends" or "fellow students" or whatever might do to him if they catch him spying on them. There are some people who would drag him into the parking lot and jack him up for that kind of behavior.

 

[Shudder]

Hi I'm a doctor and I would like a device to spy, er I mean monitor the women in my neighborhood to make sure they're showering correctly so they don't get sick. That's right. Not for me, no siree, just care about my neighbors is all.

 

[arod]

VNC is a good program but be warned you do have to have it set up on their computer to use. It only takes a few minutes.

www.download.com

Then search for VNC

 

[TonTo]

You can do it, but like it's been said before. expect hardcore conqeceonces.(i can't spell)

 

[JackBurton]

<< Hi I'm a doctor and I would like a device to spy, er I mean monitor the women in my neighborhood to make sure they're showering correctly so they don't get sick. That's right. Not for me, no siree, just care about my neighbors is all. >>


hehe...That's pretty funny man! I think that's the case here.

 

[rh71]

what... you haven't seen any of those X10.com popup ads?

 

[jaywallen]

<< Hi I'm a doctor and I would like a device to spy, er I mean monitor the women in my neighborhood to make sure they're showering correctly so they don't get sick. That's right. Not for me, no siree, just care about my neighbors is all. >>



Hey, Shudder! What a public-spirited individual you are!

Hmmm. Maybe I should have spelled that differently? Tee-hee!