Today, PC security is an issue that touches just about every aspect of everyone's everyday life. Not only should you be safeguarding your kids from potential Internet dangers (which is essential for 21st century parents), but it's also imperative that you keep your PC safe from virus attacks, hackers, and perhaps even more importantly, those everyday mistakes and bugs that can result in the frustration of lost hours of work and/or irreplaceable family memories.



Parental control software is the best answer for parents looking to keep their kids safe online. We all know that, and I personally have written about the issue hundreds of times… But the other day something dawned on me: PC monitoring software can also perform a valuable function in any home - even one without kids - by keeping an exact record of everything you do on your PC.

I do have a child and having a visual record of everything said child does helps me - and will help you - make sure they are not communicating with someone they shouldn't be, or falling victim to - or acting as - a cyberbully. But the other day, when something went screwy with my machine (I won't go into detail), I realized: "Hey! I can go back and check PC Pandora and figure out what the heck happened. It took a while, but eventually I found the issue and fixed it.

Thus I write to all of you and say that for parents and adults in general, having a visual record of all the activity on your computer is not such a bad idea… at all!

Here are some examples, other than my own experience, that I thought of while pondering the connection of parental control monitoring software and personal security…

"Workers that spend a significant amount of time working at home, or professionals that travel frequently, might find monitoring software to be a lifesaver if an important document or presentation is lost, deleted or becomes corrupted and unable to be opened outside of the office environment.

"For personal business, like online banking and bill paying, having that extra record of everything can be a relief when unexpected situations arise, such as online payments failing to go through (can't tell you how many times that has happened), or worse yet, if you become a victim of hacked accounts or other forms of identity theft. Monitoring software would effectively let you hit rewind on your machine and replay everything that happened. That may mean retrieving confirmation numbers you forgot to write down or - through a safe and secure means - finding a website that corrupted your machine.

"Having parental control monitoring software can also be helpful if others use your machine frequently, i.e. extended family in town for the weekend or your child's friends. There is lot that others can do to your PC, on purpose or by accident, that can have an effect on its performance - and on your safety - but, if you have a record of everything that happened, you can isolate the problem and have a better shot at rectifying it (this example is closest to my own experience).

"There is also the case of illegal activity being performed on your PC. Touchy, I know - and sometimes debatable. Whether it's downloading pirated music and movies (for those who have no conscious and want to steal… grrrr), or even inappropriate and illegal photos of minors (i.e. your child's friends or - worse - "online friends"), the computer's owner is the one who will answer to authorities. And guess who the "owner" is… Well, monitoring software gives those owners a full recording of everything that happens on the machine. They'll be able to fix problems quickly, and hold the right parties accountable for their activity.

There are lots of parental control software titles out there to check out, but the one I happily endorse is PC Pandora. It's a monitoring software program that basically acts like a TiVo for your PC by taking sequential snapshots of all activity on screen. The snapshots allow the machine's administrator(s) to see everything that happened on the computer, telling you who did what and when. Further details of user activity, such as instant messenger chats, emails sent and received, websites visited, keystrokes logged, peer-2-peer files shared and downloaded, programs accessed and more, can be seen in text-based files.

The bottom line is thus: security to the home PC is essential in today's networked and connected world. Having the ability to know everything that happens on your machine can play a vital role in fixing system errors and putting a stop to illegal activity. Parental control monitoring software like PC Pandora 5.0 is an imperative security measure.

FYI: A 2-hour trial of PC Pandora is available at www.pcpandora.com