Keeping Kids Safe Online: Part 5 (Product Review and Helpful Links)
It’s been a few weeks since my last entry, life and work got in the way.
I was in the middle of a series of blog entries on Keeping Kids Safe Online. We had recently purchased a new computer so I decided it might be time to evaluate a new tool. An online software review had rated WebWatcher over my favorite tool eBlaster so I decided to give it a shot.
I had high hopes as I first visited their website but was dismayed that they did not offer a free trial period. Instead I was forced to pay $97 for a license just so I could evaluate it. They did offer a 5 day evaluation period in which I could request a full refund. As I’m writing this entry I see that they’ve added a new ad on their site stating “Free Test Drive”. Unfortunately, it simply takes you to a 10 page marketing piece without any real screenshots. That’s hardly a “test drive”.
The most significant difference between WebWatcher and eBlaster is how the keystrokes and usage data is recorded and accessed. WebWatcher is installed on the local computer but sends ALL of its captured data to WebWatcher’s servers in real-time. You can then access the data anytime, anywhere with an Internet connection at WebWatcher’s website. In contrast, eBlaster captures the data onto the local PC and can then email you (and others) the information at a frequency of your choosing.
At first it sounds like WebWatcher’s hosted model is superior. I was able to login and read back the keystrokes my child was entering in real-time almost as if it was a teleprompter (although I did have to hit refresh to see the new keystrokes). Regardless, that’s pretty powerful. This would probably be my preferred method except that the WebWatcher site is poorly implemented. As you can see from this screen shot it’s organized into many, many different layers without any view to see the entire keystroke / activity history for the day.
Unless you’ve used a tool like this before then you may not fully grasp why this is so annoying. Think about it like this. You don’t do all your email, then all your IM chat, then visit websites, one after the other in a linear order. Instead you jump all around. Email this. Chat that. And a website or two mixed in. Often you’re typing into multiple applications nearly simultaneously. So if I’m a concerned parent I’m really not interested in clicking through every category and then every individual application my child has accessed before I can see / review their keystrokes. I do not have that kind of time or attention span. Instead I prefer the whole thing dumped into a single long report which I can quickly scan looking for any troubling entries. WebWatcher’s poor implementation led me to request a full refund 3 days later. (Which they honored, no questions asked)
Functionally, the two products are similar in feature function. But I prefer eBlaster’s choice to send one long report to me at schedule of my choosing. I currently have it set to send my wife and me the full report of the previous day’s activities each morning at 4am. So when we wake up we have every bit of keystroke / activity data in a single email which we can quickly scan.
To be fair WebWatcher said their working on a single view report. For now I plan to stick with eBlaster, its simple interface and email features offers all the things we need.
In closing, here are a few links I've found helpful in my research:
God bless,
Curtis S