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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
60 of 67 found the following review helpful:
 Nice features, easy to use, but...Dec 31, 2006
By Mastoo
Antispyware detects Spector Pro and announces that the computer is being monitored. Kind of defeats the purpose of its "stealth mode"
27 of 32 found the following review helpful:
 Worth It!!Dec 21, 2007
By Humarockron
For years it has been a struggle to control my two kids computer use.. yes, passwording the logon completely prevented use without my permisssion but once on my ability to monitor their activity was minimal at best...
Several weeks ago I found that my 14 yr old son had begun visiting inappropriate web sites... We had "the talk" but not surprisingly it didn't stick...
So after a fair amount of research I purchased Spector Pro... sure it's a little pricy but the results were spectacular... most importantly it eliminated the "trust question" inherent in parent/child agreements.. After two weeks of use I can honestly say I would have been thrilled with the results if it had cost $400!! At $100 it is a steal!!
Some comments on the product;
1) Make certain to turn off all anti-virus programs before begining installation! I ignored that instruction because well, I usually do and rarely have a problem. This time the program wouldn't work until I did an uninstall and reinstall.
2) While I'm not a geek, I am fairly knowledgeable but still found set-up of the remote monitoring feature to be complex and confusing. It took four tries and about an hour before I got it right. (if you are less stubborn than I a call to tech support would be in order)
3) The screen shot feature is great but lacks a speedy enough "fast forward" button; it can get pretty tedious if you have more than a couple of days of data to look through.
4) The scheduling feature is fabulous!! Your child can use the computer for homework but can only access the internet during the schedule you set. Perfect for working parents!!
While this product is pitched as a "monitoring tool" that misses the real value; it is an unemotional management tool that provides your child with a structured environment, it frees you and your child from daily negotiations over computer use and it eliminates (or at least limits) the parental worry about their child's internet use.
20 of 23 found the following review helpful:
 mom of threeJan 09, 2007
By C. Rangel
We use this software to monitor our teenager's computer activity. This is a lifesaver especially for parents of difficult teens. The only negative that we have experienced with this software is that we are not always able to see both sides of instant message conversations. The people who answer the toll free number listed on the box are very nice and very helpful. I highly recommend this product.
73 of 92 found the following review helpful:
Amazing Software for Parents to Monitor their ChildrenJul 21, 2007
By Honest Software Guy
"Honest Software Guy"
We have tried at least five different software products over the past three years to monitor our children to make sure they are being safe online.
We tried NetNanny, but came to the conclusion that Internet filters provide a false sense of security.
We tried some of the cheaper monitoring products and found that they were easily detected by our children, or slowed down our computer too much, or just didn't provide much useful information.
A few months ago, we tried Spector Pro because we saw that it had been named the Editors Choice by PC Magazine.
We were blown away by two things: how easy Spector Pro was to use and by how much it let us know about what our children were doing.
Spector Pro shows you all their emails, chats, instant messages, web sites visited, keystrokes typed. It also gave us great detail about what they were doing on MySpace. (Our daughter had posted suggestive pictures of herself and was actively seeking dates from older boys, and she is only 13.)
Our 14 year old son was also seeking out numerous adult web sites that showed actual physical sex action.
We were able to see in step by step fashion what they were doing on these bad web sites, plus we could see everyone they were chatting with. We discovered an older man asking highly personal questions of our daughter, and we were able to block our daughter from conversing with him with the chat blocking features built into the program.
We were somewhat hesitant at the price of $99, but with the money back guarantee and with the fact that nothing else had worked very well for us, we were willing to take a chance.
It is the best money we ever spent, and we can recommend this product with no reservations to any parent with children aged 9 to 17 who are concerned about what they are doing on the Internet and who they are talking to.
Knowing what we now know, we would have paid $300 if necessary.
One final thing: unlike many Internet sites that give you no contact information, this company publishes its phone number in big, very bold letters on its home page, and they answer the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We tested them on three different occasions on weekends, late at night and during normal business hours and never waited more than two minutes. Plus, they are very friendly and bend over backwards to help you.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
The Best Monitoring Software You Can GetOct 07, 2008
By MonitoringAdvisor
I recently attended a presentation at my child's school about keeping kids safe when they use their PC and connect to the Internet. One of the speakers, from the FBI no less, recommended Spector Pro from SpectorSoft so I took a look at the company website when I returned home. After looking at the Spector Pro information there, I had a couple of questions and comments and was amazed to find out that SpectorSoft has live sales persons and technical support 24/7. And I spent almost no time waiting on the phone, which was amazing. I decided to buy the product and take advantage of the option to immediately download the product. It took less than 5 minutes, just like the company suggested. Install was easy and I found setup very intuitive, even though I am not a PC expert.
I found that it's true, Spector Pro monitors everything a person does on the PC and the Internet. I especially like the MySpace and Facebook monitoring categories, and the screen snapshots function is amazing ... you get to see exactly what a PC user does, almost like playing back a video. The Top 10 Reports category also is a favorite ... gives me a great overview when I don't have time to look at every detail, which I can if I want to ...
Before hearing the FBI recommendation re: Spector Pro, I fooled around with one or two other cheaper programs ... and that's just what they were: cheap. Is your child worth the difference between an also-ran and the best program available, Spector Pro, at $99? Mine is ... many times over ... from now on out it's SpectorSoft or I wouldn't even bother ...
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