Is there a good alternative?

[Deleted member 1300495]

Hello guys, I wanted to know, is there a program like Netop's Vision that is free? I want to keep track of the computers being used in my household but I don't want to pay $800 for a program that I will not be using all the time. Is there an alternative to keeping track of multiple computers in a household for free?

 

[USAFRet]

What specific functionality are you looking for? "keep track of" is a broad concept.

 

[Deleted member 1300495]

Well basically like Netop's vision has it, you can look at what the computers you are tracking have displayed on their screens and you can stop them and get remote access.

 

[USAFRet]

Well basically like Netop's vision has it, you can look at what the computers you are tracking have displayed on their screens and you can stop them and get remote access.

Possibly TeamViewer.

 

[Deleted member 1300495]

but on multiple computers. I already know about TeamViewer. Here is the website: http/www.netop.com/classroom-management-software/products/netop-vision.htm

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah, I looked it up. I'm unsure of what features TeamViewer lacks for a home environment for what you want to do.

 

[Deleted member 1300495]

But I know that with netop, the person you track does not know that they are being tracked. With teamviewer, you will find out because the team viewer program needs to be running for it to work.

 

[USAFRet]

But I know that with netop, the person you track does not know that they are being tracked. With teamviewer, you will find out because the team viewer program needs to be running for it to work.

Well, yes, that is correct.

What specifically are you trying to do? See what the kids are running without them knowing?
Put the kid PC in a common room, with the monitor facing the room. Walk through the room once in a while.
That's what I did with my kids PC use.

Or are you wanting to spy on them without them knowing?

 

[Deleted member 1300495]

The first thing that you said. I don't want to be a spy!

 

[USAFRet]

Any sufficiently motivated intelligent young teen can get around just about any monitoring software that lives on that PC.
All they need do is power down and reboot from a freely available Linux LiveCD. Your monitoring software is now not running. They can do whatever they want.

So....you have two solutions.
1. Visual screen monitoring....the PC in a common room in the house with the monitor facing where anyone can see it
2. A whole house firewall. All network traffic flows through that. You can monitor after the fact and block categories of sites or specific sites.
This requires a specific device....either a really good router, or a limited use PC, running a Linux firewall. I have one. It sits in the corner, between the router and all other devices, and blocks whatever category of websites I choose. Porn, shopping, whatever...if you do not know the password,it does not allow that traffic.

 

[Deleted member 1300495]

Thank you. What is a good firewall you would recommend?

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you. What is a good firewall you would recommend?

pfsense is a good one. However, this requires its own, always on, PC.

The general setup would be Modem/router->firewall PC-> switches and devices.
If you want to also monitor WiFi traffic, it gets a bit more complicated.

 

[Deleted member 1300495]

yeah wifi would be good. Is there a way to do that?

 

[USAFRet]

To also monitor wifi traffic, the path would need to be:

Modem/router -> firewall box -> switch -> wifi access point -> devices

Or...if you have a modem and router that are two pieces:

Modem -> firewall (this does DHCP) -> Router (this does wifi) -> switch -> devices

As seen....configuring this is not trivial. Again....what do you want to 'keep track of' ?