eBlaster 3.0

Reviewed by: Jeff Matthews, send e-mail Published by: SpectorSoft, go to the web site Requires: Pentium PC running at 100 MHz or higher, 16MB RAM, Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP & Internet access MSRP: $149.95

Are your children using a computer? Would you like to know who they're communicating with? Would you like to know who's sending them e-mail and even what is contained in the e-mails? Do you know who is accessing your computer when you're away from the keyboard? eBlaster has a solution that is powerful but which at the same time will not take a massive chunk out of your pocketbook.

eBlaster is an affordable solution that can find out what is happening, what time it is happening, what day it's happening and under what username it is occurring. eBlaster has the power to act as a basic keystroke monitor and an intensive security surveillance system. It can e-mail you a report of all activity occurring on your computer every 30 minutes or at a time you have preset. You can choose to have eBlaster notify you about every keyword typed, every application that has been launched and set it to record all the web sites that have been visited. eBlaster by default records all of the activities by every username on the computer but can be changed to only record the activities of certain users. In order to activate eBlaster you must press the secret hotkeys that you choose during setup. Then you must type in your password. Unauthorized users are denied access. You can also set eBlaster to display a message to users logging on to the computer that their activity is being monitored or choose not to inform them at all. The software operates behind the scenes without the user knowing and no icon appears in the Start menu or system tray.

Do your children use their own computer? Maybe you want to monitor the web sites they visit or check on who they're communicating with on AOL. eBlaster can log instant message conversations. eBlaster will send you a log of both sides of the instant message conversation if you specify that you wish to receive it. It can also send you the text of the e-mails received or sent by the user. Maybe you want to put "porn" in the keyword notify list? If your child surfs to a porn site, you'll get an e-mail notifying you of the incident; the e-mail includes the URL, time, date and other pertinent information. If you're at work and do not wish to be e-mailed immediately about the incident you can turn off the 'Send Instant Keyword Reports' feature and instead you'll be notified about the incident during the next report eBlaster sends to you.

Suppose I'm the security manager at a high tech company and we have top secret information that we do not wish to leave the company. I can put terms that have been discussed at the internal meeting into the keyword list. If an employee unknowingly sends an e-mail to a friend about new plans within the company and uses some terms that have been discussed at the internal meeting, eBlaster can notify someone about the event. The next step is that management can be immediately informed and can quickly take action against the employee.

(Ed. Note: Our research shows that companies which announce to staff the use of prooducts like eBlaster tend to have fewer problems during the first few weeks of use. Thereafter, as staff get used to the situation and gradually forget about eBlaster's presence, security breaches start to rise again).

Pros: For only $99.95 eBlaster is a powerful, comparatively inexpensive package which allows you to not only record keystrokes but also monitor many things such as all web sites visited and all incoming and outgoing e-mail. eBlaster will always keep you notified at predetermined intervals about what is going on.

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