JuniorWatch

As a parent, you're responsible for what your children see and do online, and parental control suites like JuniorWatch can help out. This free application monitors, logs, and reports all activity on your family PC or your child's PC. JuniorWatch captures screenshots and Webcam shots, logs keystrokes, monitors the clipboard, saves browser history, and blocks inappropriate Web sites. You can also delete and retrieve files remotely with JuniorWatch. In addition to overall upgrades, new features include anti-phishing and porn blocker tools.

Before you install JuniorWatch, we recommend first signing up for a free account at the program's Web site. This entails creating a user name and password and providing some personal information, including name, e-mail address, and time zone. You'll need your user name and password to install JuniorWatch. Registered devices like our PC show up in JuniorWatch's Web-based My Devices management tool. It's ad-supported, but that's how JuniorWatch stays free, and a few Web ads are probably not high on the typical parent's list of Major Annoyances.

The Web-based log showed our target PC's name, operating system, and the time of the latest report. But under Location it showed the address of our ISP's servers. We could display the location on a Google map. The Web-based settings let you manage your Accounts and Devices anywhere you can log on. Speaking of Devices, JuniorWatch also offers an Android option. We didn't test it, but that's the sort of extra that can make a big difference to some parents, especially those who are still ahead of their own kids in tech ability (for now).

While JuniorWatch is free for all users, it's also available in Professional and Enterprise editions for users with special needs, such as hosting the program on their own servers. JuniorWatch proved effective at monitoring and logging our target PC's activity. For parents, that means being able to see exactly what the kids are up to when they go online.