computer monitoring software for the mac

[Brian Ashton]

Hi y'all

I rent out two rooms to students and think one of them or both may be mucking with my mac. Was wondering if there is a software I can get that will take pictures with the onboard camera when it's active and or capture screen shots.

Also wondering if there is a software that will allow me to log into the computer remotely and operate the camera and microphone.

Cheers

[Peter Kelly]

How about logging out when you're not there.

[Brian Tymchak]

You could install keystroke monitoring software on your machine. I have not used it but I hear that WebWatcher (webwatchernow.com) is a good package with remote monitoring capabilities. It is not shareware though. Since it's your machine and from your post, I assume you have not authorized others to use your machine, then you might escape the legal issues with spying on others. (however, I'm not offering a legal opinion there.) A court found a man guilty recently for using a keystroke logger on a shared computer to spy on his wife and prove she was having an affair.

[Brian Tymchak]

Having given it a second thought, I would consider putting that machine in a locked cabinet while you are not using it. That's the best security. Or (not sure you can do this on Macs) put a boot-up/power up password on the machine.

[Brian Kent]

You can absolutely add password control. No problem.

[John McClanahan]

Password your account. Then add a separate account that others can use. Make it a restricted account so they can't change anything important.

John - from my new 27" iMac

[Brian Ashton]

Hi guys. Password protecting the computer is, I hope, obvious to anyone but I want to go beyond that and catch him at it by taking a picture of him.

[Peter Kelly]

http://www.apple.com/remotedesktop/

Requires that the computer being used for monitoring has ^ARD installed on it as well.

Otherwise, to disable automatic login of your machine, System Preferences>Accounts>Your Account>Login Options>Automatic Login "Off". Just be certain you're absolutely clear on your user p-word.

[Art Mulder]

As far as I know, when the camera is on, so is the LED beside it. It's physically wired that way specifically to safeguard you from software that turns on the camera without your knowledge.

[Jim Koepke]

As far as I know, when the camera is on, so is the LED beside it.

That is where a small piece of electrical tape can come in handy.

jtk

[Tim Morton]

you can certainly put a camera in the room, and control it remotely. But i have not heard of anyone controlling the built in camera remotely. But Yes you can log into your mac without purchasing any software using VPN. So maybe its possible.

[Art Mulder]

Another option is to look into one of the "parental control" software packages and install that on the system. I believe that they can be configured to do things like email you a list of all the websites that the system visits, and/or keep a full log that you can browse later.