Verity Parental Control Software Featured on TopTenReviews.com

Responsible parents know they can’t personally monitor their children’s Internet use 24 hours a day, so they rely on parental control software to stop their kids from viewing inappropriate or dangerous things. Verity recently made TopTenReviews.com’s list is one of the top parental control software packages available. TopTenReviews called it an “effective tool for making your children safer online.” Here’s why.

The Ability to Block or Approve Specific Sites

Parents who are worried about their children accessing specific websites or applications can use Verity to ensure that they don’t do so. Verity’s filters allow parents to blacklist or whitelist particular sites and applications. In order to block your child’s access to a particular application, you just need to input the filename you want to be blocked, including the .exe extension. Parents could use this to block the use of Web browsers altogether if a child is grounded from the Internet as well as blocking specific applications that could be troublesome.

The Ability to Monitor and Control Usage

If you’re concerned about your children spending too much time on the Internet, you’ll appreciate Verity’s usage monitoring software. You can set it so that children are only able to access the Internet at certain times of the day. For example, if you don’t want your kids online while you aren’t home, you can set Verity to block access to the Internet until 1800 hours (6 p.m.) when you will be home.

In addition to controlling usage, you can also monitor it. Verity allows you to check your kids’ Internet usage from any Internet-connected device. Thus, if you’re worried about your kids spending all afternoon online, you can check from your phone, tablet, or work computer to see how much Internet has been used and what sites your kids have been on. If you aren’t happy with what you see, you can block Internet access right then and there through the remote application. Future versions of the software are planned to include even more monitoring capabilities, including keystroke-tracking functionality.

Greater Control Over What Your Kids See

Some software packages pre-set filters by age so that your kindergartener automatically is prohibited from accessing certain sites that your high school senior can see. Verity leaves it up to you to decide which sites or applications to block, giving you greater control over what your kids do or don’t access online than software packages that use a one-size-fits-all package.

Verity offers parents complete control over when and what their children access online. Parents who are concerned about their kids’ Internet use will find this software package very helpful for both monitoring and control, which is why TopTenReviews recommends it so highly.

Do the Splits and See Where Your Money is Going

Managing your personal finances is much easier when you know exactly where your money is coming from and where it's going. MoneyLine Personal Finance Software helps you track your cash flow quickly and easily.

One of the easiest ways to see what's happening with your money is to use the split transaction feature in MoneyLine. For example, let's say you go to a store like Target or Walmart to buy groceries. Along with your groceries, you stop off in the automotive section to pick up a couple of quarts of oil, then stop by the clothing section to pick up a few pairs of socks, and finally drop by the toy aisle to buy a birthday gift for a young relative.

Once you're home and have put away the groceries and the other items you bought, enter the purchase in MoneyLine. You can either record the total amount of the transaction and stop there, or take a few extra seconds and split the transaction into different categories. After entering the total amount spent at the store, break down exactly how much money you spent on food and allocate that to the Groceries category. Record the amount spent for the motor oil to Auto, put the socks under Clothing, and finally the toy can go under Gifts.

You can even add subcategories to track things in still finer detail. For example, if you have two cars, you could make a subcategory for each vehicle underneath Auto expenses.

Over time, as you continue to categorize and split transactions you will have a better picture of exactly where you are spending your money. This helps when you are trying to create or stick to a budget—another feature of MoneyLine. You may find areas where you can cut back, or maybe you will find a few extra dollars that you can use for vacation and entertainment expenses—that's when keeping track of your money becomes fun.

Keeping track of your personal finances can be a chore, but with MoneyLine Personal Finance Software you'll find that it's actually a lot quicker than you may have feared.

A Down And Dirty EyeLine Security Software Review

Are you looking for a way to keep an eye on your home or office while you are away? Matthew Nawrocki of TechRepublic recently reviewed EyeLine Video Surveillance Software for just that and found "if you are looking for a useful tool to facilitate the creation of a quick and dirty security camera system for your office, EyeLine might be the ticket." Here is a look at what else Nawrocki had to say about EyeLine:

"NCH Software's security offering is definitely worth giving a try at least. As with their other products, they offer a free no-risk trial download so that you can give EyeLine a try and ensure that your hardware / software combination is fully supported. Because if it is, EyeLine has excellent features which can rival big name commercial video surveillance hardware kits which can cost much more."
  – TechRepublic

Read the complete EyeLine review on TechRepublic, or as Nawrocki suggests, Download EyeLine to give it a test drive with your video camera(s) and see if it is the right solution for you.

Protect Your Kids Online

We are heading into summer—in the northern hemisphere anyway—which means a lot of kids will be spending more time at home during the summer break from school. Unless you are teacher, or a stay at home parent, chance are you don't have the luxury of being at home too, so putting some parental controls in place to block websites or applications you don't want your children to see, may well be in order.

Monitoring children online has been a hot topic for a while now. Parents have cause to be concerned about everything from inappropriate content to predators and cyber-bullying. A program like Verity Parental Control Software can't solve all problems, but by making it easy to block websites based on keywords, or domain, block applications, put time restrictions on computer use, and monitor all activity so the parent can look at statistics and screenshots of what their children are doing on the computer, it makes it much easier to prevent potential problems. You can see for yourself if something isn't right from the web control panel, so you can have peace of mind that your children aren't getting into things that are inappropriate when they are online.

Improvements to Home Security with Software & Technology

Guest post by Sara Stringer

Smartphone software apps are entering almost every industry at an astonishing pace. From finance to the entertainment industry, innovation in home security technology has made way for mobile apps that allow home owners to take control of monitoring while on the go. Software has also made monitoring much more affordable than conventional monitoring systems which likely also require technical knowledge to operate and use.

Authorized dealers of leading security providers such as www.selecthomesecurity.com dealing in ADT and other security companies have adapted to mobile software and their customers can take advantage of real-time monitoring, updates and the ability to arm or disarm the security system remotely.

Here are some benefits of software monitoring applications:

1. Video monitoring

Video monitoring was once considered as an expensive investment, but software like EyeLine home surveillance software has made video monitoring quite easy and accessible from any remote location with an active connection nearby.

Review the recorded video footage at any time. If you want know who left the microwave on or what the pet is getting into while you’re away, you just need to check the video recording. Eyeline can also be configured to allow 24-hour live streaming and to send alerts the moment when someone enters or goes out of the house.

2. Energy savings

Advanced monitoring systems can even link in with your appliances, including your television and air conditioner. For example, you can turn on the television to portray that someone is in the house while you’re away. Or, remotely turn off appliances in case you forgot to turn them off when leaving home for both energy savings and increased security.

3. Wider coverage

Security software has extended the monitoring coverage by leaps and bounds. Conventional systems only enabled users to monitor from a specific range, which was a barrier for those who were traveling but wanted to keep an eye on their home. Mobile home security monitoring is quite flexible in this regard and can be accessed when you are out of the city or state, and receiving alerts in the form of e-mail or SMS can provide further peace of mind no matter where you are.

Despite all the attractions software apps offer for home security, you should also note there are security issues that need to be taken into consideration. Your home would be at risk if you don’t configure passwords on your phone, Wi-Fi and other devices. Even with passwords there are still potential security vulnerabilities.

Your best bet is to keep your phone and mobile devices in your possession at all times. And it isn't recommended to feed your home address, social security number, or other private details into your phone in case it lands in someone else's hands.

Security systems, software and apps can also be used for other functions like parents making use of new technology to make sure their children are getting home after school, or checking in on a house sitter while you are away.

This kind of monitoring software may also be used to monitor investment properties, temporary vacation homes and more. Take your home security efforts to the next level as this industry continues to grow and discover itself.

Help Managing Remote Workers

Guest post by Tony Stokes of Contracting Solutions (New Media)

We are a software solutions provider specializing in Digital Media and Customer Flow Management software employing around 65 staff based here in the UK and Hong Kong.

While tracking staff members and timekeeping in our main offices is not normally an issue we are seeing an increase in the number of coders that prefer to work flexible hours from home. We started the home working scheme over 3 years ago and in general most staff members worked the required hours and were generally productive but we really had no way of recording the hours being worked by each employee. Looking around the market place we found many solutions but most were very expensive or required an on-going monthly payment dependent on the number of staff using the software.

After more searching we came across Flexi-Server Employee Attendance Software which initially we thought was quite cheap in comparison and perhaps would not fit our requirements. Nerveless we downloaded the trial and were amazed that we had it up and running in about ten minutes. Initially we only wanted to record the times that each employee was working and allow them to take breaks and work flexible hours that suited them. We found this initial requirement was very easy to configure and the web dashboard produced all of the statistics we needed.

The new CSMN office in India

During the period of setting up the initial Flexi-Server installation we were in the process of opening a new Office in India to outsource some of our extra coding requirements. We found an existing company and that fitted our requirements and asked them if they would be willing to use Flexi-Server to record each team member's hours to which they agreed. Having put this in place we then looked into the other features offered and found the most invaluable capability of recording screen shots and having them uploaded to our server, this has not only helped us monitor progress remotely but has also allowed us to spot issues and help to get them resolved.

Since then we have we have purchased a majority stake in the Indian company and have made considerable investment in a new office, extra staff and upgrades to the IT equipment. We would not have had the faith to do this remotely had we not had the monitoring, reporting and added peace of mind that Flexi-Server Productivity & Attendance Software provides.

Tony Stokes is Technical Director of Contracting Solutions (New Media), Innovators of Digital Signage, enhanced visual communications and multimedia solutions.

FlexiServer in the Spotlight

Check out the June issue of Smart Computing, a US magazine covering smart computing and consumer electronics in plain English. One of the software programs they chose to spotlight in this issue is our very own FlexiServer Productivity and Attendance Software: a "no more time-cards" business solution that tracks employee check-in and out times, whether they are working in the office or from home.

The Importance of Parental Control Software

The Internet has become an invaluable asset to us in the last decade. It has expanded our world and allowed us to access information to an extent we never imagined. Schools use the Internet and computers for many aspects of our children’s education, from research to learning games. However, all of this technology presents some common safety issues that parents constantly have to confront as well. Some of the most frequent parental fears are:

• Children coming into contact with dangerous people. Chat rooms, social media, and instant messaging are all ways that children interact with others. Unfortunately online predators lurk in these areas as well.
  
• Web pages with inappropriate content. These can be pornography sites, gambling sites, pages that are violent or promote drugs & alcohol, or include tactics for cheating.
  
• Online shopping. Kids might not always realize that it is not okay to use our credit cards to purchase products. Blocking some of these sites can help contain the problem of those unexpected charges on you monthly bill.
  
• Exposure to Cyber-bullying. Chat rooms and social networks can allow your children to talk to their friends, but even classmates can have very harmful things to say. Cyber-bullying has become a dangerous and all too common activity.
  

There are times that we as parents cannot constantly monitor whether or not our children are on the Internet for longer than they should be. If kids are old enough to stay home alone while we finish our workday, it is hard to say whether they really did only spend 30 minutes on the computer, or if they actually spent 2 hours playing or on Facebook instead of working on that English essay.

Verity child monitoring software helps parents take control of these problems. After a quick setup, Verity will begin monitoring whatever you want it to. You can block certain websites by using the domain name or keywords, preventing pages from being opened. This way kids can still do school research without going anywhere they shouldn’t. You can also set up time limits on certain programs or on the computer itself so you know your child is not spending too much time online. You can save screenshots of what your child was doing and looking at to review later, as well as viewing usage and activity reports that show how long your child is on a certain website or using specific programs. You can even have alerts sent to your email so you can check on your child from your smart phone.

Protecting our children in today’s high tech environment can be a daunting task. As fast as technology is moving and progressing, it can be nearly impossible. But with the right tools like good parental control software it becomes much more manageable. As parents, anything we can utilize to keep our kids safe and happy is worth checking out.

Video Surveillance at Home

We all know that there are some obvious benefits to using video surveillance within your home. It allows you to watch for intruders when you are away, you can monitor when your children arrive home from school, or keep an eye on the new nanny, but the list doesn't end there. Here are some additional reasons to use Eyeline Video Surveillance Software that you might not have thought of.

Daytime Pet Monitor

Have you ever had a time that you've gotten home and wondered how in the world your dog could have managed to get something off of your counter? I have. I have very small dogs, yet if I was in a hurry in the morning and happened to leave the bagels on the counter somehow they would manage to pull them off and devour them while I was gone. With EyeLine, I can go back and see. Apparently Jack Russel Terriers can jump surprisingly high when they have a mind to.

With EyeLine it easy to find out just which pup is deciding to destroy the remote, whether they are relaxing on the furniture they shouldn't be on, and see what other trouble they might be getting into while you are away.

Is Your Pet Expecting?

This may seem a bit strange to the non-animal owner, but it can be very important to know exactly when your dog, cat, or horse go into labor. Horse breeders set up constant surveillance when waiting for their mothers to deliver, as complications can result in devastating results. A friend of mine is a dog breeder and it is important for her to have the ability to check in on her mothers on a regular basis. With Eyeline she can log in and check on her pets with the web access feature from her office.

New Baby Monitor

For those of you with children, video surveillance is quickly becoming the popular way to check on your new baby. You can check on your sleeping child without running the risk of waking them up. Simply fire up your computer.

Outdoor Surveillance

Obviously there are times that it is nice to know whether or not someone is outside your home. However I have some friends that have a different concern - wildlife. They need to know whether or not they have a large predator around their house as they recently purchased a puppy. While they would like to let the puppy into the dog run during the day they live where mountain lions may be a problem. They use Eyeline to make sure they do not have a visitor that may not be safe while they are away.

Video surveillance is a valuable asset, regardless of whether you use it at home or in a business setting. Now it is easy and affordable to use too, giving you the ability to use it for security or simple monitoring.

Set A Time Limit On Computer Use

If your children wouldn't do anything other than play on the computer if given the chance, then the newest feature added to Verity Parental Control Software maybe exactly what you need. A new Time Limits tab has been added to Verity's Parental Controls allowing parents to set time limits on computer usage according to the day of the week or the time of day. You can also set program or website exceptions that won't count toward the allowable quota, so it will still be possible for your child to type a report in Word or practice their typing skills with KeyBlaze Typing Tutor, without eating into the allowable game time your kids crave.

Make Employees Happy with Flexibility and FlexiServer

I recently read a study on BNet looking at What makes people happy at work. The first thing on the list? Flexible work schedules. When I think about it this seems like an obvious answer. Being able to easily accommodate appointments, or working around class schedules or kids activities; I can quickly come up with a long list of reasons why a rigid 9-5 schedule just isn't the best solution for many employees out there.

So why aren't more offices allowing their employees a flexible work schedule? There are some where it might be difficult, like at a bank, a teller really can only work banking hours when the doors are open for customers to come in. But in an office environment it is more likely that there is resistance from management because having everyone at their desks at the same time makes it easier to ensure that work is getting done and everyone is putting in their hours. If that is the only thing holding managers back from letting someone work, say, Sunday through Thursday instead on the typical Monday through Friday, then there is an easy solution. Using a software program like FlexiServer attendance software for logging information about computer activity and monitoring hours worked based on computer logon and logoff times, managers can more confidently allow employees to work flexible schedules or from remote locations. FlexiServer also provides reports to help management gauge productivity without needing to be a first hand witness to an employee's time spent at their desk. So why not let a software program monitor employee hours for you instead of watching the clock and filling out timesheets?

FlexiServer Creates a More Efficient Work Environment

The Center for Pain Control business manager Peter Graf was having difficulty managing his employees’ computer usage. The Center, which makes it possible for patients to avoid a hospital stay for surgical procedures while helping them to manage pain, has just over twenty employees. Graf wanted to ensure that each employee was using their computer systems efficiently. This is a very real concern for businesses considering how much money businesses are losing due to non-work related internet browsing.

Graf immediately turned to NCH Software, since he had successfully used products of theirs in the past. He came across FlexiServer employee computer usage monitoring software, which he now uses to double-check hours worked, view application use by staff, and to restrict programs and internet sites on necessary computers. “FlexiServer is easy to use and set up,” said Graf.

Using FlexiServer to monitor employees has finally given him the opportunity to get some real work done. “I run a report once a month to see where employees spend most of their time. This freed up more time for actual work,” said Graf. Before FlexiServer, Graf manually entered the hours of every employee into an Excel spreadsheet.

Graf’s favorite feature is the ability to prohibit employees from using programs and internet sites that they shouldn’t be using during work hours. He can also pinpoint which sites viruses were picked up on, and generate reports on employees’ start and end times.

FlexiServer software automatically logs employee time and attendance. It features tools for quality assurance monitoring and reporting, and works with home or remote employees. FlexiServer gives managers the confidence they need to know that work is getting done without needing to micro-manage. The monitoring features are non-invasive and respect the employees' need for privacy, allowing them to enter private mode when necessary, while creating a paper trail that can be referenced if needed.

Announcing Verity Parental Control Software

This week we added a brand new program to our ever-growing range of software, this time a little something for the family. Verity Parental Control Software is now available and completely free, giving parents more confidence and peace of mind. By monitoring a child's computer activity both online and off parents can rest easy that they can always look back at what their kids are doing on the computer without needing to hover and watch over their shoulder.

After a quick setup, Verity will begin logging the programs being used and the websites visited. Activity is tracked by user, program, keystrokes, mouse clicks, and screenshots and can be monitored through a password-protected web interface. Additional parental controls allow you to block specific websites and applications.

So if you are looking for a quick and easy way to track computer activity in your household you should give Verity a try, and be sure to let us know what you think.

Employee, Interruped - Internet use in Today's Workplace

Are you reading this blog at work? It's a fair question when you look at the statistics of how many "cyberslackers" there are out there: a new breed of employees who use company internet connections for personal use.

The internet has completely changed the business landscape over the last 10 years, and with it, the day-to-day roles of employees. As more and more of us have begun engaging with the internet’s information playground on a daily basis, there is the increasing temptation to get your Facebook fix before you hit those spreadsheets. With all the benefits the internet affords businesses, the trade-off is a loss in employee productivity which, in turn, can result in a loss of company profit. To combat this potential downturn, many businesses are taking measures to keep tabs of their employees on the clock, monitoring computer usage, emails, phone calls, and even keystrokes, all in the name of retaining employee productivity. When you think about the potential losses (upwards of $350,00 per business), it begins to make sense, even though if you listen closely enough, you can hear George Orwell crying somewhere far, far away.

In the interest of putting employee internet usage into perspective, we've put together the above infographic. If you're interested in the potential benefits of monitoring your employee's computer use, then take a look at FlexiServer attendance software and download the free trial to test drive the computer-use monitoring features.

Now get back to work!