HELP! Errant child, spyware needed!

stressedofdevon

Please can anyone help? I have a thirteen year old who has been up to stuff on the internet that she shouldn't, and had arranged to meet a stranger. It has scared me, especially as I put her on a laptop in the lounge to try to stop that kind of thing ocurring. She does still need to go online for homework and I do want to allow her a second chance, but have my doubts that she is covering her tracks.

Can anyone tell me where I can locate reliable free or cheap spyware or similar so that I can see that she is safe? This has really shaken me up as my daughter is a straight A student and usually very sensible.

Any help appreciated.

sporedude

Could try a keylogger, Anything you install will be instantly wiped/blocked by an anti-virus/anti-spyware program.

DatabaseError

get a chair..place it at the side of her...monitor her access.

thomas01155

You could filter social networking sites etc http://www1.k9webprotection.com/

stressedofdevon

DatabaseError wrote: »

get a chair..place it at the side of her...monitor her access.

Thanks, I appreciate the input, unfortunately there is real world and ideal world! I am a busy mum with more than one child in the house and other jobs to do, I just can't stand over her for hours on end and I do want her to have some freedom, I just need at this point to make sure she is SAFE!
:A

thomas01155

Page of keyloggers use at your own risk http://download.cnet.com/windows/parenting-software/?!!!!!ltcol;nav

sporedude

http://www.widestep.com/

Keylogging software, Keeps a note of keys pressed on the keyboard and saves it to a word document, Looks free, Dont know about safe.

DatabaseError

I understand that, but my daughter's PC has had software to restrict access (to keep her 'safe'), though I never went as far as keyloggers/screen grabbers (everyone has a line they won't cross).
I came to understand that nothing I did would make much of a difference...she had access at her friends house...and at school...
The only thing that could work is education and hope....

stressedofdevon

Thanks everyone for your help. I have been scared witless by this, it isn't about controlling my daughter but protecting her from some very manipulative and dangerous people. Being a young woman she thinks everyone who chats to her is her 'friend', and we are so lucky to have discovered the situation before the meeting actually took place or we may have a very different situation right now. We want to rebuild the trust but want to proceed with extreme caution.

All the help much appreciated.

Mister-D_3

I agree with DatabaseError here. I think the best thing you can do is talk with her and tell her about the dangers of the Internet. There are some resources out there for parents who want to educate their children about these matters. You could try searching "think u know" a website created by CEOP.

Problems with keyloggers/netnannies/proxies is that children spend a lot of time looking for ways to defeat them, and if they give up with that they just go to a mates or use the schools/library pc's.

stressedofdevon

Thankfully she is not at all techie, and has a real lazy streak too, so not too worried about her finding ways round things. School is pretty stitched up from her point of view, she accepts the social networking sites are blocked at school and being the artistic type it doesn't figure on her radar at this point to find a way round it - she would rather be with her buddies in the canteen! It is at home that the problem has happened, she has been too innocent and trusting of what are most definitely adults masquerading as teens on Bebo and the like, and her BS detectors have not matured sufficiently to register their excuses. We have had a family tragedy this year so she is pretty vulnerable and we need to see her safely out the other side of this to allow her a safe relationship with the WWW in the future.

We are thanking God that we headed off the potential meeting - what a coincidence the teen with the broken webcam and no camera remembered that he had an aunty several hundred miles away in our town, and how charming his professionally posed avatar was!