How can I tell what my children have been looking at on the internet without them knowing?

Answer 1

There are varying levels of spying and the same with the efforts to block it. It really depends on how sophisticated the children (and you) are

Short of complex programs and intrusive oversight one easy method I employ from time to time is to simply review the browser history in their accounts.

BTW this is easier because they have limited access accounts. If I wanted to employ stricter filters I could also do that from my administrator account. If the kids get smart they will delete the browser cache history but if they are lazy you can find anything they have visited at all there and when they visited it..

Also from some types of administrator accounts it is possible to prevent browser cache deletion and then they cannot even hide where they go (employers often use this method). Other programs like AOL will give you a general accounting and also provide site access/blocking software.

When you set up the filters for your firewalls you can now make it harder for them to wander by accident into a bad net neighborhood too.

Answer 2

As the others have said, you can check the browsing history, and you can also find a free key logger program on the internet. With the keylogger running in the background, you will be able to see what they've said in chat rooms, sites visited, and if they delete the history, you'll still have the info on a keylogger.

Answer 3

Be in the room when they're on - when you're not alot no PC usage. If they're used to having the PC when you're not around then substitute it for a while with flexibility in other areas. Let them go outside with their friends instead of IM-ing. Let them plan a library trip instead of studying online. Eventually they'll get used to the new routine. Otherwise, use a code of trust ethics with them and permit no deletion of history. If ever they were to, revolk PC privileges for a set period of time. Time extending with each infraction. Otherwise, set reward dates for clean PC usage, say a nice trip out somewhere or allowing them to do something they've wanted to do for a while. It'll be fun and you'll get what you want this way!

Answer 4

You can view the history in Internet Explorer by going to:
View / Explorer Bar / History
You can view the history in Firefox by going to:
History / Show in Sidebar

But, people can clear their history, so if the history is empty, it means your child is clearing it. Then you'll want to get some monitoring software:
http://familyinternet.about.com/library/weekly/aa022100a.htm

Answer 5

open the internet. at the top click on tools - then internet options. on that page click on settings - then view files - this will list the web pages they have looked at - just keep in mind that any link that was on the webpage will be listed too as if they looked at it even if they didn't

Answer 6

It is in the history you can view all the website that they are looking it is in the upper side of the browser, just click it.

Answer 7

Click on the favorites star,look to the right and you will see history. Click there and you will know.