While SpyAgent does provide a mechanism for website blocking, it just isn't SpyAgent's strongest suit.

The basic functions are there, including blocking via URL or keyword, but it doesn't feature the more sophisticated categories of filtering that make it easier to control what is being accessed on the PC in question.

Given the important of website blocking and its ability to help parents and employers to keep inappropriate materials away from the PC being monitored, we wish SpyAgent brought more to the table here.

Sure, concerned parents (and smart employers) can block pornography, gambling sites, gaming sites, violent images, and more, but it's not as easy to do as in WebWatcher, NetNanny or CyberPatrol to name perhaps the best three at website blocking.

Don't get us wrong, once you've discovered that an inappropriate site has been accessed blocking it through SpyAgent is simple.

You just click a button and that website is now unavailable. However, SpyAgent requires that you build your own list of unacceptable sites, so if there are many sites to block, you may be there for a while.

Other programs (like the ones mentioned above) are more proactive about limiting access to undesirable websites, so there's less work involved for you to block websites, and less likelihood of someone gaining access to inappropriate materials in the first place.

That said, if you don't need website blocking to begin with (i.e. you're mainly looking for website monitoring), or you don't mind blocking sites after the fact, SpyAgent makes this process pretty easy.

In contrast to its relatively basic blocking features, SpyAgent does a very good job with website monitoring.

All websites viewed on the computer in question are logged according to their address, username, and the time of the visit to the site.

This allows you to do what computer monitoring is designed to do: keep tabs on what types of materials are being accessed on the PC you're monitoring.

Parents can make sure that their child isn't looking at pornography; employers can make sure that employees aren't wasting time shopping, checking emails, or worse; concerned spouses will know whether or not their husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend other is really working, or perusing personal ads.

As an added bonus SpyAgent also tracks exactly how long each user visits each website, so you'll know if the user landed on a page by mistake, or actually spent a great deal of time there.

Social Media Website Monitoring

It seems like everyone today has a page at a social media site like Myspace or Facebook - which is exactly why computer monitoring software tools should focus on them.

Parents are usually all-too aware of the dangers of social media sites to their children.

Stories of cyber bullies and sexual predators lurking in social sites seem to hit the news every day.

And though it gets less press, there's also the problem of older kids posting inappropriate materials themselves.

Employers often need to be sure that employees aren't spending too much time on these sites during work hours, and suspicious spouses want to be sure that their significant other doesn't have any inappropriate "friends."

That being said, it comes as a surprise that SpyAgent doesn't focus more specifically on monitoring social networking sites.

They do such a great job with their website monitoring that it seems only natural they would extend that kind of coverage specifically into social media sites.

However, while there isn't a specific focus on social media, buyers can rely on the website monitor and on the invisible keylogger to access the usernames and passwords used to log into social networking sites, and monitor social media use from there.

It's an extra step that many busy people may not to take, but if you need to, you'll definitely be able to take a closer look with SpyAgent at social media sites on the PC you're monitoring.

Monitoring Search History

One of the challenges with website monitoring is how the search engines show up in the monitoring software log files.

Visits to Yahoo! and Google can seem innocuous, particularly when grouped together into dozens or pages; however, looking deeper at these searches often reveals interesting or troublesome trends on the computer you're monitoring.

Looking at what's being searched for isn't just a handy feature but often a very revealing one, especially when older kids or tech-savvy home or business users know how to delete their search history and hide their tracks.

We were happy with SpyAgent's rather comprehensive search history monitoring that helped us see beyond the surface of the website monitoring.

The SpyAgent search function proved very speedy to help us pinpoint specific keywords in the activity logs.

We found it easy to to make sure that questionable or dangerous information wasn't being searched for online.

SpyAgent's reporting feature can also be configured to reveal the "Top 10 Online Searches," which proved more useful in our testing than we thought it would.

It's a good feature we found ourselves using and glad we had it.

Instant messaging is another online space that can be difficult to monitor.

Parents usually want to know who's talking to their child online, and what's being said; employers need to know that employees aren't goofing off chatting with friends or co-workers; husbands, wives, boyfriends, and girlfriends want to know who and why their is partner is chatting with.

SpyAgent does a good job of recording instant messages.

Both sides of all chat conversations were successfully recorded, and it works with all of the major chat clients.

And, unlike some competitors, you can block a particular messaging partner once you've decided he or she isn't approved for the person you're monitoring to chat with.

Some opponents of this technology are quick to point out that it's trivially easy for someone to change from "ThisHotCutie-oxoxox" to "ThatHotCutie-oxoxox" and get by the filter.

While it may not stop everyone, it can stop some people from getting to the person you're monitoring, or it can at least slow them down.

Whatever the case, we're glad the technology is in SpyAgent and wish more monitoring software had this feature.

Email recording is one of the basic requirements for computer monitoring software.

Employers, parents, and spouses all need to make sure emails sent and received are on the "up-and-up," and this goes double for attachments, which some people send with harmless names like "Document1.doc" to try to send illicit messages, when the attachment's contents are actually sneaky and far from on the "up-and-up".

Once again, SpyAgent does very well here. All of the emails and attachments on the PC in question were recorded, revealing exactly what had been sent and received.

This works even it the email is deleted later.

SpyAgent also records all webmail messages from the major webmail providers, including Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and MySpace webmail, which is important not just for those users who rely on alternate email addresses in an effort to conceal their documents and correspondence, but also for those users who use webmail as their primary personal email address.

Screenshots make computer monitoring fast and easy. They allow you to actually see the pages accessed on the PC in question, so you'll never have to manually check a page with an ambiguous URL.

SpyAgent takes real-time screenshots of everything that happens on the computer, according to criteria you select in advance.

This can be based on specific intervals of time, whenever the user clicks the mouse, or whenever specific websites are visited.

Screenshot recording can also be configured to start or increase its capture frequency when specific keywords are accessed, minimizing the recording of unnecessary data.

It also features a nifty, built-in slide show, not unlike that in Spector Pro to play back the images for easy viewing.

Setting computer usage limits can come in handy for both employers and parents who want to control when the computer is used, and how.

Employers might want to limit computer or Internet access to certain times of the day to maximize the use of billable hours, and parents could set computer use limits to ensure that kids aren't logging on when they're asleep, working, or away.

SpyAgent sets computer usage limits that can lock down an entire PC for a set period of time; however, there's no function that will allow you to lock down the Internet or certain programs, while leaving the PC itself available for use.

This means SpyAgent's software for computer usage / time limits is an "all-or-nothing" tool: either the person you're monitoring can or can't use the computer.

This might be fine for some homes and offices, but we believe more fine-grained time-based access controls are needed.

Remote monitoring might well be one of the most important tools in today's computer monitoring software market.

With remote monitoring you can access your computer monitoring data from anywhere. Otherwise, you'll be stuck returning to the computer in question, which could be time consuming, awkward, or just not possible.

Programs with remote monitoring offer their buyers the option to monitor data from anywhere.

This means working parents can keep an eye on their child's Internet use even when the parent is away from home, and employers can still monitor employee Internet use even when they're traveling or unable to get to the office.

Unfortunately, SpyAgent itself doesn't feature remote monitoring.

SpyTech, the makers of SpyAgent, do offer buyers a second program called SpyAnywhere that can be purchased for those who want to add remote monitoring.
It's reasonably priced at $39 dollars, but that extra cost and having to install another program might put some people off.

Computer monitoring often needs to be done in a discreet manner, and as a result, adequate stealth is another "must-have" in terms of today's monitoring software.

SpyAgent has done a very respectable job with their stealth mode this time around. While not quite as robust as WebWatcher at hiding itself, it still makes it hard to find for more people.

We believe for the most part SpyAgent will run undetected on my systems and by more users.

We're happy to report we were originally given misinformation (or perhaps just flat out misunderstood) their telephone support offering. Having heard from SpyAgent's CEO about this, we stand corrected:

SpyAgent offers customer service for those who purchase SpyAgent by phone Monday through Friday, 9am to 7pm EST.

Given that those are East Coast hours, they're quite respectable. We wish more manufacturers would offer such generous support as SpyAgent.

Furthermore, if you're outside the normal support hours, they also have a 24/7 email help desk, where they try to get back to customers within 12 to 24 hours.

Our responses from the customer support were timely, courteous, and to-the-point.

All-in-all we're very happy about it and expect customers will be, too.

SpyAgent offers a fairly complete suite of tools for anyone in need of computer monitoring software.

Still, there are a few places where we feel they could stand a little improvement.

First we wish they offered users a more specific focus on social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook.

Screenshots and the keylogger offer a good alternative here, but for parents or other buyers really concerned with social networking use there are other software products available that do a better job, most specifically Spector Pro.

For parents and employers alike, even though SpyAgent's emphasis is on computer monitoring vs. blocking, we'd also like to see more comprehensive computer filtering, especially in terms of website blocking.

This would be a useful time saver for those who don't want to block sites themselves.

And finally, SpyAgent itself doesn't offer their buyers remote monitoring but requires an upgrade.

We think this is a very important tool that all top quality computer monitoring software should offer.

SpyTech (the manufacturer) does offer SpyAnywhere, which allows remote access and control of information from the monitored computer. If you're considering SpyAgent, it's an upgrade worth considering.