The porn detector comes on a USB drive, so is portable and easy to use on many computers. You just put it in the USB port and it will scan the computer for pornographic content in the form of images. It can even find deleted files and history files and prepare a report of images. And it uses advanced image analysing algorithms to find porn and rarely returns false positive results.

Why would you want to use it? If you are a parent, you can find out if your children or other people who have access to your computers are surfing porn sites. If you are an employer you can learn if your employees are wasting time. If images are stored on your computers, you will be held responsible for any illicit activity.

It can even be used by large commercial organizations, law enforcement agencies and educational institutions to protect themselves and other users.

Let us not forget that porn sites are the most virus/Trojan/malware affected sites. They also allow your computer to be open to hacking. If children are exposed to porn sites, even inadvertently, your computer can be compromised as well as your children’s safety.

Even if you have anti-virus and high end internet safety measures installed on your computer, if a person wants to he or she can still surf porn sites. This porn detecting stick does not need any software to be installed on the computer, so does not take up any resources.

Apple’s iPad has become increasingly popular. And though it is not cheap, it is certainly the ‘in’ thing to have. No wonder, then that youngsters are getting their hands on these. Let us not forget that iPad makes computing very mobile.

Whether it is your employees, your children or your partner you want to track, you can easily do so by using Mobile Spy’s iPad Spy Software. You can install the software on the iPad you want to keep track of. And it will store all the details: the urls of the websites visited, sent and received emails, notes, GPS locations, photos, videos and any other activity which the iPad is used for.

Of ocurse one option to do this would be to simply check the web history of the user which will detail what sites the user has visited, but some users erase this data after each session of activity. The Mobile Spy will keep a record of the data even if the information is erased on the iPad itself.

You can view the logs and details through another computer or internet enabled phone at the Mobile Spy site by entering your user name and password. However, you have to jailbreak your iPad to install the software. The site gives you tutorials on how to go about doing this, depending on what operating system is installed.

Once you jailbreak the iPad, you may not get support from Apple or AT&T (or other service provider you may be using). This is for the simple reason that both Apple and the service provider put limitations on things you can and cannot do and apps you can download. So if you want to keep tabs on anyone whether they are under suspicion or you want to protect them, you will first have to free the iPad and then install the Spy Software.

More than parents, children have privacy concerns and nowadays parents allow their kids a lot of privacy. Most kids have their own computers in their rooms, and you will not know what they are up to. Depending on their age, they could be chatting with strangers or dubious ‘friends’, be at the mercy of sexual predators (we see it often enough in movies, books and television shows) or be watching porn.

While there are many monitoring softwares available, which you have to install on your child’s computer, the PC to TV Video Control Kit is one which allows you to watch what they are doing while using the internet on your own television. With SpyTV you can view whatever they are doing in real time on your television screen without having to look over their shoulders.

It is wireless and your child won’t even know that you are monitoring his or her internet activities. It is also easy to install – you don’t have to be a computer wiz to do this. With this software, you only pay one time charges and know what your kids are up to when they say they are using the computers to do their homework. So you have extra layer of security and peace of mind as well.

You have a desktop, a laptop, a notebook, a netbook and if you are have a family you probably have more than one computer. Even if you are working you will probably have a desktop and a laptop, unless you only have a laptop. And with the internet being prevalent – you can’t seem to do anything without being connected – you are online a great deal.

And of course cyberspace is dangerous. Not just because your computer can get infected with viruses, Trojans and worse or your hard disk can crash or your data can get corrupted. But your very identity can get stolen, your bank account and credit cards misused, especially if you use the internet for financial purposes – and almost everybody does.

So what are the kinds of programs cyber criminals use?

Spyware, Malware and Adware

These are the least dangerous programs as they usually only track your computer usage and give the information to third parties for sales and marketing purposes. However, they can slow down your computer. There are many programs which are available free on the internet for these, though most anti virus/internet suites also come with anti spyware programs.

Among free programs which are available – there are many of these – the top ranking ones are:

Viruses

Viruses are more dangerous – they can attack the security of your computer. They can come from sites, from email attachments and even programs which you download from the net. Often viruses attach themselves to emails which are sent to everybody in your address book.

They can corrupt data, cause data loss and your system may start behaving erratically if there are viruses present. They can even cause hard disk crashes. To combat viruses you need a good anti-virus program. While free programs like AVG Anti-Virus are available, they are not effective against all viruses.

There are even online scanners which will scan your computer for free, but they are not in use all the time and will only work when you ask for a scan, so there will no real time defense. And then all online anti virus scanners will not remove or disinfect the viruses, but only detect them.

Among the good anti-virus programs which are available are Norton, Symantec, Kapersky, McAfee and BitDefender; there are lots more also.

Trojans

Unlike viruses, Trojans cannot replicate. However, they are more dangerous because they are the tools which hackers use to take control of your computer. Trojans can also steal sensitive data from your computer and even use it as a remote server to send dangerous programs or files to other people. Most anti virus programs are also anti-Trojans.

There are many other similar programs which can infect your computer and compromise the security of your computer and the data stored on it.

How do you know you have been infected?

If your computer is slowing down, if programs do not work properly, if people say you have sent them emails, even though you have not, if your computer keeps on hanging or showing error messages, your computer is most likely infected. If while your are browsing you are taken to other sites which you have not typed in, or there are pop-ups even if the pop-up blocker is turned on, there are chances that your computer has been infected.

What can you do to increase the security of your computer?

When you use wi-fi connections security measure are all the more important. This is because many people may using the same wi-fi connection and you do not know what the other users may be up to and you do not want to be attacked by cybercriminals.

If you have important data on your computer – ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA.

Trust the Japanese to come out with something technologically new and yet old-fashioned in style. The Japanese hand-held fan is a typically Japanese invention with a fan made of bamboo, cloth and wood, cleverly hiding a 16 GB USB drive inside.

Probably more suited to female covert operatives under certain conditions, perhaps at a formal ball or opera and with the right kind of dress as well, this drive can be used to transfer secret information from one place to the other or install tracking software into a computer or laptop. Of course you do need a cable to do this, but otherwise it looks and works like a normal hand-held fan.

With a price tag of around $300, the fan USB drive does not come cheap, and then you have to figure out how and where you can use it (in Japan?) without being too obvious and standing out in a crowd!

With technological advancements, the curiosity factor has also increased as has a degree of paranoia given the rising crime rate as well the greater and easier exposure to all kinds of crime. As a parent it is your responsibility to see that your small or older children are safe; as an employer you need to enforce certain parameters for your employees. And since computers and the internet are preferred means of communication there are various devices which can enable you to do that more easily.

Enter the USB Snoop Stick – this gadget looks like a pen or flash drive and you need to plug it into a computer’s USB port and it will automatically install the requisite software. This will monitor all the activities on the computer. The best part of this gadget is that you can then plug this into the USB port of any other internet enabled computer and check what is going on at your home or office pc. So, the USB Stick does not have to remain on the host computer, it just needs to install the softeware and then can be plugged into any remote computer to see the activity.

You are able to monitor all activity, whether it is installation of any software, emails, chat conversations from all sides, activity logs, and even take screen shots at pre-determined times. What’s more if necessary you can even also remotely cut off internet access, log off all users, or shut down the computer. So you can do a lot more with this device than other similar gadgets.

Before you get too excited by the title, I must tell you it is the name of the logger itself and not something I have concluded is the ultimate product when it comes to keylogging, that is something thats impossible to decide as different keylogging products have different functions and serve different purposes. As you probably know, the overriding function of a keylogger is that they allow to discreetly log computer activity of an intended target, beit your kids, employees or anybody else who uses a computer at home or in the office that you wish to monitor, and you can do so with this keylogger. Though it looks like a USB device, it does not need to be plugged in all the time. It just has to be plugged in briefly and then it will install the software.

It is this software which will record the keystrokes, take screenshots at predetermined intervals, or when certain key words or phrases are used. The software is such that no known anti-virus software or anti spyware can detect it. And there is no hardware to detect. So it works extremely discreetly. When you plug the device back into the port it will retrieve all the data and you can use it on another computer and analyse it.

Whether you are a private investigator or you just want to monitor your family’s usage – after all there are so many criminals lurking on the internet – this is a useful device to have.

There are many cheaper softwares available online and you can get even demo ones. In some you can even have a warning message, warning the user that he/she is being monitored. You can get demo versions of some softwares, too. Most of them claim to be undetectable and do not slow down the computer. Unless you try a free download/demo version you may not know which one is the right product for your requirements. The one advantage the ultimate keylogger has is that it is available on a USB drive, so it may be usable on many computers.

I suppose one of the advantage of this logger over other cheaper hardware loggers is that those need to be plugged into back of the computer discreetly at the back to be able to log the details, but this one can be removed once the software is installed. Though this may be worth the extra price, there are cheaper and sometimes very good software options available.

A web cam is something many people use these days along with their computers for entertainment and to share video with relatives and friends in far away places. But this software turns an existing web cam into a surveillance tool. It can be used as a security camera and catch all the action when you are not around. It has special motion detector settings so that it starts recording when it finds some activity taking place.

Since it is sophisticated, it can work in very dim light, too. You can set it to record at intervals and even email the images to you if you are not around.

A good situtation to use this web cam would be perhaps when you have a babysitter or nanny around so you can use it to find out that nothing untoward is happening. If you leave your house in the hands of people who come and clean it or do other work when you are away, you can keep an eye on their doings and catch them if they are up to mischief.

Again, something like this needs to be used sensibly because it can be misused by inacting unneccessary amount of surveillance, especially on kids, which may not be morally justifiable. But used sensibly it can turn a web cam into a nice security tool.

Of course you will probably need to use a web cam that does not indicate that it is on and recording via a light or sound on the cam as it would be a giveaway to any unsepecting persons.

The PC Forensic Tool is a USB device that, when plugged into a computer, searches and then swipes images that are located on the hard drive in any type of file, on to the USB drive. It can be used to locate adult content, for example.

It uses, according to the manufacturer, a smart technology to do this without going into what this technology actually involves. It may be ideal at work place to monitor employees who you suspect may be using their work time to view adult material. It can also be used by anyone suspicious their other half may be using their computer to view adult content.

The device simply swipes the computer for images which are then uploaded and a report created based on, and I am assuming this, by the criteria you set to include in the report. More on the device

This device promises two important things: Stopping security risks but at the same time not reducing your computer’s performance because the device runs not on the computer but in conjunction with it.

Yoggie Gatekeeper Pro works much like an antivirus software in that it seeks out potential threats whether they be very small or potentially much bigger; it also updates constantly to ensure it is armed with resources to be able to fight off new type of threats that it might be presented with in the future.

But with Yoggie, the updates are stored on Yoggie’s server rather than on the hard drive thus not compromising your computer’s performance, at least that is their claim. It is also claimed the device detects early threats that are stopped before they are developed using their proprietry technology.

I am not sure how believable some of the promises made on the product page such as completely isolating the computer from hackers and threats by creating an ‘untouchable operating barrier’, are. The supposed ‘Pentagon’ level protection probably implies kind of protection that might be enjoyed by networks operated by the US Pentagon. I don’t know whether you can attain the same level of preotection with a device such as this, which in all fairness, is pretty moderately priced by the scheme of things, when the Penatgon uses and has vast financial and computing resources to fight threats, and even then, they have been penetrated many times.

This can be used both with PC or laptop.