Top 5 Best Free Employee Monitoring Software for Windows

Employee monitoring software is a computer application used to monitor staff activity. It is utilized by business networks to supervise and monitor employee PCs from a centralized computer. This software’s purpose is, of course, to ensure that staff members are productive during working hours. It may deploy several operations at once, such as: ‘events timeline logging’, which logs all events performed by employees on their workstations and lists these in an organized, viewable manner; ‘keystroke monitoring’, which logs/records the keys typed by a user on the keyboard, with the users often unaware that their activities are being tracked; and ‘application usage’, which keeps track and logs all applications running in a PC. Below are some of the most popular employee monitoring systems.

Note: These software are not recommended to be installed on system where you have sensitive data. These software are extremely intrusive (both technically and functionally) and may violate user’s right. So, don’t install these software on any system that you don’t own. Even on those systems that you own, don’t use these software to perform any things that are not considered legal. Use common-sense while using these software.

1. ActivTrak

Tagged as a “friendly employee monitoring software”, some of its major features are: can track usage statistics for websites visited and applications used; can monitor current activities of employees in realtime on one screen; can automatically record screenshots; can block users from accessing certain sites or applications; and can be secured through network rights, which means only selected network members or administrators can access ActivTrak data.

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• Pros: You can setup and track employee’s productivity and general system usage effectively
• Cons: The free version works only on 3 workstations
• OS: Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit), Windows XP, Vista

2. SurveilStar Activity Monitor

This is an easy-to-use, undetectable surveillance tool and activity monitoring software for individual computers. Its main features include: controlling sent and received HTTP webmail and email; tracking downloaded and uploaded FTP files; filtering undesirable websites by host names or IP addresses; monitoring and recording websites visited using URLs, titles, sizes, and time stamps; and generating statistics on FTP files, history mails, and visited websites.

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• Pros: Easy to install and configure.
• Cons: The application icon is visible when you are checking the system
• OS: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 ( 32bit & 64bit), Windows Server

3. ExtraSpy Employee Monitor

A 100% free corporate employee monitoring application that demonstrates high stability and performance even when deployed over large networks. It has several features, among of which are: monitor performance of employees, see what applications they use on their PCs and what websites they access, prevent or detect any violations made against work policies, and check whatever your staff is doing during working hours.

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• Pros: Real-time remove system monitoring
• Cons: Can’t take screenshot of remote system
• OS: Windows 8, Windows 7, Win98, 98, NT, Me, 2000, XP, Vista

4. MyTeamMonitor

If you want to make sure you are getting what you are paying for from your employees, then this is the monitoring software for you. It can record employee activity, capture regular screenshots, and track mouse clicks and keystrokes so that you can better identify problems and reward efficiency within your organization. In addition, it can work great for virtual teams, it requires no software (on the boss’ end), and it requires no IT or servers.

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• Pros: Captures both keystroke and clicks
• OS: Windows 7, XP and Vista

5. Keylogger

The paid version “Total Spy” is designed for monitoring PC activity and covert surveillance. Its basic features include chat and password monitoring, keylogging, Web navigation tracking, and screenshot capturing features. The scope of is keylogging capability is rather broad, as it can capture keystrokes for passwords, chats, emails, and documents. It then collects all the information it records and stores these data into your harddrive so that you can view them later. But, for free version, you just use their Free Keylogger software.

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• Pros: Captures the keystrokes well
• Cons: This keylogger doesn’t start in hidden mode. It is also visible in the program list.
• OS: Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows Vista and NT