Guide To Buying An SSD

Posted on October 20, 2011 by BitHacker

Hard Disk in any type of computer, be it laptop or a desktop, is the weakest link when it comes to the performance measures. You can get the fastest CPU to date (Core i7/Quad Cores), get fastest and maximum RAM (16Gigs), you can get the best graphics card in your computer but your hard drive would be a normal maximum at 7200 RPMs with 32MB of cache. This makes the hard disk a bottle neck in the performance of your PC, if not the crunching sounds that they make when reading or writing data.

Hard Drive

A hard drive is an essential part of your computer when it comes to performance measurement because no matter what you’re doing on your computer, it’s the hard drive that would be used the most. Read / Write and seek time of your files matters a lot whether in data compression, you’re playing a video game or doing extensive random data access. SSDs or Solid state disks can be the final piece to this bottleneck issue of PC hardware performance.

SSDs are not just fast, they are lightening fast. With host transfer rates going above 400MB/second, which is insanely higher than a normal hard disk drive, not even a SCSI drive could match that. With that data rate, you will get a 10 to 13 second cold boot with your windows 7 or even less on any other operating system and your games will better and faster. Your files will run faster, upto 3 times faster than they’re running on a normal hard disk and with flash technology there are no spinning disks in side an SSD therefore they are more vibration durable and shock resistant than a normal hard drive. Not only that, a normal SSD (NAND Based) requires only 1/2 of the power of HDDs. This means that you’d have more battery life (almost 30 to 40 %) in your laptop, if you’re using a solid state drive.

Performance Testing

When it comes to performance testing of SSDs, it gets really complicated phenomenon. Unlike the benchmarks of graphic cards and / or processors, where you put them to test against certain applications in specific scenarios, you get your results. Those results would remain the same for lets say, 10 more trials. SSDs are new technology and just like any other emerging technology, they are getting upgrades on daily basis. In early stages, SSDs did work at lightening fast speeds but even in the lab tests, they showed a performance drop in transfer rates. From DRAM to NAND based flash memories and new SandForce controllers which are considered to be the fastest in town these days because of their lower Write Amplification (less than 1), SSDs are a relatively stable hardware now, than what it was in 2008.

SATA Interface

Latest solid state disk drives have upgraded their SATA interfaces. From 3Gbps (Giga bits per second) to 6Gbps, which means that if you’re going for the SSDs that support 6Gbps, you definitely need a motherboard that supports this data rate and SATA interface. Marvell’s 9174 and SandForce’s SF-2200 are latest in this business, both these chipsets support almost upto 500MB/sec of transfer rate which means that if you can use 2 SSDs in Raid 0 structure, you can achieve a data rate up to 1 GB per second. Pretty insane, isn’t it?

An alternative to these chipsets is the Intel’s own chipset. Its not as fast as Marvell or SandForce, mere 250MB/sec transfer rate but it sure helps intel to keep its prices lower than those two. All these chipsets use the NAND memory configuration which brings us to the duration period or longevity of these SSDs. A typical write /erase cycle of a NAND chip is said to be around 10k but the original case is even less than 3,000 cycles. This technical jargon means that since the SSDs are flash memory based storage devices, they require write and erase of data on their surface, unlike normal HDDs, data cannot be overwritten on SSDs. It is re-written. Resulting in the lower longevity of the solid state drives. But, even with that 3,000 figure, your SSD is bound to last for almost 3 to 5 years. Thanks to the TRIM command in Windows 7 and other operating systems, the wear leveling is not the same as it was back in 2008. Even a HDD is bound for a mechanical failure after this time.

That being said, the SSDs won’t die on you like a HDD because of their ability to tolerate vibration and shocks and they are the best option now, when it comes to choosing a storage disk drive. Here are a few drives and their benchmarks:

Intel 510 SSD 120GB

OCS REVODrive 120GB

Kingston V+ 128GB

Sequential Read/Write:

4K random read/write (IOPS) Performance:

Burst Speed Performance:

Intel is the cheapest of all when it comes to price, the OCZ are the fastest and most expensive as they use the latest SandForce chipset whereas the Crucial drives get the most user ratings around the internet. Now the choice is yours. Whatever SSD you go for, you’re bound for the best computing experience ever.

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Solid State Disk Basics and Performance Measures

Posted on October 18, 2011 by BitHacker

Jump Menu:

What is an SSD?

SSD is a Solid State Drive also known as Solid State Disk or an Electronic Disk. It is a storage device which works on solid state memory to preserve / show data. SSDs are different from the traditional HDDs (Hard Disk Drives), which are electromechanical devices that contain moving parts like spinning disks and read/write heads. SSDs on the other hand are based on microchips and contain no moving parts. This makes them silent, and less prone to the physical damage but also makes them more expensive than the traditional hard drives.

SSD Basics

NAND Memory

Since 2010, almost all of the SSD manufacturers use this NAND for their flash memory rather than DRAM. A NAND memory is basically a chip on which data is electrically erased and then reprogrammed. This type of memory is mostly used in memory cards and USB Flash Drives too.

Controller

Every SSD consists of a controller unit that helps to the computer to communicate with the NAND memory. How good or fast a SSD would work, largely depends on the type of controller that is being used by that SSD.

IOPS

It is the input / output operations per second cycle. IOPS is a benchmark measurement used to see the performance characteristics of a SSD.

Wear Leveling

Since memory based storage devices have a limited amount of read/write life cycle (also known as program erase cycle or P/E Cycle) which is usually 100,000 P/E cycles, before the wear begins to deteriorate the performance of a SSD, it is necessary to minimize the wear on a SSD. Wear leveling is a technique used in SSDs which helps to prolong their life. If one memory block in SSD is reprogrammed (erased) repeatedly without writing to other blocks, it will wear out. Controllers in SSDs make sure that this does not happen by incorporating techniques like static wear leveling.

Garbage Collection

Data in a SSD cannot be overwritten like traditional hard drives because it is based on flash memory (NAND). Flash memory must be erased before something is written on it again. Because of this the data is written on more than one places. This not only decreases the reliability and life of a SSD but also consumes the read/write bandwidth of it. To remove the no-longer needed data and rewrite the data to a previously emptied space on a flash drive, so that pages are free for the new data, is called garbage collection.

TRIM

The TRIM command is used by modern operating systems like Windows 7, Linux kernel 2.6.33+ and Mac OSX. This command tells the SSD about the blocks on which previously the data was saved, and are no longer needed because of a deleted file or even with the formatting of a partition. The OS marks them as invalid or stale pages and those memory blocks will not be used in the process of garbage collection. This is a very important factor in a SSD’s performance because, since in flash based storage devices, the deleted file by a used is marked for the deletion but its contents are never erased. Garbage collection will keep reading those memory blocks because it will never know that those previously occupied blocks are available for reprogram (erase).

Write Amplification

Writing on a flash based memory device always takes longer then reading from it. Also known as write amplification, if a SSD has higher Write Amplification (WA), its controller will have to write multiple more times. Which of course results in more time. On the other hand, a lower WA controller will take significantly lower time to write data on the drive.

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Don’t Bite! They Are Phishing

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Shobz

What is Phishing

Phishing is the act of acquiring information such as usernames, banking details and other information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. It is surprising that a lot of people have fallen victim to phishing scams over the past few years. Fraudsters are getting sophisticated day by day and are coming up with unique ways of duping people. Earlier, they would simply create a fake email which would look like it came from a bank, an auction site, social media site or any other source. The email would ask for the user to confirm their username and password and unsuspecting users would fall for it and give up their details. Some were sophisticated enough to create a replica of the banking website where customers would enter their details only to find out later that fraudsters got all their info. The latest scam is phone phishing, which is basically a new way of social engineering. Phone phishing is when fraudsters call computer users and convince them to give their details. Phone Phishing is currently on the rise and companies have asked their employees to be vigilant and not to give their details to anyone.

Fortunately there is a way to avoid phishing and if there is more training and awareness amongst users, then phishing will go down. The following is a guide on how you can save yourself from being a victim of phishing and what steps you should take to prevent it.

Email Scams

I am sure a lot of you have probably received emails from your bank , ISP, Credit card company, financial institution , auction site, gambling site or any other trusted company claiming they lost your record and asking you to click on a link to re-verify your identity. The link usually leads to a good copy of a website and asks the users to enter all their personally identifiable information. If you have received an email like that then you have just been targeted by a phishing fraudster.

How to Protect Yourself

You can avoid this from happening to you by taking the following steps:

If you ever get an email asking you to submit your personal financial information , the first thing you need to do is trash it or you can simply forward the email to the FTC. No one will ever ask you to submit your details on a site or an email. There is no doubt that it is a scam. An important thing to remember is that Phishers don’t send out personalized mail as they are sending them out to millions in the hope that they can trap someone.
If you ever get an email asking you to fill out a form which asks for personal financial information you know that it’s yet another attempt by the phisher to get to you. Important financial information should only be shared over a secure line or website.
No matter what happens no one will ever call you asking you to divulge personal financial information over the phone. If you ever receive a call like that hang up or tell them that you don’t want to give any information.
If you want to make sure that you have not been scammed by a phisher, you can keep checking all your online records to make sure that there is no unusual activity in your bank account, credit and bank accounts. It really helps over the long run though we don’t advise you to check your statement every 10 minutes as it would be a classic case of paranoia.
Whenever you are checking your financial information online please make sure that the website is secure. It’s easy to tell if you are on a secure website as the browser will show a https:// instead of a http://.
Make sure that you have the latest web browser which has an anti-phishing plugin to let you know if the website you are on is authentic or not. Try to make sure you have all the patches and updates available to prevent phishing from taking place.
If you ever suspect that you have been targeted by a phisher, log on to the website by typing the address instead of going via the link. Alternatively you can call up the company and ask them if they have sent out that email.
Make sure you have an anti-virus, anti-spyware and a firewall on at all times. This is a great way of protecting yourself from phishers who can send you emails which have spyware which can spy on you.

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Five Free Android Money Saving Apps

Posted on June 21, 2011 by SalluHee

Recently, I posted a list of some awesome iPhone Money Saving Apps that would help you save your finances from leaking out. However, we also have some Android lovers out there, so that’s why I should pile up a list for them too. There are several Android Apps that you can use to watch your accounts, track your income from Google Adsense, and save you money when there is something you need to buy.

So the list goes hereby:

Skype

This App was also there when I was talking about iPhone Apps, but I can’t help myself as this is one of a hell App which help you save on International Calls as well as free high quality calls to other Skype users, as well as instant messaging.

You can get your Skype HERE.

the app has identified the product, you can find local and online prices, reviews, specs. and more

Mileage

Another area where you would try to cut your cost down, is fuel usage, and this application is able to track your miles and gas usage history. So indirectly when you are aware of your usage of fuel, you will automatically try to control your expenses for transportation, and thus save some figures.

You can get your Mileage HERE.

Financisto

This App is the one that plays the main role in saving you some money. It allows you to add many different types of accounts (checking, credit, savings- and multiple ones of each kind) into the manager, schedule and monitor recurring payments, create a budget (short term, long term or even set up a “project” which would be great for vacations) and filter what types of information you want to view during normal viewing or when checking out one of the many reports available. Isn’t it awesome?

You can get your Financisto HERE

Google Shopper

This App comes out to be handy when you are in a mood for shopping. The awesome thing in this App is that it recognizes producets by photo, barcode scanning, and voice and text search, once the app has identified the product, you can find local and online prices, reviews, specs. and more. Now isn’t that wonderful?

You can get your GoogleShopper HERE

Currency Converter

I travel abroad once a year almost, and thus the Currency Converting is do hits me once in a while. If you are one of a person like me, this App is a must download for you. This App lets you know about latest rate as well as recent currency trends, which can help you in future trends estimation and make some money out of that, by keeping your money in a specific currency.

You can get your Currency Coverter HERE.

For the fun sake, I assume you already have saved much money to buy yourself one more awesome gadget. Well how about Motorola Xoom?

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Enter iCloud – Bye Bye Dropbox!

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Shobz

It was a long time coming but Apple finally unveiled its long awaited iCloud service at the WWDC (Apple Worldwide Developers Conference) 2011. Apple CEO Steve Jobs did the honors of revealing the new services at the event. This was his second public appearance ever since he temporarily turned day to day operations to his no.2 Apple COO Tim Cook. The iCloud service is a free wireless storage and syncing service which will be launched with the upcoming iOS 5 in the fall. The blogosphere was abuzz with all the new features and they had speculated that iCloud would be available for an annual fee. It came as a great surprise when Steve announced that not only would iCloud be free but there also wouldn’t be any advertising on it.

The implementation of iCloud means that Dropbox’s glory days are nearly over now. The writing is on the wall and iCloud is here to rule the roost. iCloud will be switched on by default on all iOS 5 devices. It will allow users to save their content on the cloud and push it to their devices. Dropbox’s USP is that it is easy for users to save files on one device, sync it and access it on another. Despite the popularity of Dropbox, not every iOS user has it installed on their device. They won’t have any excuse with the iCloud as it will be a default feature and will eventually make DropBox redundant. It will be available for the iPhone 3GS, 4, the forthcoming iPhone, iPad and iPad 2, and iPod Touch (3^rd and 4^th Generation).

Here is a great summary of Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, explaining the iCloud

IFRAME Embed for Youtube

Steve claims that iCloud will be automatically uploading content such as photos, videos, books, music, device settings, app data, storing it and pushing it to devices without any hitch. The devices will be utilizing WiFi to upload everything. Apple’s iCloud will be able to support 10 devices per user for free, and everyone will get up to 5GB of free storage for music, docs, or photos, though it does not include the Photo Stream photo-synching feature, or purchased apps, docs, or books. 5 GB of Storage is a pretty good number and is a better deal than the free 2 GB offered by Dropbox. The other factor which is not in Dropbox’s favor is that one has to manually select files for storage as opposed to the more automated syncing feature on iCloud.

The introduction of iCloud means that Apple has shuttered its MobileMe service which didn’t find many takers mainly due to its confusing interface and its hefty annual price tag. Apple did take a long time coming up with the service but then the wait was truly worth it. Dropbox may not disappear overnight as it is used on other platforms besides iOS. However, one can’t deny the fact that Dropbox was quite a popular feature on iOS devices . With the introduction of iCloud there will be no need to use Dropbox in the near future. This will mean a huge drop in users for Dropbox and will surely affect them in the long term.

The official iCloud Home Page.

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15 Free Apps For The iPad

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Shobz

It is a well known fact that Apps for the iPad are pricier than apps for the iPhone. It is easier to find more free apps for the iPhone than it is for the iPad. One can find free apps for the iPad but the quality leaves a lot to be desired. Fortunately there are still some good apps which are available for free for the iPad. We have combed the internet to search for some of the best iPad apps for you.

1. Dictionary for iPad

Dictionary is one of the best quality apps for the iPad. It is way better than the other Dictionary apps. It also provides offline access and allows for access to around 2 million words and 90,000 thesaurus entries. The fact that there is no need to go online to search for words is a huge bonus though you do need to go online if you want to find daily content, check the word trends, do a voice to text search and use the audio pronunciation feature.

2. Evernote (universal)

Evernote is a really efficient note taking app which has made waves for allowing users to save ideas in the form of documents, images and web clips. Evernote is a universal app and will work on both the iPad and iPhone. In my experience Evernote works better on the iPad as it looks better on the iPad’s big screen and makes it easy to take a look at all the saved material.

3. Kindle

The Kindle app is a great solution for all those people who do not have a Kindle Unit. It is termed as an alternative to Apple’s iBooks. The great thing about this app is that it gives you access to Amazon’s Kindle Store. The eBooks downloaded from the Kindle Store can also be read on the PC, Mac , iPhone,iPad and even your Kindle Reader. The only catch is that you have to be logged on with the same account you bought the books with. One more benefit of using the Amazon Kindle Store is that one can choose from a selection of over 950,000 books so you can’t go wrong with the Kindle.

4. Epicurious

I find the Epicurious app for the iPad to be really useful. There is something so great about this app that I drool each time I search for a recipe via this digital Cookbook App. It is like reading a large cook book which will be able to present any recipe you search for (or any recipe in its database). It gives you access to a large library of recipes and also helps you prepare a shopping list of recipes once you have decided. The iPad was truly made for drool worthy apps like these.

5. Twitterific

There are so many Third Party Twitter apps for the iPad so that it’s tough to make a choice. Earlier the best apps were Tweetdeck and Twitter’s Official app for the iPad. Those days are over as Twitterific is the best app I have seen so far. It has a beautiful simple interface which is total eye candy. It is very intuitive and allows for a pleasant tweeting experience. The only catch is that the free version has ads but then they are not pop up ads and tend not to be a distraction.

6. eBay for iPad

Everyone knows that eBay is the best place on the web to bid for and sell stuff. The eBay for iPad is beautifully designed so that the user does not need to use a browser to enjoy his/her eBay experience. The app is beautiful to look at and allows for fast loading. There aren’t many features available but eBay promises to implement more features in the future.

7. The Official Marvel Comics App

The iPad has proved itself to be a good e-book reader due to the sheer number of apps available for it. The Marvel Comics app is a great digital comic reader for the iPad. The resolution on the iPad is far superior to the iPhone. There are a few free titles available for the Marvel Comics app while the rest are available for a free. This is strictly for fans of Marvel Comics Characters.

8. Shazam

Shazam is the iPad version of the song identification service. There is no difference between the iPhone and iPad version except that the iPad version is free for a short period of time and that the resolution on the iPad is better. It is a good bargain for all those who don’t want to spend money buying the paid version of the app for unlimited tagging.

9. Flipboard

Flipboard is one of the most elegant apps for the iPad. it did so well that it was named as Apple’s App of the year. Its basic goal is to gain access to your social networking tools and turns them into magazines. All your tweets and updates are presented like they are in a print layout. It also does wonders with RSS feeds by presenting it in a magazine format. It is no wonder people have gone gaga over this app.

10. Google Earth

Google Earth is so popular that there is also an app available for the iPad. Even though it lacks the 3D effects of its PC compatriot it still does a great job on the iPad. It is quite handy looking at maps via Google Earth on an iPad than an iPhone any day.

11. Wikipanion for iPad

There is a reason why it’s great to have a dedicated app for certain websites instead of simply loading them via the browser. The Wikipanion for iPad is a great app which allows users to access Wikipedia on the iPad in a simple and efficient manner. The fact that there is a two pane landscape view which permits easy access to history and to save bookmarks makes it a winner. PS. You need to be online to gain access to Wikipedia.

12. Friendly for Facebook

Facebook has taken forever to create an iPad app. People tend to use their iPhone Facebook Apps on their iPad but then the fact that it is not a universal app which is optimized for the iPad leaves a lot to be desired. Fortunately for us Friendly for Facebook is here to fill the gap by making the iPad experience a joy. It may not be the official app but it is quite speedy and allows for multiple account support and customizable colors. The only catch is that it is ad supported as most free apps are. There is also a paid version of the app which does not have any ads.

13. Dropbox

Dropbox is termed as a service which lets you bring all your photos, docs, and videos anywhere. You can simply install Dropbox on any of your devices such as the PC, Mac or iPhone and share any of the files in the folders. The files are automatically synced and can be accessed from any other device with Dropbox. Dropbox accounts are free and come with 2 GB of storage space. If you want more storage space you need to pay up for it. the fact that you can easily move files from one place to another makes Dropbox an essential app.

14. Adobe Photoshop Express

Adobe Photoshop Express is a great app which allows users to go around doing simple stuff like With basic edits (crop, straighten, rotate, flip, levels and lighting adjustments), and applying a few effects. The great thing is that this app is free. It is really fast, does not crash and is very useful if you need to edit a picture on the fly.

15. WordPress

The WordPress app works well on both the iPhone and iPad. it is the official app from WordPress and is easier to use on the iPad. However the only limitation with this app is that it will let you compose text based posts and not work on any visual posts. On the bright side this is a handy tool which allows for editing existing content and managing comments.

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Windows 8 – Upcoming Features

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Shobz

Microsoft is well known for being the company which came up with Windows, Microsoft Office and the Xbox. Windows is their most popular product and is used in a majority of systems around the world. There was a time when Microsoft had a monopoly as Windows was used in more than 90 percent of systems around the world. It has been facing a lot of competition from the likes of Apple’s Mac OS X, and Open Source Operating systems such as Linux. Microsoft’s biggest fear is that it will have to cede ground to the Tablet market where Apple is currently the King. Apple’s iPad runs on the iOS which also runs on the iPhone. They also have to contend with Android Tablets and the webOS operating system from HP. Microsoft misfired with the heavily bloated and horrible Windows Vista but made up for its mistakes by coming up with Windows 7 which managed to erase memories of Windows Vista. Microsoft recently surprised everyone by publicly unveiling its Windows 8 OS which is expected to release in 2012.

The unique thing about this OS is that it will be available for use on personal computers, laptops, tablet PCs, netbooks and media centers. The biggest change is that Windows 8 will have support for mobile ARM processors and system-on-a-chip. Microsoft also claims that Windows 8 does not need to work on upgraded hardware as it will work fine on the hardware people currently have.

The Windows 8 preview at the Computer Electronics Show 2011 got a lot of mixed reviews. Windows 8 will have a totally revamped user interface which is more on the lines of the Windows Phone 7 interface. It also boasts of better touch features which they claim will provide for a better experience. Windows 8 looks like a totally different system compared to Windows 7 and Vista. One won’t be able to recognize the interface at all as it has been totally revamped. All devices and apps from Windows 7 will work fine on Windows 8.

The Demo of Windows 8 showed a Welcome Screen where most of the popular apps are arranged in the form of tiles, just like on Windows Phone 7. It should be noted that the demo showed Windows 8 on a Tablet so I am not sure if personal computers will have the same interface. It also comes with a feature called Windows Snap which makes it easy to use two apps side by side without disturbing your activities.

There is also the ability to revert back to the old Windows interface if one needs to access a file or feels uneasy with the new user interface. Microsoft has not gotten rid of the Directory Menu but has instead made it easy for users to access the directory menu directly within the app.

They have also made it easy to share between apps by getting them to talk to each other. For example users can easily grab photos from an app called “Photo Feedr” and upload them on Twitter without having to save it elsewhere first. The only catch is that you have to register the app with Windows 8 first.

The tile Interface works well on regular computers as well as one just needs to either use the keyboard or the mouse buttons to navigate their way. Finally the best thing about Windows 8 is that it will support USB peripherals to work with ARM powered Tablets. A lot of Mobile Operating systems are known not to be so friendly with their support for USB peripheral. This will prove to be one killer feature which Microsoft needs to convince people to give their OS a try.

Windows 8 still does not have a release date but we certainly hope it comes out in 2012. We are totally surprised by what Microsoft had to show us and we hope that it turns out well. Maybe this is the Operating System which will let Microsoft compete with the likes of Apple and Google on the Mobile Operating system market.

IFRAME Embed for Youtube

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Computer Surveillance Software: Spector Pro 2010

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Shobz

Computer surveillance is known as the art of performing surveillance of computer activity. There are a lot of surveillance programs available in the market these days. People opt for computer surveillance when they want to find out what people are doing over the net. There are a number of vendors out there who provide surveillance software so that it is easy to monitor computer activity. Their biggest customers tend to be businesses, parents and people who like to keep tabs on their respective spouses/partners. Businesses opt to get surveillance software so that they can monitor their employee activity. They are within their legal right to do so if they own that particular machine which is being used by that employee. Parents tend to buy surveillance software so that they can monitor their kids’ online activities as well as preventing them from accessing inappropriate websites. Some companies opt to deploy the monitoring software in stealth mode and do not inform their employees while some disclose that fact to their employees. Parents also tend to deploy the software in stealth mode as it is more practical for them. The same goes for people who like to keep tabs on their husbands/wives/partners, to see if they are not being cheated.

There are a number of vendors out there who provide monitoring software. However we can only pick one of the best and share it with you.

SpectorSoft is one of the biggest vendors of surveillance software. They have solutions for each sector such as business, government, home user as well as educational institutions. SpectorSoft’s Flagship product is the Spector Pro 2010 which allows the user to monitor a system. It can only be installed if you have the administrative rights to a system. Anti-Keylogger application tests won’t be able to detect it though there is some antivirus software which can detect it. It also logs all chat conversations as well as recording the contents of email received and sent. Spector Pro 2010 also compiles a list of all websites visited as well as searches conducted online. This proves to be handy if an employee or a child is caught browsing inappropriate websites.

Spector Pro also gives the administrator the choice of running it in a stealth or transparent mode. Even whilst running under transparent mode, users are unable to disable the program as they need to access the administrative interface. It also doubles as a keylogger by logging all keystrokes. It can also monitor which applications are used and the frequency of their usage. The only shortcoming is that Spector Pro 2010 can’t schedule a user’s PC and online access nor can they remotely take over their activities.

Spector Pro also provides the ability to manually block websites using Spectorsoft instead of using keywords to block them. This can prove to be a problem since a lot of websites have to be manually entered so they can be blocked. This ensures that a lot of websites are viewable as they are not blocked by keyword.

Spector Pro’s best feature is that it sends reports directly to a designated email address. If a flagged keyword is input into the system it automatically fires off a keyword alert via email. This is a good measure if a child is behaving inappropriately online or if someone is cheating on his/her spouse. It also tends to take regular screenshots of whatever is happening on screen after a designated amount of time. This is a great solution for companies which want to see if an employee is slacking off or working hard.

Overall this is a very useful tool and well worth its price tag of $99.95 per license. It is also available on a bulk license for companies and is available for both the PC and Mac.

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