Viewing Chat / IM Activity

Spector Pro records both sides of chat and instant message (IM) conversations from many of the most popular applications including AOL chat, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), MSN Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, Trillian, Google Talk, Skype, and IRC chat. Use this window to view, print or save a complete record of all the conversations that have taken place.

Click here to view a screenshot.

Click here to view which types of Chat / IM are recorded.

Practical Uses

• View their private instant messages. to find out what's really going on. For example, your 16-year-old has been sneaking out of the house while you thought she was reading, doing homework, and going to sleep early. You will be able to confront this behavior.

• Find how they are presenting themselves. The screen name they're using may tell you something about how the children are choosing to present themselves to the chat or IM community.

• Find out who they're meeting in chat rooms. The use of chat rooms introduces kids to unknown entities. Read what they're talking about and make sure there isn't someone on the other end who needs to be avoided. If this is the case, you can block access to a particular contact name.

What Is Recorded?

The Chat / IM Activity window uses an Event pane and Content pane to display information. Recorded events are listed in the upper Event pane, with information about each event displayed in a series of columns. You may change the order in which columns are arranged or how information is sorted within a column.

• Event Pane (upper)

  Each chat / IM session is considered one recorded event. Each event is listed in the Event pane.

  Double-click on an event to open a Chat / IM Content window where both sides of the actual conversation are displayed.

  

  From this window you can save, cut, copy, paste and print the contents, as well as view the next or previous chat / IM session. To save a conversation on your computer:

  Click Save As, or select File > Save As from the menu bar. On the Save As window that appears enter a path, file name and format (you can use either rtf or txt).

  Click Save. If you save the event as an rtf file, a Word document is created. If you save the event as a txt file, a Notepad document is created, as shown below.

  

  Each chat / IM session is listed as one recorded event.

   

  Double click on an event to open a Chat / IM Content window which displays the actual conversation.

  From this window you can save, copy and print the information, as well as view the next or previous chat / IM. To save a conversation on your computer:

  1. Select File > Save As. On the Save As window that appears enter a path, file name and format (you can use rtf or txt).

  2. Click Save. If you save the event as an rtf file, a Word document is created. If you save the event as a txt file, a Notepad document is created, as shown below.

   

• Content Pane (lower)

  The Content pane displays both sides of the actual chat or IM conversation for the event selected in the Event pane.

   

Event Pane

The following columns are displayed in the upper Event pane:

• Time - The date and time when the chat / IM was recorded, using the format MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS AM/PM. By default, events are listed in chronological order.

• Sign On Name - How the user identifies him / herself in this chat or IM conversation (contact name).

• Chatted With - How the person chatted with identifies him / herself (contact name).

• Participants - The number of participants in the chat room when the conversation was recorded.

Right-click and select any of the following additional columns for display:

• User - The user logged in to Windows.

• Computer - The name of the computer on which activity was recorded.

• Program - The program being used.

• Protocol - The underlying language used by the chat / IM program.

Content Pane

When you click to highlight a chat / IM event in the upper Event pane, the conversation displays in the lower pane.

Shortcuts

The Chat / IM Activity event window contains the following shortcuts:

• Jump to - Click to select a specific recorded event in the upper Event pane and then jump to Snapshots or Keystrokes.

• Block Chat / IM - Use Blocking to discontinue access to a particular person chatted with. NOTE: If you are viewing recorded events from a Viewer Only computer, this button does not appear.

• Search Chat / IM  Activity - Use Search to quickly locate a specific word or phrase. Search works like a filter displaying only the data that matches the search criteria.

• Delete - Use Delete to remove one or more events.

Menu Bar

The menu bar is customized for chat /IM activity.

Status Bar

The status bar contains the standard items.

Next: Reviewing Online Searches.