GFI Web Monitor

Internet access in the workplace is not something out of the ordinary, or something that is seen as excessive; more likely it’s a necessity for employees to be able to do their job effectively and efficiently. However the Internet holds a lot of distractions that could work against its real purpose in an office environment.

Everyone has a personal email address and it can be very tempting to see whether your friend has sent you a funny joke, or whether the person you met the night before emailed you to set up a date. So you surreptitiously log in, it only takes a couple of minutes – no new mail – ah well, you close the browser and carry on with your work. But curiosity hits again during the next hour… perhaps there’s some sign of activity now? So you check again – still nothing. It seems strange. Perhaps you ought to check your Facebook page – a message may have been left for you over there. So you log in, no new messages there either, but Bob has uploaded photos of his bachelor’s weekend, they’re hilarious and you just have to see them. It won’t take too long to go through 60 photos. You start leaving comments and laughing silently to yourself. A notification pops up informing you that Bob has replied to your comment, so you reply back, and then he replies, and you just have to have the last word. Half an hour has passed since you logged on and you still haven’t finished typing out that email that you need to send before break time. If you don’t send that email then the client will take their business elsewhere, better log off and concentrate on the task at hand. Another comment comes through from Bob… better check what he said just in case…

This type of scenario is not uncommon in many offices and a lot of billable hours are whiled away on irrelevant Internet sites such as social networking sites, personal email, instant messaging sites, etc. If your office employs a fair number of people then it’s impossible to manage their Internet activity by physically checking up on what they’re doing. However by implementing web monitoring software you can decide what sites your users can browse and be alerted when anyone tries to access a site that is forbidden. In this way you can monitor your company’s Internet activity from your desk.

GFI WebMonitor™ for ISA Server gives you control over what your users are browsing and allows you to set controls and boundaries to boost employee productivity and prevent cyberslacking. Furthermore the web security features within the software ensure that any downloads are free from malware and viruses by scanning all downloaded files with multiple anti-virus engines. The web monitoring features also allow you to monitor and block Live Messenger (MSN) chat sessions and file transfers.

Implementing web monitoring software such as GFI WebMonitor will protect your network from unsafe downloads in real time, prevent users from accessing forbidden sites and thus reduce cyberslacking and also prevent data leakage through socially-engineered websites. These, and other security features, will allow you to implement an Internet Usage Policy for your users to abide by to ensure a secure network and a diligent working environment.

Click here to go to the GFI Webmonitor page to download your fully functional 30-day trial!

About the Author of this post

View other post by Jes Darmanin

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