Surftrackr is a log file viewer for Squid and Dan's Guardian. It makes it easy for you to monitor Web usage, including the type of information accessed, the sites visited by your web users, and the amount of information downloaded. Best of all, Surftrackr is free and runs in any web browser.
How Surftrackr Can Help You
In the Office
A survey conducted for anti-virus firm Symantec shows that younger workers in particular are more likely to use corporate networks to run web-based software, especially social networking sites. This means they are spending less time doing their jobs, and more time chatting to friends online and updating their blogs.
With all internet users in your company, you face an increasing risk of virus infection via the web browser, and the risks increase as more websites are visited. Sooner or later, you'll stop being lucky and get a virus infection from a malicious website.
Surftrackr allows you to closely monitor your users' web-surfing habits to make sure they're complying with your acceptable use policy. Rather than blocking sites which might be valuable for work, it instead allows you to check that all usage is permitted and work-related. Any infringements can be flagged, printed out and dealt with in line with your normal disciplinary procedures.
At School
Surftrackr can be used on its own or in conjunction with web filtering software, and allows you to quickly find out if there is any unusual or unauthorized activity by your students. All downloaded or viewed graphics can be shown on one page for each user, which quickly provides an overview of web activity. Precise “time-slicing” allows you to track down what was happening at a particular time of day — perhaps when you were teaching and too busy to closely monitor students' screens.
Surftrackr provides detailed reports and charts so you can see if there are any heavy users of the web (which might indicate they're not working!) or to find if anyone is not using the Internet enough, which might indicate problems with the work or the technology.
In cases where students have turned in work which is just too perfect, Surftrackr will allow you to see which websites have been visited (such as Wikipedia, etc) and determine if the work was a “cut-and-paste job” or a genuinely good effort. The easy-to-use web-based interface makes it easy even for non-technical users to maintain control of computer usage, and ensure that all users are complying with your school's policies.
At home
Internet usage can be a scary business for parents, even for the tech-savvy. If you're the kind of home networking guru who likes to run your own proxy server, knows your RJ45 from your 802.11b, and feels comfortable locking down web browser proxy settings, Surftrackr gives you a means to get a quick overview of web activity and ensure safe, “hygienic” use of your home network.
Surftrackr combines industrial strength technology with an easy-to-use interface so even non-technical members of your household can use it with ease. It's another line of defence against spyware, viruses and Internet rogues and villains, and will help you set the standards for web use in your home.