Reviewer: Tokar
 Read all my reviews
Date: 19 Jul 2006, 04:31 GMT
Overall rating:  | GUI:  Features: Ease of use: Value:
This is how user management on XP was MEANT to be done!!!!!
Pros: Its free.
When thinking of this program take this analogy to heart: nLite is to Microsoft's homemade unattended CD creator as Crawler Parental Control is to XP User Accounts. Its an absolutely ridiculous comparison.
The program lets you begin from CREATING XP accounts, which it integrates into the program, it then lets you define the same stuff the XP accounts wants while be MUCH clearer and easier to understand. From there you can control accounts with ease.
You can do pretty much everything to track an account: track internet activity, program activity, schedule use times, block program access, block website access, and even go so far as to enable screenshots to see what the user is doing.
The program makes you setup a master password and designate a user account which is master.
It has an icon that isn't flashy, but tells the user "watch it, son, you are being watched".
Program can't be closed or uninstalled without master pass. Program can't be terminated from the taskman either.
Program comes with automatic updates.
Great interface.
Cons: The only major negative I have found so far is that you can't delete accounts in the program. You can create them and manage them, but you can't delete them, which is one of the features of the XP User Accounts program in the Control Panel.
One other negative is that the program is run as a local program while in tracked accounts. While under the master account I dont mind if its run as a program, but as a tracked user, I think it is safer to have it run as a system service so it can't be closed. Yes, I have tried killing the process and closing it to no avail, but I'm sure a smart hacker will figure out a way to close it being that its not run as a system service.
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To think that Spyware Terminator was Crawler's best product. Im sorry ST team, there is a better product, your own Parental Control program. You have built this program so well it pretty much busts a nut on XP's user control system. Sure, if you are really into controlling your PC you can use gpedit.msc, but 1) thats not available for XP Home, and 2) its not very user friendly. This program exceeds "user friendly". This is "user fsck-buddy friendly". Im not sure if Crawler could make this any easier to use. And to think, this software is actively being developed.
GUI: Awesome. Its very user friendly and quite pleasing on the eye - colorful icons and all...
Features: 5 star here. You can do everything from create XP accounts, to controlling their use, to tracking their use.
Ease of use: Another 5 star here. I found this software to be VERY easy to use. Setting up an account on XP through this program is easier and a lot clearer than the XP User Accounts application in the Control Panel. Everything for controlling and tracking accounts is quite easy to manage as well.
Price/Value: Its free and its of VERY high grade. 5 star, no less.
Overall: I really haven't tried any parental controlling/account management software outside of the one that comes included with XP. And I must say that after trying this program I can only fear the quality of other products on the market. This program really sets a high standard for the parental control/account management software market.
Im not a parent so I have no use for this program, but if you are a parent and are looking to EASILY control your children's use of your computer then I HIGHLY recommend this software. You can control access times, site restrictions, program restrictions, and you can log everything they do.
Let me just say that the first thing I said to myself after running this program for the first time and giving it a thorough run-through was "Goddamn, thank god this software wasn't available during the time when my mom had control over my computer use...thank god." |
