Monitor PC log on and log off activity

paulztag

I've been asked by someone to find a piece of software that will send him an email when his employee logs into their work computer and when they log out. Any suggestions? Most of the software that I've found is for tracking complete activity but all he wants to check is that they are actually in work when they should be.

I know there is a similar thread for monitoring a computers activity but as I only want something to monitor log on and off activity I didn't want to hi-jack the other thread.

Thanks

LoLth

what kind of setup is it? stand alone PC (what flavour?) or on a domain (again, what flavour?)

could be anything from a script that gets run at startup/shutdown or a script that checks the domain security log for updates to the "active" record of a user account. Also, iirc, login/startup scripts dont run on unlock/resume so if th euser doesnt actually "log out" and instead just locks the pc the script wont get triggered by a local script on that pc (difference between startup and logon). mind you, if its windows he could just check the security log file and have a look at the logon/logoff times recorded there.

paulztag

Thanks for the reply. They would all be windows machines and he said they are all connected to the same network. I think they are running XP.

Are there any scripts or software that you would recommend?

Thanks

BrianHonan

Your friend will need to make sure his staff are aware that he is monitoring their PC activity. He will also have to make sure it is a legitimate reason to do so as it could be seen as a breach of the employees' right to privacy. See the Data Protection Commissioner's website on staff onitoring for more information http://dataprotection.ie/viewdoc.asp?m=m&fn=/documents/guidance/3gm3.htm

paulztag

Thanks for that. He only wants to monitor when they log on and off for time keeping basis but I will make sure he knows that he has to tell his staff. Do you know of any basic scripts or software to do this?

LoLth

the basics:

http://techsupt.winbatch.com/ts/T000001048F90.html

set up a group policy on each machien to run a logon/logoff script (as opposed to startup / shutdown as these wont activate if a user just locks the workstation).

set the workstation to log off if left idle, requiring the user to log on again when they get back if they leave their workstation for a period of time (be generous, people hate it when workstations lock while they are reading something but not actually movign the mouse / interacting).

what the script does is up to you

it can update a file on a network share with the timestamp (simple DOS script involving ECHO and appending to a text file ">>")

or you can get fancy and have it send an email

I dont have any scripts close to hand for this kind of thing but to be honest, you'd be best looking it up and writing one yourself as you can be sure that if something goes wrong, you'll need to be the one to fix it and you will manage that better if you are the one to create it in the first place.

+meeeeeeeeeleons to what brian posted. Also, notification might not be enough, if there is an objection you may have to exclude that user from the monitoring or be in breach of their contract and an EU court recently ruled that employees agreeing to changes in the contract is not necessarily binding as it is not an agreement between equals (if the employee refuses he may fear that he will lose his job for example).

LoLth

if its a software package you are looking for, there are plenty of payroll / timekeeping software packages out there (not free afaik) that coul dhave a logon/logoff script element.

if its a domain and not just a network, you could have the grop policy rolled out from the domain controller nad have the script stored centrally in the NETLOGON folder (and then referenced in the ADUC properties of each user) but you should note that LOGON/LOGOFF run with USER level permissions so anywhere the script writes to, the user has access to as well.

handy discussion of this exact question can be found here:

http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/82-monitor-user-log-in-and-log-off-without-software

OP gives examples of how to set it up and responses question the security aspect.

paulztag

Thanks v much for all the info. Will take a read through that forum