How do I check my PC's recent activity?

dogsballs · #1 08-25-2006, 12:48 AM

Hi expert folk,

I have an easy question. How do I check a log of my PC's recent activity?

My brother in law is staying with us. He knows not to touch my PC cos I dont want it messed with. But whenever he's been in the "office" room the last couple times (there's an old PC that anyone can use in there) I come back and the displays/monitors setup on mine is all screwed up (I have 3 monitors hooked up to it). How can I check if my PC was actually in use for a certain time period (ie like when my wife and I took the dog to the beaqch this evening)? Thanks.

Just wanna make sure before I say summin'.

dogs

SamIAm · #2 08-25-2006, 12:52 AM

I don't think you'll be able to do much about activity after the fact. You can check the browser history to see where he's browsed. Check the Recent Document history, to see what he opened.

But if you want to really log stuff, there are snooping apps that you can install before the fact. I have no personal experience with these, but I'm sure there are free apps out there for concerned parents.
-Sam

dogsballs · #3 08-25-2006, 12:58 AM

Thanks for the quick reply.

Oh. I thought there would be somewhere I could look to see the times that applications were started stopped or internet connections were made? There isn't a log file of activity as part of the system?

ItalianFX · #4 08-25-2006, 03:52 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the quick reply.

Oh. I thought there would be somewhere I could look to see the times that applications were started stopped or internet connections were made? There isn't a log file of activity as part of the system?

[/ QUOTE ]

Open a folder that you may feel was opened, tile it as "Detail" and you'll see if something was opened by the Modification date. If it is at a time that you weren't there, then someone else opened it.

How I know....

I opened a police documents folder to an officer who doesn't work for the dept. anymore. I just wanted to see an example of his criminal complaints and after I opened it...no saving, no typing, no deleting...etc, it said that it was modified for the date/time that I opened the document.

I hope that makes sense.

dogsballs · #5 08-25-2006, 01:01 AM

PS: How do I check browser history? I have firefox.

edit; never mind. Found the history option; nothing there except my stuff. You can tell I'm no expert, cantcha... [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

jschaud · #6 08-25-2006, 01:17 AM

throw a screen saver password on there

SamIAm · #7 08-25-2006, 02:44 AM

[ QUOTE ]
throw a screen saver password on there

[/ QUOTE ]
So much less fun! But, yeah, it'll mostly be secure. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Remember that if you have no user login password, he could reboot so the scrnsaver never starts.
-Sam

jschaud · #8 08-25-2006, 04:15 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
throw a screen saver password on there

[/ QUOTE ]
So much less fun! But, yeah, it'll mostly be secure. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Remember that if you have no user login password, he could reboot so the scrnsaver never starts.
-Sam

[/ QUOTE ]

good call.