Would anyone Know Of A Way To....

Hello everyone,

I have a problem, and I am not sure just how to describe it, but here goes.

Suspicion: Illegal PC use.

Would anyone know of a way to get a web camera to take a picture of someone that you suspect is using your PC "without" your permission. Get it to take the picture without the person knowing it is being taken, of course.

A way to manipulate the camera so that once full boot is accomplished, it will take a picture of the person sitting at the computer, who is using the computer without the permission of the owner, & do it without the PC raider knowing it's being done. No indications on the screen & no sound of the click & no blinking camera green light.

This would be a sort of "To Catch A Thief" effort. "Nail That Person To The Wall" so to speak.

The suspect knows how to completely cover her tracks on the computer.

 

http://www.digi-watcher.com/surveillance_features.htm

 

Thank you brett. I will definitely check this out.

Wonder if there's a free one out there.

I'm not cheap, just broke.

 

We're opposites, Deloris! I'm not broke, just cheap

Here's a freebie. I've never had any cause to use such an application so have no idea as to how well they may work!!!

 

Thank you Veewy much, brett.

I will try the freebie out. I hope it has a timer as well, cause if what I suspect is going on, it could fill a hard drive with pics. It sure seems to fit the bill. Naturally, I will scan it with both Norton & Trojan Remover before installing.

Now let's see if we can catch a sneaky intruder. A family member, no less. Can you believe that! Sure you can. Who else would be able to enter the house without detection, except for a few booby traps I set. I know someone was in the house, because said booby traps were tripped, & were tripped two days consecutively. Usually to get in without any other type of detection requires a door key, which she has, unless you are a professional at it, which she isn't.

 

Deloris,

I have nothing to offer here but the obvious and simple solution of 'password protecting' your computer or stationing a vicious, hungry dog at your door.

Please let us all know how your little *fly-on-the-wall* works out and what the intruder has to say when she gets caught. Oh, the intrique of it all.

Good luck !!


Mike

 

Hi All,

Well, I am sorry guys, but the intrigue is over. Neither one of the programs does exactly what I wanted.

The Free one takes the kind of pics I want, in jpg form, but don't have a launch in "sneaky" mode on boot up, and there is no limit to how many pics it will take. You can't truly set a number of maximum pics, or a limit on the amount of time it will log & then shut down completely automatically when timed out. No password protection to prevent manual launch of the logging screen while in use either. If she stayed on the putter for several hours, it could fill a hard drive with pics, even if it did launch in sneaky mode.

The "pay for it" one, is really a doozy, but it has two drawbacks. One is that it only saves in coded video format. Kind of like midi code, where there isn't actually a song until the computer interprets the code? This is the same type of coding, only it's video coding instead of sound, but it can be converted to AVI in the registered version. The other drawback is, there is no way of permanently stopping the logging process during the time the computer is on. It has everything else. Launches in Sneaky Snake mode, has password protection to prevent manual launch from the system tray during logging, so that nosey people can't see that they are being watched, & everything & along with the remote plugin, I could even set somewhere else on another computer & watch her. Now here is the whole problem. If you set to launch in Sneak mode & can't permanently shut down with a timer setting, the hard drive could get awful full before the comptuer was shut down. Each time it fulfills the log requirements that you've set in any of the logging modes, it will start logging a new one as soon as it detects motion again, using those same parameters, & continue logging until the computer is shut down. Even the midi like coding results in rather sizable log files. Hard drive crash, here we come!

What I wanted was something that would launch on boot up in Sneaky Snake mode & take a few pics, then shut down completely. All I needed was a few pics as proof. Not a whole cotton pickin 4 hour movie. Guess they don't have one like that anywhere.

This is a very ridiculous situation here. I have one daughter I suspect of sneaking into the house of another daughter while she is on vacation in Florida. I only have two more days to try to get picture proof, & I will be gone most of that time, so I couldn't install on both putters & use the remote watcher from my home, with me gone. Can't afford a hidden cam corder either. The raider daughter is a real pill & will do anything she thinks she can get by with. I, of course, have the pleasure of taking care of the vacationing daughter's house & animals while she is gone. I suspected this could happen, so I set hard to detect boobie traps, just to see if she would do it. She tripped them twice, then got wise to them & started setting them back "almost" exactly like I had them, but not quite. In my mind, she is busted anyway, even without picture proof, because she is the "only" other person, besides me, who has a key to the house, except the owners of course. She stayed with the vacationing daughter for awhile when she was in a bind, & didn't return the housekey, claiming that it got destroyed along with all of her other keys, including her car key, when she ran over them with her car. Well now! That made no sense, especially since the house key was on the same ring with her car key. How could she drive her car, while her car key was being run over by her car? Hmmmmmm! She's a very bad liar, don't you think? Saying she lost it would have been more believable than that!

I just wish I could catch the little sneak thief with printed out picture proof & watch her try to lie her way out of this one. Yeah, I know! I'm her mother, so why am I being so hard on her? Well, because "I KNOW HER" is why! I've had 32 years of knowing her, and believe me, there is sufficient reason for believing her to be the culprit. They don't always turn out the way ya want them to, and this is the way she repays her sister's kindness to her when she was down & out & needed a place to stay. GRRRRRR! Not unexpected though!

Is this more than you all wanted to know? It would make a good Soap Opera segment though, especially if she got caught red-handed.

I had planned to install the software on my vacationing daughter's computer, if I could get a program that did what I wanted. Alas, I haven't managed that. She had already agreed to it. I don't want to take a risk on pushing the hard drive to a serious limit, so I have pulled the power plug on the computer instead. It's at my house.

Does anyone else have these kind of family issues? One thing's for sure, my life isn't dull & boring "all" of the time.

OK, OK! I'll shut up.

 

At last

 

I do tend to get gabby occasionally. Sorry bout that folks.

Thanks again brett, for trying to help me get a program. I just wish it had worked out to my satisfaction.

 

I was only kidding

Yup - it would have been interesting to hear the results!

 

brett,

I know you were just kidding, but it was a tad long.

There were some results to me pulling the power cord.

Evidently she was back over there Thursday night, probably very late at night. See, I'd also left a note on the keyboard, supposedly to let the vacationing daughter know someone who had a key was coming in the house, when the note was really for the benefit of the intruding one, to let her know she'd been busted.

Friday when I went over to feed animals, the traps were tripped & left tripped. The computer chair was shoved halfway accross the room. Not where I'd left it up next to the desk. It really must have hacked her off, because she didn't even bother to try to hide the fact that she'd been there this time. In fact, seemed to relish having a temper fit & leaving things out of place. Now I'm even more certain it was her, because she relishes in spiteful acts like that. What puzzles me is why the intruder feels like they have the right to get mad when they realize they've been busted.

Kind of funny in a way though. I can just picture the whole event unfolding when she read the note.

I wrote to the Software company & asked them why they didn't have features like I needed & got an answer back really fast. They said they were considering adding those features to the next release, but also assured me that running it for hours would not eat up the hard drive that bad. Well, I'd tried it out on mine & knew that even a few minutes constantly in front of the camera, moving around a lot, & even on the best settings for using up less space took up quite a bit of room, so in my mind, four hours worth, or so, in front of the camera could very well have compromised the hard drive. The motion sensor was still pretty sensitive, even on the best settings for less space usage. I just didn't want to take the chance. (sigh)

OOP! Did it again.

Catch ya'll later.

 

Deloris

I have walked that mile in your shoes. And it is not a nice situation at all.

Without the Keyboard NOBODY will go anywhere. NO software. NO installation problems.

The machine will not ( or at least should not ) even boot up.

It has stopped me cold a couple of times. I just sit here and laugh when it says " Keyboard Failure. Press any key to continue. "

And as far as I know nothing will be damaged due to the no boot.

If I were you I would do what I had to because soneone * COULD BE * buying stuff with your money.

Also a change of door locks seems to work quite well at keeping down unwanted entries. It fact it works VERY WELL. I had to do it with someone that I thought I could trust but found out I could not.

BillyBob

 

I thought about the door lock change too and I suppose it would also work but. . . I like my idea of the vicious dog better. Especially if the culprit is an habitual, hardcore offender.

Deloris, my heart goes out to you and your "good" daughter. My wife had some similar and more serious problems with her daughter.

Why can't they remain the *angels* we thought we had when they were born?

Wish ya luck !!


Mike

 

billybob,

My vacationing daughter is back from Florida now & she confronted the other daughter about it over the phone when the intruding one called her this morning. Of course , she denied it, but we both know she is the only person who could have gotten in with a key, other than me.

As far as I know, Becky doesn't buy from off the internet & does not have a credit card number in her computer & I certainly don't. So hopefully that hasn't happened to her.

I told her today after she got home that she'd better change the door lock, because that was the best way to keep the other one out. That she'd have to break in through a window then, and I don't think she'd go that far. She may be sneaky, but she's not totally stupid.

It's over for now & Becky said she won't be going off like that for a long time. She's exhauated. I think she needs a vacation from the vacation. Her & Jack & three rambunctious boys together for nine days, day & night. Four days of that all cooped up in a car together for most of the four days. That would wear anyone out.

Well, I got a couple of souvenirs out of it. She knows I love dolphins & brought me some Dolphin trinkets to add to my collection.

Thanks for all you guys input & concern, and trying to help me find something that I could get proof with, but no one happens to have exactly what I needed.

Catch you all later. God bless all of you.

 

indutch,

Thank you. I appreciate you sharing that. I wish they could remain the angels they were at birth too, but unfortunately they don't always. They're so beautiful & innocent at birth, but no matter how hard you try to teach them the right way to go, some of them just don't turn out the way you planned.

Raising them the best way you know how & to be honest & forthright don't work on all of them, I'm afraid. I have two daughters it didn't seem to work on very well, but of those two, the one I have been talking about seems to be the worst to do these things to others.

The good daughter is the oldest one, with a heart as big as the USA, and it just isn't fair that she gets done like that by the ones that don't seem to have much of a heart.

Thanks again all. I appreciate all of you. And again, God bless you & keep all of you safe.