Spyrix Free Keylogger

Bottom Line

There's a reason Spyrix uses "spy" in its name -- the software is designed to keep an eye on every move made on a computer without the user knowing they're being monitored. The software logs online activities including chats, instant messages and even passwords and emails, giving you the power to hide the spying from your kids.

Setup and Installation

Stealth monitoring. Originally designed to protect security in companies, keyloggers are also being marketed to parents who want to know their kids' every keystroke. Parents should know that Spyrix Free Keylogger (for Windows only) doesn't block or filter websites, but instead is purely designed to log a user's online activities. (One free competitor, JuniorWatch, blocks porn and phishing.) Keyloggers secretly record the activity on a computer; Spyrix has multiple capabilities, including capturing passwords and screenshots of chats and websites visited (though no documentation of URLs) and logging the dates and times of online usage.

After installing the 3.9 MB application, you'll be prompted to set a password and hot-key (keyboard shortcut) to show the software when you want to see activity reports. A paid version, Spyrix Personal Monitor (Est. $30), has a remote management function. You can also set records of screenshots whenever a window changes and even adjust the quality of your screenshot images (high to low).

Features

Thorough keylogging, but limited features in the free version. Spyrix Free Keylogger lets you operate invisibly and logs all keystrokes. It also captures screenshots and lets you see clipboard activity. It doesn't include monitoring of URLs or social media networks. Spyrix Facebook Monitor (Est. $25) tracks URLs and Facebook activity while Spyrix Personal Monitor (Est. $30) logs all activities (including chat, email and browsing) on major social networks, search engines, apps and even removable devices.

There also aren't any notifications (such as email reports) or condensed activity reports with easy-to-read graphs indicating how often a website was visited. These types of features are included with other products like Net Nanny (Est. $40) or Qustodio (Est. $50) . With Spyrix Free Keylogger, parents will have to comb through different categories to see what their kid has been up to. The program is undetected not only by users but also by antivirus software, cutting the risk that anyone will find out they're under surveillance. The software is better designed for techies than the average parent, however.

Performance

Kids can't easily hack in. Spyrix Free Keylogger is the No. 1 rated parental control software on Download.com, which gives it a "spectacular rating" and contends that its password/hot-key combo is difficult for kids to crack. TechRadar.com calls Spyrix Free Keylogger "a very capable PC monitoring tool" but notes that it heavily promotes its premium products with pop-up ads. Critics like the design, but while the interface is simple, the language isn't exactly intuitive (log delivery, event log) and the functionality of some of the features are confusing, like "clipboard value" (which records copied text and images).

Still, users seem happy with the software and seem to navigate the program easily. One question parents will have to weigh is which company's products align with their philosophy on privacy and safety. While some software makers like Norton encourage cooperation with children, Spyrix promotes the opposite. On its website, Spyrix admits that "keyloggers and other monitoring software [are] unethical in most situations" but also states that "children and teens don't have privacy rights on personal computers."