Hi everyone.<P>In our joint e-mail account came information about free software for a sneaky way to view the Internet. It hides Internet activity from viewing by hiding the files. <P>It says,"IMAGINE HAVING THE POWER TO HIDE YOUR FILES! Using our STEALTH DRIVE, you can save your images, files, directories and all their names in a password-protected file. The entire Visual Secrets software can be password protected! Know the assurance that EVERYTHING IS SAFELY HIDDEN FROM WINDOWS!" It also has adult pictures monthly also for free.<P>You can imagine how down I was last night because I plan on ordering WinGuardian down the line. I don't know if I'll be able to know any of his future activity. Will I be buying it for nothing if I buy WinGuardian, or will it be able to detect that??? <P>I know he read it before I did, didn't delete it yet, so I went ahead and deleted it myself. But with his memory, he'll be able to locate it if he wants to or something similiar. <P>Can anybody with computer minds tell me if buying WinGuardian will give me piece of mind by knowing that it's showing everything?<P>Part of our deal is I stop coming to MB because it puts me in awful moods to read postings and he is to give up chat and porn, but I had to come here just to find out something. You're the only people I know that might know. Thanks. <P>Will delete this message after a while so he doesn't know I'm buying WinG when I get good and ready.

I don't think that this will give you peace, since it will only enable both of you to hide things from each other. My approach would be to let things be open, and if I suddenly notice that a program like this have been added to the computer, ask my spouse what is going on and what he/she has to hide.<P>One approach to finding out whether somebody is hiding something on the computer is to make a daily sweep through all files on the computer and look for new files and files that has changed size. I believe there are free programs out there that will do just this thing.<BR>

Sadman,<P>I've talked to him about getting the WinGuardian a few months ago and even thought it would be a good idea. He said it would help keep an eye on our teens, too. But he said this when he was sorry, didn't have any intention of going back to chatting, but I don't think he's able since he has slipped up once since discovery day and I'd like to catch him off guard when he doesn't think I have it. I don't think I will never trust him again unless I have peace of mind through watching. <P>With teens there are always new computer files, so don't know how much that will help. This would be a lot easier if it were just the two of us, but kids play around a lot with the computer and web building and programs, etc. I might give that a try, though. Thanks<P>Just read your profile. Sounds a lot like mine, except his did turn physical. Caught him about half a year later thinking about meeting someone else he had been chatting with. He said he thought he could handle chatting, and now he knows he can't. I think the pull is too strong for him, and I need to know what I'm up against so I can decide what to do. Sometimes I think it doesn't matter what I do. Plan A doesn't really work forever with someone who is addicted to chatting. Just my opinion.<p>[This message has been edited by Leah (edited January 10, 2000).]

Leah,<P>Personally I don't see how a tool that has the capacity to hide files from others can help discover what the other person is doing while on-line.<P>Sometimes I wish I hadn't known what was about to hit me, but have the ability to monitor all on-line trafic on my computer, and though it was dishonest to snoop, I had to know to know if I was right in my suspicions, which I unfortunately were.<P>W's Internet Affair is also about to turn physical, though I don't know how it's going to turn out, since she has told me that she wants to make our marriage work, but can't go back on promises made to OM (W's a decent being, though I don't trust her wrt. OM), and she keeps making promises to OM and me.<P>So I don't know what the near future brings, though I hope for the best and tries Plan A as long as I can and hope that I don't have to invoke plan B (I'm not sure I can survive<BR>mentally if she actually have sex with OM, without going to plan B immediately, just the romance and flirts and secretiveness is bad enough).

Leah,<P>I have WinGuardian...<BR>It's a great tool to keep track of what the kids are doing... and yes it can track what your husband does too!<P>But... the quote... <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>"IMAGINE HAVING THE POWER TO HIDE YOUR FILES! Using our STEALTH DRIVE, you can save your images, files, directories and all their names in a password-protected file.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>... is bit of marketing hype. (unless things have changed since what I've seen at their WEBROOT site)<P>WinGuardian does have a stealth mode...<BR>But it's biggest problem is that when it creates files that track...<BR>1. keystrokes entered (good to find out passwords)<BR>2. track all Internet sites hit (even if Nestcape/IE history files are deleted)<BR>3. take snapshots of sreen images<BR>It names the files by the "date"...<BR>Anyone who is half smart can simply find these files and delete or corrupt them!<P>The hiding comes from the fact that these files are password encrypted... so if you don't know the password you can't see whats in them... but if your kids/H simply delete them, or change them... you are shot...<P>-----------------------------------------<P>Get it to protect your less computer savy kids... but for monitoring your H? I don't know...<P>If you were in recovery (a very good way into it) and your H agrees to the <B>extraordinary precautions to be taken to guarantee separation...</B><BR><OL TYPE=1> <BR><LI> Changing jobs and relocating (Situation dependent)<BR><LI> Blocking all communication (phone, e-mail, pager, etc.) - [b]... WinGuardian {/b]<BR><LI> Accounting for time<BR><LI> Accounting for money<BR><LI> Spending leisure time together<BR></OL>...<BR>Go for it...<BR>Have him monitor you too!<BR>Complete honesty can be resfreshing... <P>But...<BR>Without his consent on this... if you are not at that stage... this might not be a great idea.<P>Jim

<BR>Leah,<P>Virtually [b] any [\b] program like WinGuardian can give a false sense of security for the simple reason that you can't prove the absence of something. If you use WinGuardian and catch something, the program did its job. But if you use WinGuardian and never see chatting, you're stuck wondering. That's really the simple fact of it.<P>Personally, what I'd do is go ahead and get a copy of that free software that supposedly hides the files, and then I'd figure out how to "break it" myself, with or without WinGuardian. More than likely, whatever its doing would be accessible from Linux, a completely different operating system.<P>Bystander

I realized I was unclear. I wanted to know if WinGuardian can detect this other tool from a different company which hides files. They are two separate companies. I just didn't want to mention the name of the first company because I didn't want any lurker to go out and get because it makes me so mad. WinGuardian is a different product that I want to get. I just don't know if WinG can detect a different program that hides files.<BR>I wasn't talking about WinGuardian hiding files, but this other corrupt place.<P><BR>

Leah,<P>Wingaurdian doesn't detect tools...<P>It will only do...<BR><B>keystroke capture</B>,<BR><B>screen image capture</B>... if anyone interacts with the "tool" you can only see what they type in, and <BR><B>logging of Internet sites visited</B>.<P>Hope that helps...<P> <P>Jim