These applications let you do anything from track how long employees surf the web to block access to shopping and sports sites. When choosing filtering software, you should think about what you want to accomplish. While the majority of site filtering applications combine monitoring and blocking functionalities, many tend to be stronger in one area. At their most basic, site monitoring software allows you to track which sites employees visit. In addition, tracking can also provide more detailed statistics, such as the time users spent in categories, the size of downloaded files, and the amount of bandwidth they used.
Some programs even go so far as to track users who try to visit blocked sites.
Combined with a policy to sample logs randomly, this software can be effective in curbing non-work related browsing. Programs typically allow you to choose from a multitude of predefined categories to restrict from, in addition to giving you the ability to block specific sites. One downfall of site blocking is that it has the tendency to restrict more sites than originally intended. However, applications that query databases of URLs or discriminate by content generally make fewer mistakes than when using key word blocking alone. If you think that site blocking may become hindering, don't fret.