"The key to finding the perfect IM archiving tool, ... is examining integration issues, hardware requirements, and price before making any decision"

Serious contenders
"He found out about one of the first products he considered, FaceTime Communications' IM Auditor, through a financial periodical. This was a high-end product, with “all the bells and whistles.” although a very robust solution, the IM Auditor had some drawbacks for Jordan’s situation, including the cost of implementation, which he estimated at over $100,000. The product license covered one IM platform, and additional platforms cost up to $20,000 to implement. Another drawback was that running the program at his company would have required a stand-alone Win2K server and a stand-alone SQL 2K server."

"Another product ... would only work with the Lotus Sametime chat program, and could only capture chats inside the network—a hindrance to traveling employees. Like FaceTime, it would also have required a stand-alone server and on-site setup by the vendor."

The winner
"Jordan’s company finally selected ActMon Pro Edition. The software is more than just an IM manager. ... although the program can record everything that occurs on a PC, his company’s installation is configured only to capture chat information. “What’s more, the log information can be stored on a central PC, so the users do not have access to all the information,” Jordan said. ActMon Pro is compatible with all the chat clients used in his company, without the need for plug-ins. ActMon Pro also has the ability to produce searchable reports in several different formats, including HTML, plain text, and a raw log."

"So far, Jordan has been very happy with his choice. He found ActMon Support helpful during the implementation whenever a question came up that wasn’t found in the FAQ. ActMon Support also provided a 10-user trial license for beta testing. When he let the vendor know about a problem he found while importing into the CSV format, Jordan was pleased that “within a week, the company released a new version of the product that eliminated the bug.” He also noted that ActMon Pro was “very easy to deploy across the network, which was pivotal to us since we have branch offices located throughout the country.”

"Overall, ActMon PRO is a useful and well-rounded package..."

"Excellent child monitoring program that can be hidden from childrens' prying eyes. Can log everything, including all text typed, the programs they use and the files they (try) to access. Can start automatically, making this program one of the best ways to secure your computer from children of any age!"