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What is the easiest way to track where other users are going on the internet? I want to make sure that my roommate is not going to sites that I ask him not which tend create SpyWare and virus problems.
Rather than tracking what your roommate has done after it's already done, you need to deal with the roommate. If you have to check up on him, to make sure he's doing as you ask, then it appears you do not trust him. If you do not trust him, don't let him use your computer. Seriously, that's what it comes down to. If you can't prevent him from doing so, you can password your computer. Even if he "must" use it, it doesn't have to be at the expense of you using your computer safely.
If you want to let him use it for stuff, but want to be a little safer, there's some things you can do. One, use the guest user account with as little privilege on the computer as possible. You be admin and create a password for you, and make sure you always log off when you leave it. You don't need to add a password for the guest account. This will not only prevent him from getting into certain things and changing them, but it will also create a bit more safety on the internet without having the admin privileges.
Others things are just overall general safety things. Like using restricted sites in IE, or use Firefox instead. Put your security settings up as high as possible. Make sure you have an anti-virus running (I recommend Avast or AVG, both free), and run spyware regularly (like Spybot Search & Distroy). And run a firewall. And don't use OE. You can actually uninstall OE. And make sure you get all the Windows updates. And anything else I haven't thought of. :-)
I have a friend who has issues with this same type of thing, and she has a image created of a fresh, clean install. Every time this other person has gotten on the computer and gotten it full of viruses, she just wipes it out and restores the image. Of course, she doesn't have much personal stuff to back up first, which makes it simplier. (An image is an exact duplicate copy of everything, including all the stuff in the nooks and crannies that you don't see, as opposed to just copies of files, and you need software to do it.)
You want to do what corporations with full-time employees devoted to this are having a hard time with. The problem is that Internet sites come and go and the sites that create the troubles come and go the most. This is how they remain able to spread the harm. So even if you subscribed to a blacklist or something like that, it is never perfect.
Download K9 Web Protection, which is a program I highly recommend. There, you can choose what you want accessed over the web by your computer. You have the option of blocking websites that create spyware and adware. That way if you allow this roommate to continue to use your computer, you will know that your computer can be safe!
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