You must have an older version, as Chicken of the VNC DOES have a view only option now. Just FYI. :cool:

I find that JollysFastVNC works a lot faster than COtVNC.

Thanks, guys. I will test both versions later today.

They have a great deal of experience from the receiving end. And the one I asked has her head threaded on fairly straight.

As for the experience, there was plenty of things I didn't necessarily want to outright tell my parents about, but I wouldn't be all that concerned if they knew and kept it to themselves. There lies my entire point - if Darling Daughter isn't doing anything bad, just doesn't want to say, quietly watching will solve the issue without rocking the boat at all.

It happens to you (in a much more detailed way) every time you get on an airplane, and you don't complain about that, do you?

And remember, back in post #5 I said "DON'T get caught"

I agree and I certainly don't know the whole story. Without more background (not expecting any, I respect their privacy), I can only comment on the information that was given. I trust that snaptat can selectively apply my advice (or not) as their situation may require.

I don't think it sounds particularly harsh so much as firm. I believe in being a firm parent. I think our approaches to parenting may be quite similar.

In my books, observing is casually watching your child on the living room computer while you make dinner. Remotely viewing their computer while they are using is spying to me. However, I think we can agree to disagree on this one. I've expressed my opinion enough (as was aptly pointed out earlier, this isn't a parenting forum) and the OP is not lacking for suggestions (parental controls, VNC, etc).

Just got off the phone with my teenage friend.

Question:
You discover that your parents have installed monitoring software on your computer. How would you react?

Conditions:
a) You're not doing anything dangerous / illegal / really stupid
b) Parents have said / done absolutely nothing, like they don't know.

Answer:
Under those conditions, I'd be ok with it.

Solution!
 

this may be over simple but why not use leopards built in screen sharing, login into her computer, enable screen sharing in the sharing pane of the system preferences. Then add your self as a user in that list. She wont notice when you login. If you are on the same network then this is the solution for you as she would notice extra programs.
Good Luck.

Snaptat - have you looked into Apple Remote Desktop? It allows you to view another users computer screen among other things. It is also easy enough to disable by a user on that system if it is not locked down so you'll want to turn on some parental controls so they cannot turn it off.

Two things:

1 - the 15 y.o. in question is now 20. Hopefully this is not necessary anymore. It's likely not legal.

2 - "PC Desktop...." hints that it is the wrong platform.

I know a mother of two teen-aged girls who has installed software on the girls' iMac that simply records (and transmits to Mom's laptop) the URL of every site they visit. Before installing it she told them she was going to do so and that she would look it over from time to time, so be good and be safe. Seems to have worked. Further, neither of the girls seems to mind.

try to activate remote login on both the system this may helpful for you i think

You may find out the "parental control" function on computer or ipod to blcok bad websites for them. I used Any keylogger for Mac on my Macbook, which records anything happend on my Mac + "Parental control" function setting to protect my son's safety online. For iPod and iPad, I use "Restrictions" settings, you can found it on apple support.