GFI WebMonitor 2011 R3 review

GFI's WebMonitor software focuses on providing stiff web content security and costs a lot less than an appliance. Dave Mitchell loads it up in the lab to see if it can keep your users out of trouble and your network safe.

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You could use GFI's ReportPack instead, as this free component can do this for you. WebMonitor must be configured to download its logs to a SQL database and we had no problems using the freely available SQL Express 2005. You'll need the Management Studio Express to create a new database and owner. Add these details to the WebMonitor Reporting page and it'll download all its data on first contact with the database.

Get the ReportPack add-on - it’s free and provides a heap of useful reporting tools for WebMonitor.

For a freebie, the ReportPack is to be recommended as it provides a complete set of default reports covering a wide range of activities and trends. These can be customised to suit, date ranges of up to a year can be applied and the results exported to formats such as PDF, Word and Excel and emailed as well.

GFI's WebMonitor is better value than many security appliances and can run on lowly specified host systems. We found it performed very well during testing and is capable of enforcing a wide range of AUPs in the workplace.

So what's our verdict?

Verdict

Businesses and educational establishments that want quality web content management and monitoring, but don’t want to pay a premium for an appliance, should consider GFI’s WebMonitor. Host hardware requirements are quite reasonable, the software is easy to deploy and it has a good range of top performing security measures and reporting tools.

Memory: 4GB Hard disk: 12GB OS: Windows XP SP2, Vista, 7, Server 2003, Server 2008

Dave Mitchell
Dave Mitchell

Dave is an IT consultant and freelance journalist specialising in hands-on reviews of computer networking products covering all market sectors from small businesses to enterprises. Founder of Binary Testing Ltd – the UK’s premier independent network testing laboratory - Dave has over 45 years of experience in the IT industry.

Dave has produced many thousands of in-depth business networking product reviews from his lab which have been reproduced globally. Writing for ITPro and its sister title, PC Pro, he covers all areas of business IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, network security, data protection, cloud, infrastructure and services.