reading son's MSN

[crisgal]

PLEASE can someone tell me how I can read what my son and his friends have been saying to each other on MSN?
I know that some think it's akin to reading a diary, but it's for a very serious reason.
I really wouldn't do it if I had another choice.

[albaqwerty]

I've found that I can read what my son says if I plug his USB stick into a lappy that is running XP (his is running Vista Home premiium)
I can't read his history on his own lappy.
I know what you mean about it being akin to reading a diary but to my mind a written word IS more private than the internet which is a "public domain"

[crisgal]

he doesn't use a usb stick tho :(

[Gizmonster]

You need to make sure that it's set up for saving conversation history, etc - here's how you do it:

on the MSN main menu bar, click "tools", then "options".

next click on "messages".

Below "message history" will be "automatically keep a history of my converstaions" - make sure that this box is ticked.
Below that, it will show you in which folder the conversations will be saved in - you can change this if you want.

(I don't condone spying - but I'm sure you have your reasons .... I'd probably do the same if I needed to, so I hope that this helps).

[ACtheTROLL]

see this
http://ask-leo.com/can_i_retrieve_old_msn_mess enger_conversations.html

[albaqwerty]

oh bu m m er.
I'm sure one of the "techies" will be able to help, most of them are darned good and helpful.
sorrry I wasn't.

[daffy654]

Is there an option within MSN to save the conversations to file? If so you could maybe set it up to do that but have the files saved somewhere he won't look,such as the program files folder,name it something innocuous and he will have no idea it is there.
Of course to do that you would have to make sure he was signed into MSN so you could change any settings.

[daffy654]

Oops,typing too slow again.lol
The techies obviously know what they are talking about.

[sn�gs]

You'll only be able to read his 'conversation history' if he has chosen to 'save his conversations' (I think)...

[ChuckFickens]

Huh...

The USB stick..... well thats not normal!!!

MSN only logs conversations if it is setup to do so, it is not the default way it works, so unless your son has set it to log his conversations (unlikely) your out of luck.

[ACtheTROLL]

snap

[ChuckFickens]

it's busy in here isn't it :)

[ACtheTROLL]

has everyone just thrown up an avalanche of answers?
never seen so many at once

[sn�gs]

''never seen so many at once''

Because we've all tried to read someone else's MSN ;-)

[sn�gs]

At least we're all saying the same thing...

[ChuckFickens]

LOL, true snags...

I think crisgril has got a fairly definitive answer very quickly :)

Basically you can't read messages that have already been sent, you can setup his MSN, if you can get access to it, so you can read messages he will send/receive in the future.

[sn�gs]

crisgal... The only way 'in' is to get your son's MSN password and secretly change his 'convo history' setting to 'save'...

Or get a USB keylogger ;-)

[ACtheTROLL]

you'll have to lure him downstairs while you do the deed

[daffy654]

Dinner time is usually the best (and sometimes only) time to get teens away from the PC! lol

[gucciman]

you can actually buy snooper software that will record every conversation and email typed on a computer, it will then save it in a secret coded file or even email you the conversations to another computer or email account. its not the sort of software you can get from pcworld but yu should find it if you search google

[crisgal]

well thaks to everyone for their replies. i'll have a try at some of those things. ;0)