Game-playing at work

[shunter40]

Is there a way to find out if an employee is playing games at work? The computer he is using is a stand-alone PC, not connected to a network. Are there any identifying files on the hard drive that would identify game-playing?

 

[Grenage]

Generally a look in "program files" will give you a fairly good idea. It's far from fool-proof, but it's a good place to start.

Add/remove programs also helps.

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[shunter40]

Thanks for the reply. I am thinking that they didn't necessarily install the game, but they are playing one of the games that are already installed as part of the O/S.

 

[lhuegele]

You should just go in and uninstall those games.

 

[shunter40]

Thanks for the responses from all of you. I've come to the conclusion that there's no definitive way to tell if the employee was playing games. I have suggested that he install Games from Windows Components in Add/Remove Programs and to continue monitoring the employee in question's productivity and proceed accordingly.

 

[sstoppel]

You could configure event logging to put an entry in the application log whenever a given app is opened.

 

[shunter40]

Very good idea on the even logging, thank you!

 

[ATLMatt]

There are plenty of solutions on the IT side, such what sstoppel mentioned, or if possible, adding the PC to the LAN and using any of the myriad of remote monitoring programs to keep an eye on it.

However, is there a human resources solution to the problem? IE, implementing a metric to determine the productivity of the employee? If they are getting their work done and there isn't more to due, you may not have a problem at all. If they are getting their work done and then killing time, they may need addition responsibilities.