WatchDog is a free website to get SMS alerts on suspicious activities when you leave your laptop or PC unattended. It does everything online, and you don’t need to download or install anything. Just open the website and provide your mobile number. Then it will use your webcam to monitor movement around your laptop, and if it detects any suspicious activity, it will immediately send you a SMS alert. This is a quick solution if you have to leave your PC unattended for a while, and don’t want to install any sophisticated software to monitor that.
The best part of this service is that it works with international numbers as well, though I am not sure if all countries are supported.
It takes the help of your webcam to detect suspicious activity and send you an SMS alert. All you need to do is submit your mobile number. After that, whenever the service detects some suspicious activity (like someone peeps on your PC or PC is disconnected suddenly from WiFi), an alert will be sent to you. The good thing is that the service works even if you have locked your PC.
In the screenshot above, you can see SMS alerts received by me using this service.
Also check out free USB protection software to protect PC.
How To Receive SMS Alerts for Suspicious Activities When You Leave Your PC Unattended?
The service is very simple. Once you have opened the homepage of this service, there will be only one task for you to do “Add your mobile number”. You must also enter the country code. Also, make sure that your webcam is connected and working properly.
That’s it! Now if you are away from PC and someone tries to peep, the SMS alert will be sent to your phone immediately.
You can turn back to check if someone did that by mistake or intentionally.
The Verdict:
Personally, I would say that the service is good up to an extent as it can send instant alerts so that you can get back to your PC and protect the data. It is true that the SMS alert won’t help you view intruder’s photo or show what kind of activity is done by that person. Still, the service is worth trying. Perhaps, we can get a few improvements or new features in future.
