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One of the ladies I work for has two 10 and 12 year-old Catholic schoolgirls (seriously) that are discovering the forbidden fruits of the internet. She wants a way to block all the bad stuff but I don't have much experience with parental control software. She probably needs something that will work with file-sharing IE, etc. Any recommendations for a good software package?
Netnanny.
You have to be careful because there were about four of them five years ago and today there are only two, NetNanny and I believe, Cyberpatrol.
Be careful though. When these companies went out of business many took their password databases with them too. That means that many people were stuck not being able to remove their passwords and parental controls, and had to reformat their hard drives when they wanted more grown-up material
also be aware that nothing works 100%, stuff will get through. the only way to be 100% is to be there when the kids are on the net. i know its not practical, but its the only way.
I believe there are some ISP`s that offer child friendly services such as net nanny for free.
I have twin ten y.o. boys and I've had good luck using the content advisor built in to IE. They can type in any url they want but unless they know the password, no go.
I know Cyberpatol and it works great. They have been around awhile. I know several home users who us it and it's easy to maintain and setup. We use a commercial version of their software here at my office for customer internet terminals.
The problem with the IE content advisor, cyber patrol, and netnanny, is that a quick search on the internet gives you the steps and/or tools to take them out. This might be ok for 'accidental' browsing of inapropriate sites, but where there is a will, there is a hack.
Like someone else mentioned, be there when your kids are online. That is the only truly safe way.
There is only one real, effective way.
Put the internet PC(s) in a main living area. BIOS protect the PC (change pw often) so its only on when you are there, and put a seal on the case sides.
Kids will always find a way round a software fix. Physically policing the damn thing is the only way. Even my 10 yr old soon got past any protection I installed, although I did ask him to try whilst I was there.
I agree supervision is the only certain way, but for free software you could try WeBlocker:
http://www.we-blocker.com/
I've heard decent things about netnanny, but I can't begin to count the problem computers brought in with content advisor with lost passwords, incorrect setups, etc. Shamus..you are lucky..and probably a bit atypical of our customers when it comes to setting up things, since you actually know what you are doing:) ..I think supervision is the best way as well
ok how about explictly denying all but the approved pages in content advisor and if they aren't that skilled you can just block other browser install sites (ie Netscape, Opera...) here i have xp pro and ALL of my machines are locked down to prevent installs and browser settings tampering... (that is prolly way out of the scope of possible solutions though..)
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Be warned there are websites specifically designed to redirect people around these blocks, built and provided by anti-censorship people, and freeware programs kids can download that will disable any software solution you have.
Kids will ALWAYS find a way around it all.
I do not intend to stop my child from finding this stuff when he gets old enough to, I would rather advise him instead how not to get viruses and crap like that while doing it... :cool:
Thanks for the suggestions, as always. Supervision is no doubt the best way, but I can understand her not always being able to be there since she's a successful single mom and business owner.
I'll recommend CyberPatrol. Seems simple enough and is some easy $$$ for me to install.
In case someone finds this thread and wants to try We-Blocker (it works well), please note a couple of things found by experience.
SpyBot Search & Destroy may give a false positive detection of the Klez worm in a We-Blocker file. If other scanning software does not confirm an infection, set SpyBot to ignore the detection (right click on the Klez detection in the found items and select "Ignore this detection in future scans")
Also, We-Blocker implements a proxy server on the system with address 127.0.0.1 (meaning "this system" in IP) and port 6711. Because all internet access has to be directed through this proxy, programs like updaters which attempt their own direct connection will fail, and cause the internet connection to be blocked as a security measure.
See this link for further information:
http://forums.windrivers.com/showthread.php?t=57844