Parental Control Software - Monitor your kids online usage

While the Internet has made life easier for most of us, with an abundance of information, products, and services available at the click of a mouse, it has also brought dangers for our children. Most parents are concerned about what their kids are seeing, reading, and being exposed to online. From chat rooms and instant messaging, to websites, email, and more - there seems to be limitless opportunities for kids to get into trouble. One solution is to limit home Internet access to a common family computer in a family room or kitchen area, where Internet use is "public" and watched and not in the privacy of a child's closed bedroom. This method only works if the parent is around and vigilant. Another popular option for monitoring and controlling your childs Internet access is through parental control software. Below we will look at some of the most popular parental control packages.

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Parental control software does pretty much what its name says - it allows parents to control what can and can't be accessed online, with internet filtering to keep out specific types of sites and content, and internet monitoring to track what goes on in chat rooms, what is typed in instant messaging, and what web sites are accessed or searched. This is especially important for grade school kids and young teens. Cell phones, email, and instant messaging have allowed kids to have almost invisible access to friends that used to have to call on the home phone or knock on the door - now parents don't have much control over who their kids communicate with, when, or how. But internet access from the home computer is one area they can regain control over, and they should.

Internet Filtering and Protecting Kids Online

How much do parental control programs cost? Most are about $20-$40. Net Nanny has been around a long time and is one of the more popular parental control software programs. It has features that allow you to specifically control which websites your kids can visit, it helps control pop-up windows and ads, it lets you specify time limits for computer and internet usage, and it can block file sharing programs (think downloading illegal music and movie files!). You can filter or block web sites based on keywords, content, or specific URLs. You can filter content in email and instant messaging. Unfortunately, they have received a lot of negative reviews on Amazon, so you may want to check it out on a friend or neighbors computer to see if you like it before buying it. CyberSitter is another name that pops up a bunch in this group of programs. It handles mostly the same tasks, and can record AOL AIM and Yahoo Messenger chats, so you can see who your kids are instant messaging and what they are saying. Make sure the program you select handles file sharing control - many parents have been shocked when they discover how many illegal songs their kids have downloaded through these file sharing programs, without their permission, and some have even beed sued by the recording industry for thousands of dollars. Another key feature is making sure the program cannot be disabled or uninstalled by your kids (ie, some kind of password protection). Your kids may well know more about computers than you do, and you don't want them circumventing the safety software you install.

Buying the Best Parental Control Software

ContentWatch.com offers ContentProtect parental control internet filter program. Unlike the others listed above that have a one time purchase price, ContentProtect requires an annual subscription fee, much like your anti-virus software. The cost is $29 per year. Unfortunately, the cost covers only one computer, so if you have several computers in your home, you have to pay additional fees to cover them all. We'd like to see all software companies offer a single family pricing scheme that covers however many computers they may have in their home - it is not right to force a family to buy several copies of the exact same program - come on! Anyways, ContentProtect is easy to install, configure, and use - and they offer free technical phone support which most others do not. Finally, take a look at WebWatcher (awarenesstech.com). WebWatcher does website recording and blocking, content filtering, email recording, instant message recording, keystroke logging, screenshots, offers remote online data viewing, and runs invisibly. Its main strength is its monitoring and tracking capabilities. It has an internet interface, so you log onto a website to view your data. Simple tabs at the top of the screen let you access Email, IM/Chat, Keystrokes, Websites, and Screen Shots. For example, you can set up keyword filters, and any time that word is typed or appears on a screen, a screenshot (picture) can be taken and saved, showing you the exact context in which it appeared (think "drugs" or "party"). So you can logon from work and see what websites your child is viewing or has viewed, what exact instant messages or emails they have sent or received, and much more. To be fair, most kids don't want to be spied on - so you have the choice to warn them in advance that you will be monitoring their activity with appropriate penalties for misuse, or secretly install the software and monitor them without their knowing. Ultimately it comes down to trust, but trust combined with vigilance and awareness - your goal is creating young adult that will be able to make intelligent, healthy choices for the rest of their lives, not just when they are being closely watched and monitored!

Online Safety Articles

If you are looking for news, articles, and information about online safety and keeping your kids safe, check out LookSmart. They have helpful links to stories about such topics as Internet Child Safety, drug safety, online privacy, and more. You can seach for information on child predators and learn how to keep your family safer online.

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