Iwan

Hi folks,

I need to get some software installed on the spare PC in our 6 year old's room, to basically prevent access/viewing of anything remotely iffy. She's not actively looking for iffy stuff, but follows links on one page to another, then another etc.

We found it was possible to navigate from a website of kids games which her Yr2 teacher told her about, to pages showing some very iffy photos and personal ads etc. Also, one of her friends showed her Youtube, and on there it's easy to just surf the related videos shown at the side of each page to reach all kinds of weird stuff.

Any good recommendations for software that'll do this? It's just for home use obviously, not business.

Cheers, Iwan.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Never needed to do this, but I believe there is a program called Net Nanny that is still on the go. Its been years since I looked at it, and it is bound to have competitor products you can look at using.

Youtube should be reasonable safe as there is a distinction between normal vids and adult vids. However, to be on the safe side you may want to ban that site completely.

Be advised though, as she gets older if she wants to find a way to get around net nanny, then she can....

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

found this, no idea if they are impartial however:
Parental Control Software & Internet Monitoring

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

Net Nanny is what you're after.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

According to the reviews from that link its not rated as being that good. Web Watcher was coming out as a lot better, but I've not tried any of these.

Iwan

Thanks guys, I'll leave it a day or two and see if any other recommendations come in - then decide which one to get.

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

If you're that worried about it, maybe they shouldn't have net access at all? Just a thought.

BlkKnight

at 6. .

I'd be inclined to supervise. Get the PC out of the kids room where you can't monitor it.

Sonic'

I have some software child something or other it is called (cant remember off the top of my head, but can look tonight)

It sits on the PC, and you can setup all kinds of stuff, automated shutdown, logoff etc once they have used up their time, whitelists for internet (only sites YOU put in the list that they can visit)

Im putting it on the PC in the living room so the kids (4-8 year olds) can go on the PC and Internet without having to constantly watch what they are doing

BlkKnight

Does that stop IRC / MSN / ICQ etc

Sonic'

Stops anything you want it to stop IIRC

I will check tonight, its on my laptop at home

Sonic'

Found it now it is this Child Control 2007

GaryCat

If you go into IE -> Tools -> Internet Options -> Content -> Content Advisor, you can set the options so that your kid only sees sites that you have approved. You have to enter a password for any new site.

jods

Would advise against setting the RATING facility in IE.

Tried it once - Bloody nightmare.

It was dependant on each website having voluntarily subscribed to being rated (i.e U, 12, PG, 15, 18 etc)

Trouble is 99.999% of websites out there haven't done this and - You got it. No RATING = No access.

Turning off RATING once switched on is / was a huge problem - ended up having to frig Registry settings - not something you want to do unless you really really REALLY know what you are doing.