Any good parental control software for internet? Need solution.

[MaDHaVoK]

My uncle just hooked his daughters computer upto their network. The have optimum online, and use a netgear wireless router to share the connection. Any my cousin is like 11 and my uncle asked me if their was any programs that would limit her internet access to PG rated websites. Well since I don't have kids I never paid any attention to that kind of stuff, so I figured I could ask here...

Anyone have a recommendation?

Thanks!

 

[Ness]

no. No software will ever be good enough to filter the bad and keep the good. It ALWAYS muddies things up. Try doing essays for classes with filtering software on... a site that says marijuana is bad can be blocked because the damn thing sees the word "marijuana"

The best course of action is for him to pay attention when she is online and teach her between what is good, what is bad, and how to protect herself.

Yeah, I know that's not much of a help to your problem, but it's still the best answer you will get.

 

[rh71]

If you're going to do research on marijuana, it'd be you and not the kid who's not supposed to be exposed to it. Just turn off the filter then.

 

[eigen]

Solution =good parenting and suprevision;

If she does a search for women and breast cancer risk there is a good chance that could be blocked ...etc

 

[Ness]

Originally posted by: rh71
If you're going to do research on marijuana, it'd be you and not the kid who's not supposed to be exposed to it. Just turn off the filter then.

umm... ever thought that she might have to do the report? She's 11... more than old enough to do reports.

 

[episodic]

For my son, I've set up his wireless connection to only utilize a second wireless nic in my main pc (a little added expense). I use and ad hoc connection between that nic and his nic. I have a program called Proxy + running as a service on my computer, and I've got his browser set up where it can only access the internet through that proxy. I've got the main wireless router set to NOT talk to his nic. This way I know the only thing he can do is internet (I've got no Socks Proxy running for IRC or anything else). The nice thing is I have the proxy set to log the websites so I know where he is going, and has been. I just monitor occasionally, and if anything ever comes up that I can go have a talk with him. . .

Advantages are - a log of everywhere he goes
No possibility of using AIM type services for now (if/when he gets old nuff well versed in computers to start changing proxy settings, well I'll stop worrying as much). . .

No possibility of using IRC.
No possibility of using Kazaa (at least with his knowledge). . .
Spyware can't get out if it doesn't know about the proxy, etc . . etc. . .

 

[PowerEngineer]

As Ness said, no parental control software is perfect. I'm using Norton Internet Security, which includes anti-virus, firewall, and parental controls. Running on XP Pro, I can set up custom setting for each user so the kids get restricted and I can have free rein (it also means I'm the only one who can authorize an executable to access the internet). Even though I try to keep up with updates, I've seen some pretty bad sites come through on my teenagers IE histories. What can we do? It's not really practical to watch over their shoulders every minute, and they will be running into this stuff out in the "real world" in a few years. I guess I'll have to settle for something like Norton that blocks almost all of it... Good luck!

 

[kursplat]

well , the only comp the kids can get on is in the dinning room . I've also enabled I.E.'s content adviser and password locked the browser. it can be a pain , but the only sites they can go to are ones i unlock ,(you can tell it to always unlock a site if you want). since they usually have a dozen or so sites they frequent , it's not that too much trouble .
the only thing that is 100% is doing it all yourself , and that WOULD be a pain.
good luck