recommend some software that protects children from the internet

[FreshPrince]

co-worker asked me to setup her laptop and asked about protecting her young children from the big bad intarweb...

I know net-nanny will do the job, but what else can I do to help her?

she wants to read their chat and email communications as well and I know perfect keylogger will do it, but will light up some av-programs. recommend some that won't

thanks.

 

[Garet Jax]

Windows

 

[BigJ]

Why not just grant an exception to the keylogger in the AV settings?

 

[FoBoT]

vista can handle that natively

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: FreshPrince
co-worker asked me to setup her laptop and asked about protecting her young children from the big bad intarweb...

I know net-nanny will do the job, but what else can I do to help her?

she wants to read their chat and email communications as well and I know perfect keylogger will do it, but will light up some av-programs. recommend some that won't

thanks.

I use trillian at work for IM and it logs every chat I make. I have used this frequently to copy and paste things from chats into other apps.

 

[lobbyone]

This should do...

 

[LordMaul]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax
Windows

Wow, that's not creepy or anything...I was just about to post that. :Q

 

[BoomerD]

The BEST protection for children on the "big-bad intarweb" is parental supervision and participation...Not to mention parental guidance. MOST kids can find ways around the net-nanny type of software if they REALLY want to...

 

[JSFLY]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
The BEST protection for children on the "big-bad intarweb" is parental supervision and participation...Not to mention parental guidance. MOST kids can find ways around the net-nanny type of software if they REALLY want to...

 

[FreshPrince]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
The BEST protection for children on the "big-bad intarweb" is parental supervision and participation...Not to mention parental guidance. MOST kids can find ways around the net-nanny type of software if they REALLY want to...

yup, I've instructed her to always keep the laptop out in the living room and never in their bedrooms. I also told her to monitor it but let them know she's monitoring.

I will check the av-software to see if it has the whitelist capability for the keylogger...it's the crappy norton stuff that comes with the dell E1505.

that reminds me, I need to find that Dell De-crapify program

 

[Captante]

I like to combine parental control with my Firewall/AV software ... for my older daughter (13) I'm using Zonealarm security suite which allows a lot of custom filtering & controls more aspects of PC use then most parental control software. For my younger daughters PC (8) I use Panda Internet security which blocks or allows sites based on age catagory. Either one works well, but unless your friend is somwhat tech-savvy I'd suggest going with Panda because its much easier to setup & use, plus it doesn't require much modification to give good protection & includes a license for three machines.

 

[Rock Hydra]

AOL


/shudder

 

[dawnbug]

Originally posted by: JSFLY

Originally posted by: BoomerD
The BEST protection for children on the "big-bad intarweb" is parental supervision and participation...Not to mention parental guidance. MOST kids can find ways around the net-nanny type of software if they REALLY want to...

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: LadyBuggy

Originally posted by: JSFLY

Originally posted by: BoomerD
The BEST protection for children on the "big-bad intarweb" is parental supervision and participation...Not to mention parental guidance. MOST kids can find ways around the net-nanny type of software if they REALLY want to...

.

 

[2Xtreme21]

How old are these kids?

 

[Ronstang]

Software is supposed to protect children? Asking this question is the root of the problem. It is the parents' responsibility to protect their children.

 

[FoBoT]

tell her to use this
http://www.sealameal.com/products/vacuum/builtin/index.aspx?productid=2064

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: LadyBuggy

Originally posted by: JSFLY

Originally posted by: BoomerD
The BEST protection for children on the "big-bad intarweb" is parental supervision and participation...Not to mention parental guidance. MOST kids can find ways around the net-nanny type of software if they REALLY want to...

Getting around Zone Alarm is fairly tough .. of course its possible but just because I could do it doesn't mean my daughter is going to, plus she would not only have to get around, but then hide all traces that she did so... lifes rough when your dad is a PC tech.

Of course the fact that I moniter her online activity a lot of the time & provide guidence as well has a lot to do with keeping her safer online... relying solely on software to protect your kid isn't a good idea.

 

[mchammer]

Originally posted by: Ronstang
Software is supposed to protect children? Asking this question is the root of the problem. It is the parents' responsibility to protect their children.

I think software can be a helpful tool. The parent is taking responsibility, they are going to employ many tools, one of which will be software.

It is like a helmet for bike riding. The most important thing the parent does is to teach their child how to ride safely, but the helmet is there in case an accident happens. Of course the helmet is not 100% effective.

 

[Tiamat]

56K modem, 64mb of ram, windows XP installed. The child's patience would die far sooner than the first picture could load.

Cant say itd be particularly useful for good sites though...

Seriously though, good parenting is a great first step. Software can always be bypassed...:/

 

[PowerEngineer]

Originally posted by: FreshPrince
...it's the crappy norton stuff

Well, I have used Norton Internet Security for this purpose and have had few problems (and those were mostly around installing new free-after-rebate versions over existing expiring versions). I particularly like its ability to assign rights based on Windows accounts.

 

[Crono]

Naomi is a god web filter that blocks P2P as well as filters bad sites. Doesn't slow down browser or computer as much as some of those other filters. Plus, it's free

For monitoring AIM/MSN communication, I know you can view logs of all chat with Trillian. Key loggers are good for pretty much all typed information, but yeah, nearly all will trigger antivirus software.

 

[skyking]

build a proxy server with dansguardian and squid
There are ports and packages in most unix and linux distros.

 

[MustISO]

This is supposed to be pretty good but I've never used it. I need to find something for my sister's kids.

 

[Fritzo]

I've used NetNanny on my kid's computer for about a year. It's very effective and fairly easy to configure. It even learns what you find acceptable and unacceptable. Highly recommended.