Like some of the other parental control applications, Anti-Porn can periodically grab screen captures of online activity and save them to a log for later review. It's set up a lot like a spam filter, in that you can adjust the sensitivity, create whitelists and blacklists, and filter keywords ( Figure C). 3: Anti-Porn Anti-Porn is a parental control app whose goal is to prevent access to Internet porn. Operating system safeguards such as Safe Mode make it possible to alter and/or disable most any parental control application. Even so, there is no such thing as a truly tamperproof parental control application.
In an effort to prevent tampering, the publishers have made it so that the software can be uninstalled only from the command line (and you need a password to do it). One big complaint about this software is that there is no easy way to uninstall it. The software can also be configured to automatically record screen captures of the session, and those screen captures can even be stitched together into a video of the session ( Figure B). Family Cyber Alert records every keystroke and maintains separate logs of Web sites visited, emails sent, files accessed, and instant messages. Okay, maybe not every kid, but I am certainly glad that nothing like this existed when I was a kid. I tend to think of Family Cyber Alert as every kid's worst nightmare. 2: Family Cyber Alert Family Cyber Alert is another app that's designed to block access to questionable Web sites and to monitor online activity. The license request process can be initiated through the installation wizard.
For example, you can play a sound (so that a parent will hear an alert if access is attempted), and there is even an option to completely shut down Internet access for a period of time if someone repeatedly tries to access blocked sites ( Figure A).īefore you can install the software, you will have to request a free license key. One of this program's nicer features is that you can control what happens when someone attempts to access a Web site you have blocked. There is also an option to view Internet usage history. You have the option of restricting access times, blocking Web sites, and filtering Internet access by URL keywords. K9 Web Protection, from Blue Coat, is a free utility that's designed to regulate the way your Internet connection can be used. Note: This list is also available as a photo gallery. Here are five parental control applications you might find helpful. Although I don't have any children of my own, friends routinely ask me whether I know of any good applications to keep their kids safe while online.