Recent research by security firm AVG revealed UK kids aged six to nine years old spend an average of 4.2 hours per week using social networks. The research also nearly half (47 percent) of this age group talk to their friends online but 20 percent have admitted to being bullied online.
Help keep your kids safe online
This clearly highlights the ever increasing need to educate children on the danger of the web. First and foremost, parents should be discussing with their kids how they can stay safe online. However, for an added layer of protection, it's worth investing in parental controls software that can block access to inappropriate content and . But it doesn't have to cost the earth, here's five free programs that can be downloaded to ensure your kids don't run into trouble
Norton Online Family
Norton Online Family is free software that lets parents monitor the websites their children visit as well as what they search for online and who they chat with. Not only can parents set time-limits for how long their offspring can use the PC for, they can also see their social networking activities and even receive an email report about all of the kid's online activities.
Windows Live Family Safety
Microsoft's free parental controls software, Windows Live Family Safety, is part of its Windows Live Essentials package that includes MSN Messenger and Microsoft's webmail client. Users can block specific sites and applications as well as controlling how long kids can use a computer. For more information on the parental controls software see our How to use Windows Live Family Safety tutorial.
AVG Family Safety
Security firm AVG recently made its Family Safety parental controls software available for free (although there is a 95p donation to Red Cross).
The software allows parents to create profiles for each child, which can be adjusted as the child gets older and as their digital behaviour and habits change. As well as blocking inappropriate content, such as pornographic sites, the software lets uses prevent access to over 80 different social networks including Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.
PGSurfer
Pareto Logic, the company behind PGSurfer, is a Microsoft certified partner. This parental controls software lets parents filter inappropriate content from their kids by offering profiles that can be set-up restricting the types of sites that can be visited. Furthermore, it also lets adults block chat rooms, p2p sharing programs and other apps as well stopping files being downloaded.
K9 Web Protection 4.0.296
K9 Web Protection is a comprehensive parental controls and web filtering package that will keep the whole family safe online.
The program is able to block access to many web sites, according to their category: pornography, drugs, hacking, gambling, hate sites and more. Some pre-defined profiles speed up this process. Selecting 'High', for instance, blocks almost everything and is suitable for very young children, while the 'Minimal' profile is more relaxed, a better option for teenagers.
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Comments
Omar Schvarnchnaize said: This is a review of FREE parental software - Net Nanny is not free
Olivia Brawn said: OkQustodio is good for small children only easy to stop For teenagers you need something more serious for example I want to block adult content but allow Facebook for 30 mins I use another program called Time Boss httpnicekitcom I recommned it to the parents
computer nerd said: dont listen to these BS Net Nanny is by far the best for PC
supermom214 said: I need a parental control app for an ANDROID tablet I love the Qustodio program but as is the case with many others it is only for windows based devices Any suggestions
Familyparsons said: I just spent agesdownloadingandgettingto gripswiththe k9 package only to discover you can not put on different setting for different users so fairly useless for afamilypcwithkids aged 6-16 and adults on same pc
Derick said: I use free parental control program from Qustodiocom and I like it very much
Luqman Qadir said: Parental Control Software are really good utility to keep your children away from harmul material on internet Now a days parental control software is a necessity when you have young children at home who are fond of using Computer and Internet Have you guys tryind the parental control softwarewebsite blocking software offered by pcdatatools From one years im using this to keep save to my children
Mike Cross said: OpenDNS is a frontline defence against unsuitable websites Available free and requiring little configuration it is my first choice It also imposes no overhead on your PC and applies to all PCs within the household