What is the best way to add parental controls to your home pc?

Question

I have a 9 and 10 year old at home and they are at the age where they are a little more curious about the opposite sex. I don't want to take away their computer priviledges away however I don't want them to look at profanity on the internet at the same time. Does anyone have any suggestions on a good parental blocker?

Answer 1

Your children are going to be exposed to profanity and pornography. If they've been using the internet more than a week or two, they already have been. Your job as a parent is to instill values that can stand up to this exposure and to prevent the abuse of knowledge, not to prevent exposure.

Answer 2

I have the same problem, i use K9 Web Filter

http://www.k9webprotection.com/

Its easy to setup, it block whatever u want it to, and in the event of an accidental block u just type in your password to let it through. Also, it barks like a dog when it blocks something so if your near the computer, u can run and see what your kids are on. Im not sure, but i think it has a feature to log their activity. And, its free. Ive used this for years so if you have any problems with it, ask me.

Answer 3

Click on start. Click on "Control Panel". Find"User Accounts and Family Safety". Click on" Set up Parental controls for any user." This in Vista but most versions are similar.

Answer 4

you can look up top there see tools, click it then click internet options then click the content tab then click enable and make adjustments there. you also can edit how a page is searched by signing up to the search engines site and setting preferences that way. like yahoo go search somthing and you should see advanced search click it then set the page up how thing's are minded when searching for internet content.

Answer 5

Restricting access to your computer:



Most computers allow creating a BIOS password. Without a password your DVD/CD or floppy drives can not be used to boot the computer or reinstall Windows, bypassing all your Windows passwords. It also prevents the hard drives from being used, preventing entering Windows “safe mode” which can be used to modify your passwords.

The bios password can often be easily defeated.

http://www.protectiveparenting.com/web/html/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=10

http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2204p103id114727.htm



How to clear an BIOS password:

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000235.htm



Lockdown PC

http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2204p103id114727.htm



Windows XP passwords:

All accounts must have passwords. Each person must have a separate username and password to sign on the computer. You must have an “Administrative” account. Everyone else should have “Restricted Access” accounts.

Do not enable automatic logon.

http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-350.html

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/winxp/accounts.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/winxp/switchusers.mspx



Turn off the guest account

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/tips/soleuser.mspx



Protect your computer from access when you are temporarily away from your computer by using a screen saver password

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/display_assign_screensaver_password.mspx?mfr=true



Each person (if you allow) should have a separate email account.



A determined person can break or disable or get around all passwords.

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How to make files and folders private in Windows XP so that only you have access to them

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930987



Vista Parental Contols

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/585539d0-0862-41e4-9b39-53467648efc51033.mspx

http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/it/2007/02/20/vistas-parental-controls-part-i/





Restricting Internet Access



Your internet service provider probably provides a method to control access to the internet. I have AT&T they have parental controls to limit access. Each user can have a separate account. A master password is required to change settings. Settings allow selecting for each user: Allowed times during the day; maximum hours of use; set ratings for types of content allowed to be viewed.

http://help.yahoo.com/sbc/tutorials/olp/tut_olp_index.html

http://help.yahoo.com/sbc/tutorials/ypc/pc_timer1.html



Yahoo Parental Controls

http://help.yahoo.com/sbc/tutorials/ypc/start_pc1.html





I am not recommending this software, but it pages clearly show setting up internet profiles and customizing the restrictions.

http://www.pchomesoft.com/keywords.html

http://www.pchomesoft.com/limit_kids_control_guide.html

http://www.pchomesoft.com/images/kta2.gif

http://www.pchomesoft.com/images/kta1.gif



Software downloads. Some free, some offer a limited trial.

http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?tg=dl-20&qt=parental&tag=srch



Reviews of programs that restrict net access:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1986753,00.asp

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/internet-filtering-software-605/ratings/index.htm?resultPageIndex=1&resultIndex=3&searchTerm=parental%20controls

http://www.filterreview.com/pages/table1.htm

http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2001feb/gee20010215004355.htm

http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/

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Monitoring Software

http://www.monitoringsoftwarereviews.org/

http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1874,1639158,00.asp

http://familyinternet.about.com/library/weekly/aa041901a.htm

http://monitoring-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

http://ask-leo.com/parental_monitoring_software_my_child_figured_out_how_to_turn_it_off_what_can_i_do.html

http://ezinearticles.com/?Monitoring-Software---What-You-Need-To-Know&id=454291

http://www.freesearching.com/monitor.htm

http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Child_Safety/

http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?tg=dl-20&qt=parental&tag=srch



How To Record All Microsoft Messenger conversations (free)

http://www.protectiveparenting.com/web/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=12

http://www.msgpluslive.net/



How can I keep my kids safe from internet garbage

http://ask-leo.com/how_can_i_keep_my_kids_safe_from_internet_garbage.html

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protectiveparenting.com

http://www.protectiveparenting.com/web/html/modules.php?name=Topics

Free Publications:



Help with IM, Chat, AIM, etc.

Publications: Chat Conversation Logging

Publications: Disabling Chat

Publications: Chat Code Words and Acronymns

Publications: Web-based IM and Chat

Publications: Blogging and Forums



Lock down your computer

Publications: BIOS Password Protection

Publications: Prevent Children from Installing Programs

Publications: Setting Up User Accounts in Windows XP



Web filtering and control

Topic: Web filtering and control

Publications: Restrict web sites on Windows XP

Publications: What is a Proxy?

Publications: Lock down Internet Explorer History

Selecting Filtering Software For Your Family

http://familyinternet.about.com/cs/filteringsoftware/a/aafiltering.htm



Parent's Guide to Children's Online Safety

http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/onlinesafety.html



There are often ways to get around content restrictions and defeat filtering programs. Numerous web pages and chat rooms give tips on this subject. Kids have all the time in the world to experiment, you don’t.