Good parental control software

[jeromg]

Hi there,

I'm looking for a good (potentially free) parental control system that can be installed on a child pc, that would allow parents to control web access as well as instant messaging software, and the like... Im looking for a system that could allow white or black url lists as well as content-based filtering with either auto-updated (multi-language) or custom keywords lists...
Any suggestion welcome!

Cheers  /jerome

[Edvard]

We had good results with this one when we were using Windows at home...

Naomi does not rely on a simple list of banned sites; instead, it examines in real-time all the data being transmitted and received through any internet application - such as web browers, chat programs, news readers, etc.

http://www.radiance.m6.net/

It runs hidden in the background and does what it says on the label. As soon as questionable stuff starts coming through, it simply kills the browser, IM, newsreader, whatever. All-Heuristic based means it doesn't use black/white lists. It does support quite a few languages. It's not in active development at this time, however which may make it a temporary solution (unless some kind programmer volunteers to take it up for themselves...).

[f0dder]

Imho parental control software doesn't work properly; the solutions I've seen tend to end up blocking legitimate pages every now and then, and sometimes not blocking something it should have blocked.

But technical issues aside, where this kind of stuff fails most is in the sense of distrust they instill, instead of having a healthy trust+respect relationship. Of course this doesn't matter much if you're going to deploy such a "solution" on public computer in a library or whatever, but it does matter quite a bit if you're trying to "protect" your kids from the evil evil world.

[justice]

Have you tried Windows One Care Family Safety? I have no experience with this kind of software but I heard it's an updated version of the parental controls in vista and it works on xp too.
https://fss.live.com/

[jeromg]

Other people have recommended Windows Live Parental Control (or whatever the funky name might be) to me, I'll give it a try. I'll also have a look at Naomi, mentioned earlier in this thread.

I do agree with f0dder in the distrust this kind of software instills. I'm planning to use it at home for my 4 kids (aged 13,12,7,6), my elder son don't need it any more (he's 19)... As a father, I think you should not rely exclusively on a pseudo-automatic system, this should not prevent you from educating your kids (also explaining why you're using a parental control system).

Thanks all!

Cheers  /jerome

[cysoon]

Free Parental Control Software! Get Perfect Control of User Activity on Your Computer!
http://www.crawlerparental.com/

OpenDNS is a safer, faster, smarter and more reliable way to navigate the Internet. Our service is free and requires nothing to download.
http://www.opendns.com/

[f0dder]

cysoon: are you affiliated with either of those services?

[cysoon]

cysoon: are you affiliated with either of those services?

I'm using OpenDNS and it works perfectly for me.

• Phishing Protection
• Domain Blocking
• Adult Site Blocking
• Web Proxy Blocking
• Domain Whitelisting
• Typo Correction
• Etc.

A free DNS service packed full of features

Crawler Parental Control works well but not tested yet. Its FREEWARE!

Hope my English is good enough... (Dutch...  ) (Used Spell Check, thx)

[Renegade]

A friend of mine makes all kinds of security software like this. Of course none of it is in English though...

He's got one piece of software, TimeKeeper (http://www.timekeeper.co.kr/), that let's you control more than just what sites kids visit, but how much time they can spend on a computer, how much in different programs... It's just SOOOOO slick. And the best part is you can control the PC from anywhere - you just login and set the policies you want for your kids.

Not that it helps though... It hasn't been released in English.

[jeromg]

Thanks for all suggestions. I've just read on this excellent tech blog gHacks about a piece of software by Microsoft named Windows Steady State(formerly known as Microsoft Shared Access), which is not per se a parental control system, but can be used as such.
I'll give it a try and let you know my impressions.
For those interested in this topic, I'd also like to share this nice hack about restricting web sites access on IE.
Hope that helps.

Cheers  /jerome

[clay]

K9 web protection. http://bluecoat.com/
As a parent you will like it

Download our FREE Internet and parental controls filtering software for the home that enables parents to protect families from unwanted Internet content.
(That is a copy and past from their sight.)
24/7 support, FREE program

[Comvigo]

Hi, I'm a little late to the game here, but we have an internet filter software.  We mostly sell to businesses, but we also have a lot of parents as customers.  You can click on my signature for a link, and feel free to contact me directly.

Best,

Jim

[scancode]

Protip: To defeat the Cyberdemon, shoot at it until it dies.
There's a board called Announce Your Software/Service/Product where you can post about (or advertise) your own software. By the way, noone can see your sig.

[MerleOne]

K9, a parental control software, is a solution I have not used myself, but for which I have read good reviews.

URL : http://www.k9webprotection.com/

I think it's still free free but you will have to check !