How to Buy Parental-Control Software
These six apps can help you keep an eye on what your kids are up to—for their safety and your peace of mind.
You can't always be there looking over your kids' shoulders when they're online. Here are six apps that can help you keep an eye on what your kids are up to—for their safety and your peace of mind.
The Internet is an integral part of life for modern kids. They use it for schoolwork, communication, watching videos, playing games—everything! And they're probably more adept at navigating its sea of content than their parents are. Yet parents feel the need to keep an eye on their children's online life to ensure that the children don't make bad decisions. Parental-control software helps parents stay in the loop, and several of the best programs cover a lot of the same ground. Here are the top features that you'll want to consider before purchasing your software.
Customized SettingsPer-user configuration is essential: Your teen doesn't need the same settings as your toddler. All six products discussed here can associate configuration settings with Windows accounts. All but OnlineFamily.Norton and Bsafe Online can optionally use program-defined profiles within the same Windows account.
Web-Site FilteringKeeping kids from accidentally or deliberately visiting inappropriate Web sites is a key element in parental-control software. All these products can block Web sites matching specific categories. CyberPatrol Parental Controls 7.7 and Net Nanny 6.0 will also evaluate the content of individual Web pages in real time for finer control. Net Nanny and Norton offer the option of warning the child that a site isn't appropriate without completely blocking it (naturally, the parent gets a report if the child ignores the warning).
Access ControlControlling how long the kids spend on the computer is another important feature. All of these products can prohibit access at specific times, and all but Bsafe can set a daily or weekly maximum. Norton schedules overall computer use, while the rest schedule Internet use, specifically. Webroot Parental Controls will schedule use of the Internet, the computer, or specific programs. Safe Eyes 5.0 and Norton can track the daily or weekly usage cap across multiple computers; the others can't.
Remote NotificationOne big reason parents want this type of software is that they're not always around when the kids are using the home computer. All of these products except CyberPatrol can send an e-mail notification when, for example, a child tries to access a banned site or request a time extension. Safe Eyes alone also offers SMS or phone notification. And all but CyberPatrol let the parent make configuration changes remotely.
Watching OpenlyThere are parental-control products that install secretly, so you can monitor kids without their knowledge. These top products don't include that sneaky feature. Norton in particular emphasizes working with the kids to agree on acceptable "house rules" rather than imposing restrictions without discussion.
The above are the most important considerations when it comes to buying a parental-control application.
-Pcmag
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