Parental Control

[SalvorHardin]

A friend of mine has asked me to help him on this matter.
He's got 2 daughters that just started using the Internet and wants something to keep the porn sites etc away.

I told him that the best thing he can do is monitor internet use himself and be present when they surf but still...

I've never had to use such software and I'm pretty ignorant on the matter.
Any advice or suggestions ?
Are the parental controls of software like McAfee, Kaspersky or Panda any good ?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

If he has Vista, there are parental controls built-in.

The key to any kind of monitoring software is that the kids only use a limited user account. If you give them an administrator account, they can do anything they want and bypass the parental controls.

I do think any kind of passive monitoring should be used together with active parenting. Don't set up your controls then turn them loose and figure everything will be OK. Educate them on how to safely surf the Web, and have set punishments for breaking the rules.

I don't know what each package does, but most of them at least offer email and IM monitoring, track URL history, and possibly capture keystrokes (so you can get passwords and such).

 

[SalvorHardin]

Unfortunately he doesn't have Vista. Just XP

As for the rest, i agree with you about active parenting and educating and I have already given him that advice.