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Buyers Guide to Parental Control Software

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Buyers Guide to Parental Control Software

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The Internet is now part of our everyday lives, and people are learning more about both the good and bad sides of the internet. Every day we almost hear stories about predators looking for children on the internet in chat rooms on social communities as MySpace. In addition, parents are more aware that there is much information, pictures, and people on the net that can be harmful to children on the hate site, pornographic site, etc. Then there is the problem of kids overusing the internet and developing internet addiction, not showing up for school, getting bad grades, and quitting their sports and hobbies.

Parents want to guide and watch their children but at the same time know they cannot be there all the time sitting with them when they are online. So even though parents are aware of the danger of the internet, talk to their kids and monitor them at home, parents know it is not possible to be the one that keeps them safe all the time on the internet. They also know that even if they trust them well, an accidental search can lead to harmful and material even if they are not looking for it. So deciding on buying parental control software is considered a logical and responsible step more parents are taking.

Buying parental control software could be something you take few minutes to do. You sit down in front of the computer, “Google” some right words for it, press a link, and buy a product. At the same time, there is not certain that the best software’s are those that will appear in the top ten of Google search and you might be want to consider thinking what do I want my parental control software to be able to do for me?

You could start to buy asking other parents what they are using and asking for their experience. You could also try to browse around, test their sites, and read about that software; even send an email to the sales apartment. You should check if the software has a 15 days trial period so you can test the software. Check for things like the software being updated, which is very important in this day-by-day changing online world where the dangers of the internet are always changing. The parental control software that needs to work with is also updating and changing.

Software

The biggest question you need to ask yourself when deciding on buying parental control software is its function. What do you want the parental software to do for you? Parental control software do not all have the same features and possibilities, and you should, therefore, spend some time thinking, “what kind of parental control software do I need” Most of them will do different things for you, and you may need different things for best safe surfing in your family. The possibilities are enormous. Let’s go over a few things parental control software may have in their toolbox so that you can use it in the buying guide; you can look for those things you want to have when browsing through parental control websites doing your own parental control software review.

Filtering: Does the software have a filtering option? Most software will filter (pornographic filter, hate site filters, making bomb filter, violence filter, etc.) for you, but you may want to think how much control you have over the filtering system. For example, 1. Does the parental control software have a database of blocked and family-friendly sites? 2. Does the software allow you to create an additional filtering list of sites you want to block? 3. Does the software have the ability for you only to allow certain sites you choose and filter all other sites? 4. Does the software have a allow list have the ability to allow sites permanently and therefore overriding all other filtering systems. 5. Does the software have a dynamic content filter that blocks sites based on the content on each site you open?

Blocking software: You may also want to know if the parental control software is also blocking software, allowing you to block software you may think is harmful.

1. Does the software Block p2P file sharing, like, e.g., torrent software often used to download illegal software, music, movies, games, and adult material?

2. Does it block chat programs?

3. Does the software block games that are considered more addictive, e.g., MMORPG games?

4. Does the software allow you to choose additional software from the computer and block it?

Monitoring Software: You may want to check if the parental control software allows you to monitor the overall use of the computer and give you a good report on what has been happening. Does the software monitor all keystrokes that will enable you to read what has been written on the computer-based software the words were written in? You may also want to have a screenshot recording in the software to see what has been happening in the form of a screen picture.

The screenshot recording is also good as proof if something bad happens, e.g., Predator harassing the child or some other child bullying the child on chat application. With screenshots, you have proof of what has happened after these incidents. Some software also has email monitoring of incoming and outgoing emails. Last option you may want to check for if the software monitors all cut and paste-ing on the computer, both pictures and text.

Calvin M. Barker

Typical tv scholar. Problem solver. Writer. Extreme bacon fan. Twitter maven. Music evangelist. Spent a year consulting about salsa in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Spoke at an international conference about lecturing about junk food in New York, NY. Earned praise for promoting robotic shrimp in Phoenix, AZ. Spent 2002-2007 working on catfish in Naples, FL. Spent several months developing yogurt in Orlando, FL. Spent high school summers managing dandruff in Africa.

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