parental control software reviews

Free Parental Control Software Reviews: Find Free Internet Monitoring Software

If you want to insure your child's safety while surfing the net, parental control software is a necessary medium for your family. This type of software protects children from visiting inappropriate sites and from meeting online predators. There are different types of software applications available, and the type you choose depends on the age and online activities of your child.

If your child uses Microsoft Internet Explorer to surf the web, you can enable the Content Advisor function built into the program to protect your child. Go to Tools and select Internet Options. Select the Content tab and then click Enable. You may need to download and install a new content filter if the default one in Internet Explorer does not function. There are two free content filters available called IRCAPLus and Safe Surf.

If you need an additional program to protect your children, there are many different software options for you to choose from. For young children, you can install a special browser just for them. Toddler's Browser and Kid Rocket are two free browsers that are recommended for small children just learning to surf the web. If you have grade-school aged children, you can install filters that use blacklists, such as the free We Blocker. If you have teenagers, a free filter may not work because teenagers nowadays are pretty smart and know how to disable the free filters. To get a good filter to protect your teen, you probably will have to shell out between $20 and $40, which really isn't that much where your child's safety is concerned. Two popular parental control programs are NetNanny and Cybersitter.

There are other types of software you can install as well. You can use a file sharing blocker which blocks port-to-port file sharing programs. This can keep your child from receiving inappropriate documents or media, and can also prevent the downloading of virus-infected files. There are also programs which search the computer for potentially objectionable material, so you will know if your child is engaging in inappropriate computer behavior.

With parental controls, most children can access the internet safely. If you'd like to try parental control software without buying it, consider downloading one of the free internet monitoring software programs mentioned in this article.