Lab

Parental Control Software

The internet has changed the way we relate to information. Type a question into a search engine and hit enter, and you have the answer. However, there's also a lot of rubbish on the net - and lots of weirdos, too.

As a parent, you need something that lets your kids view all the interesting stuff on the web but protects them from inappropriate content or, worse, contact with people who might abuse their trust. A good parental control program allows you to specify what your kids can look at, how they can use tools such as instant messaging programs, what personal details they can give out over the web and so on. It lets you specify what type of content a child can view (whether they can view sex education sites but not adult material, for instance). You should be able to create accounts for more than one child, so that, for example, a teenager's surfing is less restricted than that of a younger child.

A good program will run in the background without the user being aware of it, but will give you the option of warning the user when he is doing something he shouldn't. It will also collect information in the form of a log, allowing you to see exactly what sites are being accessed and making it possible to trace a user's web activity. The software should also let you block or unblock specific sites. Finally, parental control software should be easy to use - otherwise you just won't use it, or you won't use it properly.