Danestress Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 My kids are getting to an age where they sometimes want to be online. One is constantly looking for new magic tricks and checks out magic trick videos on Youtube. The other checks his tennis tournament schedule and ranking, reads tennis news, checks his email and chats with his cousin (rarely - like once a month) on gmail. Both are getting refurbished (thanks for the tips girls!) Ipods this week so I guess they will be spending time on Itunes. So I want advice on what kind of controls to get that will block porn and inappropriate material but give them some freedom too. I don't want it to scream "I don't trust you" because they are 11 and so far trustworthy. But I've raised one to adulthood and I am aware that puberty does strange things to a boy:) Anyway, advice? I don't mind buying the right software if there is nothing free to download, but I want something easy but unobtrusive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lighthouseacademy Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 I love k-9. The nice thing about k-9 is that it is not running like a virus scanner so it doesn't slow your computer, but it is VERY effective at blocking inappropriate stuff. That said, I don't think you can block part of youtube but not all of it. One feature you can use is that it blocks the site and then the administrator can override the block for permanent or for a designated amount of minutes, etc. So if it is a good time for you to be near to the computer, you could unblock youtube for 15 or 20 minutes so they could search and then the block returns. K-9 is free to individuals. Many corporations use it on their computers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danestress Posted June 29, 2009 Author Share Posted June 29, 2009 I know nothing about these things, but when men have porn addictions and put a filter on their computer, can't it be made to just filter the bad stuff and not the good? Can you have a filter that filters inappropriate Youtube but not the bad ones? Of course, how would that work since "Magic Bill" could be a legitimate magic site or something else all together! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 We have the Kaspersky Internet Security Suite, and are pleased with it. The parental controls cover the usual "canned" content. One can override the controls and add any desired website to the "allowed" list, even if normally the site would be blocked. We have a password (known only to dh and to me) which we use to "unlock" anything the dc need unlocked. Our family know that trust is not a problem issue for us. Rather, the Internet is not trustworthy ! The most innocent search string can net "sick" results ! In addition to installing filtering software, one also must set the options for ones browser, and for the search engine. Google, for example, we set to the strictest filtering. (and even that leaves much to be desired). Otherwise, you can end up with some quite titillating search results which reveal bad info in the search results, even if you can't visit the actual webpage (owing to the filtering software). No really "clean" solutions out there, unless you want to install one of the browsers specifically for children, such as Firefly (a free browser). I just read the YouTube observation. Sigh. Such a landfill that place is -- sparking gems buried amongst dog droppings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 The ones that block the most such as Hedgebuilders also block u tube, face book, wikipedia.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandmama Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 We use K9 too. :thumbup: What I like about it is that you can see what sites that were attempted access, but got denied... There is also a timer that you can set up and block use at certain hours. I have found that any software that blocks You tube will block a lot of sites we use often in our house... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lighthouseacademy Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 I know nothing about these things, but when men have porn addictions and put a filter on their computer, can't it be made to just filter the bad stuff and not the good? Can you have a filter that filters inappropriate Youtube but not the bad ones? Of course, how would that work since "Magic Bill" could be a legitimate magic site or something else all together! Nope- you can't block part of a site and not another part. This is why the advice of having the computer in a busy location, don't have the kids on by themselves, etc. I tell my kids that it isn't about me not trusting them- I know they will stay exactly where they say they are, but sometimes, they might accidentally click a link and not realize it (my kids are younger than 11 and this has happened while my son was playing an educational game and boy did he freak because his game was gone!) or someone might have hacked a good site. I don't trust the weirdos who post garbage. I got the recommendation for k-9 from a person who has struggled with problematic internet activity and truly wants to overcome that. He wants my kids protected and recommended k-9. I have used other programs but this works much better. It will block facebook, myspace, etc. too unless I release it. It blocks banners too on some websites (depending on the coding) so I can still see the perfectly harmless website but the distasteful add is blocked. This isn't true on ALL websites though- it depends on the coding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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