You cannot always monitor what your kids do when they’re online. Some apps known as

parental control software helps a lot to protect your kids from unwanted content and

to give you the peace of mind.

What to look for when choosing parental control software

The Internet is important part in your kids’ life. They use it for school activities,

communication with friends, and for fun as well. As a parent you feel the need to keep

an eye on their online activities to ensure that the children don't make bad

decisions. Parental control software helps parents a lot in that task. However, some

things should be taken into consideration before purchasing your software.

Customized Settings
Your teen doesn't need the same settings as your toddler, so the customized settings

option is need. Most of the products can associate configuration settings with Windows

accounts.

Web-Site Filtering
This option is a key feature of every parental control program. It helps you keeping

your kids from accidentally or deliberately visiting inappropriate Web sites.

Access Control
Controlling how much time kids spend on the computer is another important feature.

Most of the products can prohibit access at specific times, or setting set a daily or

weekly maximum.

Remote Notification
You probably won’t be around when kids are using the computer, so the e-mail

notifications you’d receive each time when child tries to access a banned site or

request a time extension are very useful option. Also, some of the programs offer even

SMS notifications for phones, when you’re not near your PC.

Let Your Kids Know
Some parental control products install sneaky feature, so you can monitor kids without

their knowledge. But, that’s not the point. Let your kids know that you’re using

parental control software and that’s the part of ‘house rules’.

Following 5 programs are the user friendly applications that will allow you to use

most of the features mentioned above.

5 Best Parental Control Programs

1) NetNanny

Net Nanny does everything a parental-control utility should do. Besides blocking

questionable web content, Net Nanny blocks peer-to-peer networks, allows remote

management and provides effective filtering, including ESRB-based games. However,

additional licenses are needed to install the program on more than one computer, so

it's not as economical as for example Safe Eyes 5.0 if your home has multiple

computers.

2) BSafe

BSafe Online is effective and comprehensive parental-control solution. It has content

filtering, application control, Internet access scheduling, activity reporting, and

more. It can filter and log IM conversations and optionally limit IM to known buddies.

As a bonus BSafe offers a two-way firewall, a pop-up blocker, and a private data-

protection system.

3) Safe Eyes

Safe Eyes 5.0 is web-based protection that covers up to three computers and allows

remote management from a browser, and remote control is its biggest strength. Besides

PC Safe Eyes is available for Mac as well. This is well-rounded solution for your kids

’s protection.

4) CyberPatrol

CyberPatrol is probably the best solution for parents. It offers flexible and

comprehensive parental control. It also covers 13 categories of questionable content,

allowing parents to choose which categories to block. Parents can block entire

websites or just objectionable content within web pages, including single words. The

only bad side of this program is that it requires annual subscriptions.

5) Windows Vista Parental Controls

If you use Windows Vista you can use integrated Parental Controls without buying

standalone software. Vista offers most of the major features of standalone software

packages, including time-limit settings, adjustable levels of site and application

blocking, IM blocking and usage logging. Vista however doesn't allow parents to

customize time limits as well as some other programs, and doesn't offer remote

management.