There are a number of free parental control software packages and some tools designed to assist parents in this very task. Here are five that are worth a look.

Windows Parental Control Software

Windows has been offering parental control features (or some that are close to the feature) from some time now. Internet Explorer has had a content advisor since ages ago. The recent version of Windows offer even greater control. Barring the Business edition, all other Windows editions ship with parental control. You would have to create a separate account for kids (which is the sensible thing to do anyway), then you can access and manage parental controls from the Windows Control Panel. You can limit the amount of time your kids spend on the computer, the applications they can use and for how long; and you can also get an activity report of what they have been up to.

OpenDNS

OpenDNS not only resolves web addresses quickly. It also offers a host of other interesting features similar to free parental control software which you can use to protect users from phishing attacks of unsuitable content on the Internet. All you need to do in order to use OpenDNS is to set the nameservers for your computer or router. Once this is done, go ahead and create a free web account. This will let you manage what to allow and give you detailed statistics as well.

OpenDNS maintains a list of websites, broken down into categories that you can use to make browsing a little safer. You can also create your own blacklists to restrict access to any sites you don’t want your kids to view.

Kidzui

Kidzui is safe, free parental control software in the form of a web browser for kids. It let’s the children access games, videos and content that have been approved by parents around the world. One really nice feature of Kidzui is that it takes up the entire screen by default, hiding the Windows interface so that children don’t wander off elsewhere on your computer. Kidzui is great if you want to set up a hassle-free, safe and educational window to the web for your young ones. Here is the complete scoop.

Visikid

Visikid is more of a monitoring application with a strong focus on your kid’s activities. It monitors the applications that are accessed and the sites that are visited along with the time spent on them. All this information is presented to you nicely categorized should you choose to know what your kids have been up to. There are graphs, custom categories and much more on the Visikid dashboard that you can access at their website. Here is the complete review.

Pikluk

Pikluk also allows you to create list of websites that you deem suitable for your kids. Similar to Kidzui, it provides a safe means to access educational websites, games and all the usual features. A distinguishing feature is that you can create a Pikluk email address for your children and create a white list of users they are allowed to communicate with. Any email to or from anyone not on the list will be blocked.

Video sites for kids

Videos are generally very popular among kids but allowing access to something like Youtube is fishing in troubled waters. Although they are not strictly parental control tools, sites like ZuiTube and Totlol take a lot of burden off your shoulders when letting your kids watch videos online. These sites list videos that are fun, educational and moderated to be child-safe.

With all the tools combined and a careful strategy, you can be reasonably sure your kids are safe on the computer. However, nothing can match the caring and watchful attention of parents. We suggest you stick to that from time to time as well. Also check out 5 sites that promote internet safety for kids for some serious in depth information on the topic

What do you think about these? Do you know of some other useful tools for similar purposes? Sound off in the comments.

Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers!

• (14)Visikid- Free Parental Internet Control Software to Monitor Your Child Online
• (5)Parental Controls – Safely Restrict Your Kids’ Computer Access [Mac]
• (19)Let Your Geeky Kids Play Online With KidZui
• (11)How To Restrict Access to Websites with Privoxy [Part 2]
• (15)5 Sites That Promote Internet Safety For Kids

However, we don’t care for content filtering programs which has been shown to potentially block educational or family-friendly material, and which can be a chore to configure. The compromise here is to use operating system monitoring software such as Visikid so that we can watch over what sites and applications he is using.

Visikid is free parental internet control software and works on Windows versions XP, Vista, and 7.

Installation is very simple, and by default, the Visikid monitor will run on your system’s startup. Upon first run, you will be prompted to create an account on Visikid.com, which is free, but has the downside of only displaying the current day’s activities. I’d like to note here that there is a paid subscription version that lets you keep track of your child’s activities over time. This costs $39 per year, or five dollars per month.

Next, you’ll create a user profile for your kids. On Windows, you should access your child’s profile, and login to the Visikid software to create the link.

A record of any sites visited or programs that were accessed under your child’s user session will be made available for viewing that same day on your Visikid.com dashboard. Well-known desktop applications and sites are divided into categories. The option is there for assigning categories such as “education” and “communication” to unknown sites.

Graphs and charts illustrate just how much time was spent on a particular site or application. This is a very good way to make sure that your kids are concentrating on homework, and not social-networking.

Of course, there is no substitute for direct parental supervision, but if you have to leave your child’s side, say, to go make dinner or corral the toddler, then programs like Visikid can act as your third-eye when you’re not available.

Some other good safety practices for kids on the Web are as follows:

• Users of the Mozilla Firefox browser are encouraged to install my three favorite Firefox security and privacy add-ons, as well as an alternate shell like KidsMenu, which I’ve previously reviewed. Please keep in mind that for many sites with kids’ games, you may have to add them to NoScript’s white list.
• Add some bookmarks to your kid’s browser toolbar leading to approved safe sites. One of my favorites for games is Orisinal, reviewed here.
• Teach your kids to only chat with and send messages to friends and family, and not to strangers or bullies.
• Conversely, teach your kids to only accept messages from friends and family, but never to open attachments without asking a parent first.
• Can’t stress this one enough: teach your children to not give out any personal information.

Here are some other MakeUseOf posts on monitoring your children online :

- Protect Your Kids Online With Free Norton OnlineFamily.
- 2 Addons to Add Internet Parental Control to Firefox.
- Let Your Geeky Kids Play Online With KidZui

Do our readers know of any similar free parental internet control apps worth looking into? How do you monitor your child’s activities and keep them safe? Give us some ideas in the comments.

Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers!

• (19)Let Your Geeky Kids Play Online With KidZui
• (15)5 Sites That Promote Internet Safety For Kids
• (19)5 Free Parental Control Software That Will Set Your Mind At Ease
• (12)Restrict Windows and Web Access for Kids with KidsMenu
• (5)Parental Controls – Safely Restrict Your Kids’ Computer Access [Mac]

Part Two is all about locking down Internet Explorer so it can only connect to the Internet through the Privoxy server and thus only able to access the websites you want. Then, we’ll look at ways of securing that connection so that people can’t circumvent it so easily. I’ll be working with Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) on my Windows XP Home computer. However, the principles should also apply to Vista and Internet Explorer 8. They do work on XP Pro and IE6 as well.

Step One: Force the Connection in IE7

Open up IE7 and look for the Tools button near the top right-hand side. Click on it, then on Internet Options.

The Internet Options window will open. Click on the  Connections tab. Once you are in the Connections area, you’ll see a button at the bottom of the window called LAN Settings. Go ahead and click on that.

The Local Area Network (LAN) Settings window opens. This is where we will set the IP address and port number so it only connects to Privoxy. When you get to this window, the check box labeled Use a proxy server for your LAN… will be unchecked. Put a check-mark in it. It should already be set to the correct IP address and port, which is 127.0.0.1 and port 8118. Click OK to return to the Connections window.

NOTE: If there is anything listed in the Dial-Up and Virtual Private Network setting box, simply select it, click on the Settings button and set it to use the proxy server, just like you did for the LAN. This is especially useful if your user can connect with a cellular card, satellite Internet, or dial-up connection. Do this for each connection listed.

Now IE7 will connect only through the Privoxy server and will only access the sites on your white list. Let’s do some things to keep it that way.

Step Three: Edit the Registry

You read that right, we’re editing the registry to prevent others from removing your settings from Internet Explorer. We are going there. As always, don’t go in the registry unless you feel confident, and always back up your registry before making changes. I think I have to say that by law. So now that’s over with, let’s move on.

Click on the Start button and then on the Run icon in the start menu.

The Run application will open. Type in the command regedit and click OK.

The Registry Editor will open. Time to make the backup! Click on File > Export.

Name the file with something meaningful. You could use today’s date so you know when the back up was made. Click Save to, well… Save it.

Let’s make some changes.

We’re going to do this through a .reg file that we can merge with the registry. Sounds crazy, but it works. To write a .reg file, open up Notepad.

Now, copy and paste the following lines in exactly as they read:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftInternet ExplorerControl Panel]
“ConnectionsTab”=dword:00000001
“Connection Settings”=dword:00000001
“Connection Wizard”=dword:00000001

By setting the dword value to 00000001, you are telling the registry that, yes, you want to restrict access to the Connections Tab, Connection Settings and the Connection Wizard.

Now that you have that in your Notepad file, you need to save it as a .reg file. I suggest saving the file to your Desktop for ease of finding when you are done. Here’s what you need to do when you save it: name the file something good like disable_connections.reg

Seriously, we’re almost done. Find the disable_connections.reg file you’ve just saved. Right-click on it and click Merge.

You’ll be asked if that’s what you really want to do. It’s up to you, but if you’ve come this far, you might as well commit. Click Yes.

The Registry Editor is kind enough to let you know that the merge is done. Why don’t we thank it by clicking OK? That’s nice, isn’t it?

Just to make sure it worked and I’m not lying to you, open up IE7, click on Tools > Internet Options. Look! No Connections tab!

Try going to a few sites that aren’t on your white list to test it. Then try going on a few sites that are on your white list. It should work.

I hope this tutorial has sparked some interest in using this to increase your information security. There’s much more that you can do with Privoxy and the registry to enforce compliance to your Internet Acceptable Use Policy.

Yes, there are ways around what I just showed you, such as using Portable Firefox, but that can be disabled in the registry too. But, as they say — that’s another story.

Let us know if this worked for you. Or if you know any other cool, free software ways to control Internet access. That’s what the comments are for!

Image credit: delboy74

Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers!

• (6)How To Restrict Access to Websites with Privoxy [Part 1]
• (22)OpenDNS Works As A Great Free Web Content Filtering Solution
• (19)5 Free Parental Control Software That Will Set Your Mind At Ease
• (4)4 Sites That Will Send New Proxy Server Lists To Your Email
• (27)What is 2o7.net Tracking Cookie? All You Need To Know.

I developed this system to deal with remote clients accessing non-work related websites via cellular-based Internet access. If your company has the means to implement a VPN, or to work with your service provider on a solution, that’s probably the best way to go. For small and medium sized business, this works just fine.

Part One: Implement Privoxy on Your Server

Privoxy is an open source proxy server that can help you control what your users connect to on the Internet. Since it is free for personal or corporate use, the documentation is somewhat limited, but that’s what this article is for. Go ahead and download Privoxy. I’m working on Windows XP, but this tutorial should be useful for other operating systems.

Step One: Install Privoxy

Once you have the Privoxy installer downloaded, find it and double-click on it to begin the installation.

First, you will see a screen with a warning. Read it carefully and click Next if it seems right to do so.

Next, you’ll encounter the Installation Options window, asking you what options you would like with your Privoxy. Want fries with that? By default, all three options are checked. There is no need to change them. Click Next, please.

Now, the Privoxy Setup will ask where you would like the program installed. I use the default location.

Once installed, you’ll see the final screen. Click OK, you know you want to.

That’s the installation part of setting up Privoxy. Now let’s move on to using Privoxy as a White List Proxy Server

Step Two: Configure Privoxy Server to Restrict Access To Websites You Trust

Yep, seems like a lot. Hang in there, sunshine. Once the installation is complete, Privoxy should open up a window that resembles Notepad more than a program. Click on Options > Edit Main Configuration.Now, Notepad will in fact open. It’ll be a configuration file in which you’ll need to change a few lines. The changes are simple to make, don’t panic. You can do it.

The first thing we need to change is the trustfile variable. Scroll down to 2.7. trustfile. Scroll down a little futher until you see the line #trustfile trust.txt. Just delete the pound sign (#) at the front of this line. Now save the document. We’ll come back to this in Step 3.

Now, look for the line that reads 4.1. listen-address. Scroll down a bit further from there and find listen-address  127.0.0.1:8118. That is your IP address and the port that Privoxy will listen for traffic on. If you are using this in your home, it’s probably best to leave it as it is. In the workplace, you want the IP address to be the static IP of your server. Once you have your IP address and port set, save the document.

Step 3: Set Up Your Trust List

To do this, you need to navigate to the trust.txt file. You’ll find that by opening your Start menu. Go to All Programs > Privoxy > Edit Config and click on Trust list. Yep, another Notepad file.

Look for the line that reads ~config.privoxy.org. This is where you start adding the sites you want whitelisted. If you put a tilde (~) in front of a domain name, Privoxy will allow access to only that domain. If you put a plus sign (+) in front of the domain, Privoxy will allow access to that domain as well as any domains to which that one refers.

Here’s a sample:

+guymcdowell.com will allow you to access guymcdowell.com and any sites linked to from it.
~makeuseof.com will allow you to access only makeuseof.com.

This can get tricky since some sites are dependent on subdomains to function. Hotmail is a good example of this. So, you may need to add few entries such as:
+*.hotmail.com – Allows you to access such things as mail.hotmail.com, blah.hotmail.com and more. How? Because the asterisk (*) is a wildcard character. Sneaky, huh?

So sit down and reflect upon what websites a person really needs to access to get their work done. Make a list and enter it in the trust.txt file accordingly. Remember to save the file as well.

That’s how you set up Privoxy as a whitelist proxy server. Stay tuned for Part Two where I show you how to force Internet Explorer to only use the Privoxy server as its gateway to the Internet, and make it very difficult to circumvent. We get into the registry! Super cool!

Are you totally confused or do you have any questions? Are you familiar with any better tool to restrict access to websites on your network or home PC? Go on and shoot them into the comments!

Image credit: delboy74

Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers!

• (11)How To Restrict Access to Websites with Privoxy [Part 2]
• (22)OpenDNS Works As A Great Free Web Content Filtering Solution
• (4)4 Sites That Will Send New Proxy Server Lists To Your Email
• (15)One Network Admin’s Tool to Rule Them All
• (6)Monitor Log Files In Real Time With BareTail (Windows Only)

We’ve written about several options in the past, and will probably continue to do so as long as RSS stands at where it is today. And although readers are likely the most important tool, the reader doesn’t do a whole lot of good if they are receiving loads of unwanted content. Having the ability to filter content to your own personal keywords would be an ultimate resource and would ultimately clean-up all of your feeds, just the way you’d like.

FeedWeaver

Feedweaver is a simple RSS customizing tool for any feed that you specify. After you sign-up, you can immediately begin entering in any feeds (up to 20) that you like with any filtering keywords you’d like.

All of these feeds are then combined into just ONE feed that you can share for yourself or anyone else. The concept, although not that involved, does what it’s designed to do perfectly.

In the screenshot below you can see several of Feedweaver’s demo customizations. From here, you can go in and modify at will. If you’d like to take a look at the demo yourself, just go to the site and enter “demo” for the username and “1234″ for the password.

Feed Rinse

Feed Rinse is an RSS spam filter of sorts. Their completely free service allows for the import of an OPML file from your reader of choice, followed by simple keyword filtering for any specific topics that are to your liking. After your keywords are entered, Feed Rinse does the rest and creates a new OPML file for you to import back into your reader.

You can also set up a bookmarklet for automatically import any valid RSS feed into a customized file. This makes for easy addition to the filters.

Below is a look at how easy it is to get your keywords set up for your specific feeds that you’ve imported.

Feedscrub is another service that is still in private beta, but looks very similar in nature to the previous tools that I’ve described.

When I stumbled upon these two simple and highly useful online tools, I realized that I had in no way ever thought of the concept. But now that I have, I am definitely going to be taking full advantage of them. The thousands of junk posts and articles that I have to sift through on a daily basis can be a bit daunting when 75% of them are in fact what I’m describing. I can now get what I want from where I want in real-time.

Do you forsee filtering your feeds like this? How much of your RSS feeds are purely “junk”?

Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers!

• (12)Read Your RSS Feeds in a Whole New Light with Feedly
• (15)Ways to Stay on Top of The News
• (41)The New RSS Feed Reader Wars!
• (3)Readefine – Newspaper-ize Web Content With Newspaper Formatting
• (4)Offer Your Readers A RSS To PDF Option With Feedbooks

Fast forward just over two decades, and I now find myself worrying about the online activities of my two young girls, now aged 6 and 8, both of whom started using the computer when they were just three years old.

The Importance of Child Safety Online

While I’m the last person on earth who would advocate limiting the Internet in any way, when you have very intelligent and inquisitive kids who enjoy searching the Internet for random information – you’ve got a recipe for trouble.  All it takes is a single search for seemingly innocent information in order for a list of dangerous websites to appear before those two little eyes.  These are the thoughts that keep parents like me up at night.

While Google and Yahoo SafeSearch settings go a long way towards easing those concerns, there are always harmful websites that make it through the filters. Setting up a filter on your own Internet firewall is another option, but again – as long as your kids are connected directly to the Internet, nasty things like dangerous websites or child predators can always make it through somehow.

This is where a free web browser created specifically for children, like KidZui, can completely remove that parental worry.

KidZui Basics

KidZui offers a free basic membership that does everything any worried parent requires.

• An “alternative” internet for kids, with over a million reviewed websites.
• Additional features that make the browser fun for kids.
• A safe social network where kids can communicate with other “parent-approved” friends.
• Kids can create their own “Zui” character.
• A parental account that reports the last 30 days of your childrens’ activities.
• Activity reports automatically emailed to parents.
• The ability for parents to customize their child’s access by adding or removing approved sites.

Using KidZui to Protect Your Computer From Your Kids

One of the last things I ever want to do is make my two girls feel as though they are being “locked down” and prevented from enjoying the internet.  That’s why I like KidZui, because there are so many additional features for kids, that they actually feel like this browser is a vast improvement over the drab old Internet browser that dad uses.  The front page is filled with unlimited possibilities for kids to explore web pages, multimedia, play games, and connect with friends.

The “explore” menu on the left and the “community” menu on the right both collapse so that the center browser space can view and scroll in full screen mode like a regular browser.  The explore bar gives kids fast point-and-quick access to video, games, cool websites, and other content for kids. The community menu lets kids network with any of their friends who also use KidZui. Also, the application takes over the entire screen, replacing the regular windows application bar at the bottom.

You can also configure the browser so that it can’t exit or close without a password.  This is a very cool feature for parents of kids who like to poke around in the start menu or go into file explorer and start deleting entire directories of files (yes…that’s a true story.)

Being a programmer myself, and writing applications like this at work, I know how easy it can be to circumvent such features. So to test it I enabled password protection and went through the basic checklist:

• Clicked the windows button. Ding…not allowed.
• Pressed Control-alt-delete. The Lock computer, change password and task manager buttons all came up disabled.
• Alt-Tab. Ding…not allowed.

Most kids, with the exception of a computer hacking prodigy, will likely never find a way to get out of this application and succeed at destroying your computer.

KidZui Browsing Security and Filtering

The next step was to see how well KidZui blocks websites that could be dangerous for small kids.  I typed “www.youtube.com” into the browser url field and received the KidZui warning screen.

Direct access to any URL not listed in the KidZui approved database isn’t allowed.  That’s good – but everyone knows that there’s more than one way to access Internet pages without typing in the URL.  What about seemingly “OK” pages that link to outside Internet sites?

As a test, I found an approved kids’ game site that required a flash plugin install.  I linked to the Flash site, then clicked on “sitemap.”  After fishing around I found a link to a news website that featured an indirect route that I was sure I could use to access websites intended purely for adults.  But within a few seconds, the following warning appeared.

Any attempt to access websites not yet reviewed and added to the KidZui approved database is blocked and added to the review list for future approval.  While this is an excellent feature and is sure to provide excellent protection for kids – my only other concern is that it may be too restrictive.  There’s no way that KidZui staff could possibly cover the entire Internet, and include every new website that’s appropriate for kids.  However, this is where the parental access feature comes in.

As a parent, you can open up your child’s KitZui access to any URL you like, if you feel that the existing controls are a bit too tight for your tastes.

KidZui Parental Controls

Since my only real purpose for using KidZui is to keep my kids from inadvertently accessing dangerous websites, any additional features are just icing on the cake.  The free version of KidZui provides a few parental features that I find pretty useful.

When you log onto the Parent’s page on the KidZui website, you can access the log files of your child’s activities.  This includes graphs that display their activity levels over the last 30 days.

The reports also display a table that lists every website they visited, including sites and content that they were blocked from.

As a parent of two brilliant and technologically savvy kids (look at where they got their genes, after all), I am always concerned not only about what websites and content my kids can access on the Internet, but also what damage they can do to the computer itself. KidZui provides the perfect answer – locked down access to a smaller and safer version of the Internet, contained within an application that not only protects your child from the web, but it also protects your computer from the child.  What more could a father ask for?

How do you protect your kids from the internet? Do you use filtering software or do you just trust your kids to stay away from the dangerous sites and predators online? Tell us in the comments.

Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers!

• (14)Visikid- Free Parental Internet Control Software to Monitor Your Child Online
• (22)OpenDNS Works As A Great Free Web Content Filtering Solution
• (15)5 Sites That Promote Internet Safety For Kids
• (19)5 Free Parental Control Software That Will Set Your Mind At Ease
• (31)Trustware Bufferzone Has Your Browser’s Back

Wrong.

When you have a large environment, you can set up proxy servers, websense servers, throw a barracuda or virtual machine behind your router and call it a day. But for small networks (or anyone looking to save money!) this will work great. Let me give you some quick background on how DNS works.

DNS stands for the Domain Name System and according to Wikipedia it is a hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource participating in the internet. It associates various information with domain names assigned to such participants. Most importantly, it translates humanly meaningful domain names to the numerical (binary) identifiers associated with networking equipment for the purpose of locating and addressing these devices world-wide. An often used analogy to explain the Domain Name System is that it serves as the “phone book” for the internet by translating human-friendly computer hostnames into IP addresses. For example, www.example.com translates to 208.77.188.166.

In layman’s terms it prevents me and you from having to remember those long numbers and allow us to just type in a domain name. Now every time you type in a domain name like http://www.asktheadmin.com it gets resolved to an IP address by using a DNS server. OpenDNS (Also See The MakeUseOf Directory Entry) uses this method to help secure your network (can be your home network too) and stop those kids from gambling and watching porn. (Sorry guys!)

OpenDNS is a totally free service that lets you use their DNS servers. You set up your network on their site, point your machines to use OpenDNS servers instead of your own. You can also forward your DNS servers requests to OpenDNS for a little more control. I was shocked at how simple it was and then shocked by the sites that were being blocked! Wow some kids today are sick puppies!

Sounds good? Want to get down? It’s easy, check it out…

Go to their website and click on “Use OpenDNS”.

Then select how you want to use OpenDNS. You can select a single machine, a router based network or, like I said before, you can modify your DNS server to forward requests to them.

Select which way you want to go and you’re off….

If you choose the Router option, you will see a bunch of models to click on. They will give you specialized instructions for these routers. But most of the time these generic instructions will work as well:

1. Open the preferences for your router.

Often, the preferences are set in your web browser, via a URL with numbers (example: http://192.168.0.1). You may need a password.

If you’re like us, and you set the router password long ago and cannot remember it now, you can often reset the password to the manufacturer default by pressing a button on the router itself.

Or preferences may be set via a specific application for your router, which you installed on your computer when you added the router.

2. Find the DNS server settings.

Scan for the letters DNS next to a field which allows two or three sets of numbers, each broken into four groups of one to three numbers. It might look like this:

3. Put in the OpenDNS server addresses as your DNS server settings and save/apply.

Please write down your current settings before entering the OpenDNS addresses, just in case.

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

You need to make these changes to your computer or network before you can continue. If you have done this correctly you will see the “Welcome to OpenDNS” banner below Step 2 as you can see below:

Then you need to sign up for an account to get the most use out of OpenDNS. (You can use it without a login but you will not get any of the awesome stats or blocking controls).

The final step is to configure your Network and Settings. This is all done from your dashboard. You need to add your network to your account and then set up what you want to filter – if anything, setup stats and other features. I choose to block spyware and a few of their categories – and it works great!

It is also a smart DNS server meaning it can translate www.google.cm into www.google.com. There are options for turning this on/off as well.

What are you waiting for? Go on… Get! Go protect your network and be the best network admin you can be!

Do you use Open DNS? Something similar to protect your network? Let us know in the comments kiddies

Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers!

• (19)Let Your Geeky Kids Play Online With KidZui
• (11)How To Restrict Access to Websites with Privoxy [Part 2]
• (6)How To Restrict Access to Websites with Privoxy [Part 1]
• (14)Visikid- Free Parental Internet Control Software to Monitor Your Child Online
• (31)Trustware Bufferzone Has Your Browser’s Back