Keeping PCs Kid-Friendly

Have had a recent conversation with a mum of year 9 boy, who isn't winning
the war to keep her son in appropriate waters, while he uses their family PC.
So I found this article, and some software (for free) which she has
installed to regulate how long he uses. But I've republished the piece, from a mob called
"WFAA".
It has some easy to implement advice, on safeguarding
our kids' experience of the internet. It can get pretty nasty out there...
so read up if you're a parent, or advise parents on a regular basis
about their teens:

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Kid-friendly surfing
By WALT ZWIRKO / WFAA.com

For millions of parents with kids who use the Internet, what their children experience on the World Wide Web is a real concern. Lurking out there among all the great Web sites with valuable and educational content are other places that spew porn, hatred and other words and images that are not designed for young eyes.
You may want to consider "filtering" software that adds parental controls to your computer, limiting when your kids can go online and what they can see and do.
There are a number of such programs available, including Norton Add-On Pack (for Norton 360 or Norton Internet Security 2007), CyberSitter and CyberPatrol.
This week, we'll take a closer look at another option: NetNanny, one of the pioneers in this category.
It's simple enough to try; just download the software from the Web site.
After installation (and rebooting your computer), create a password-protected administration account to set up the kinds of content you want to keep your kids away from. Net Nanny blocks pornography, gambling and "intimate apparel" sites by default.
There are more restrictive options that prohibit access to e-mail and instant messaging services and let a parent monitor online chats. Net Nanny can also enforce a computer-using schedule, so parents can restrict usage to certain times of the day.
Once engaged, Net Nanny waits for input from a young users. I tried typing "playboy.com" in the address bar of my browser; instead of seeing bow-tied Bunnies, a warning box popped up to say that access to this site was disallowed.
I used Google search to see the results for what I considered to be a fairly innocent word—"underpants" (the first time, by the way, that word has ever been uttered in the 14-year history of Computer Corner). That turned out to be another red flag for Net Nanny, which views "underpants" as "intimate apparel."
As you might expect, the word "sex" is also on the Net Nanny no-no list.
Because parents in a typical family aren't home all the time, moms and dads can also enable an option to monitor home computer usage from a remote location. That lets them keep an eye on how latchkey children are using the family PC.
Net Nanny, which is designed for Windows Vista, XP and 2000 computers, regularly updates its list of pornographic and other questionable sites as part of its subscription service, which costs $40 for a year. Additional computers in the same household can be added for $20 each per year.
While content filtering software can be a useful ally in the battle to keep the online universe safe place for kids, this isn't a panacea. Your children may still bump into undesirable content.
That's why it's important for you to offer personal supervision as often as possible, and empower your youngsters to report to you whenever they see anything that is questionable.

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