Parental control software

[jimbobs]

Evenin' all.

The MIL wants to buy a laptop for her grandson (wife's nephew) who is eleven. Leaving aside the obvious question of why the hell an eleven year old needs a laptop, my concern is that the MIL and both the child's parents are all utterly clueless as far as technology is concerned.

In order to protect the little 'un from just being cast out into the interwebs unsupervised, I'd like to assist them by suggesting some parental control possibilities.

It's not an area I've looked into before. Can anyone suggest some VERY simple but effective parental control software that they could use. Is there anything in Windows that would help or do they need to download something specific?

Many thanks for your help.

Jim

[Phil.]

I use K9, have done so for years. Very easy to install and use. And its free:

http://www1.k9webprotection.com/

[Dodsy]

Phil. said:

I use K9, have done so for years. Very easy to install and use. And its free:

http://www1.k9webprotection.com/

+1 - But the parents will need to get used to a fairly regular stream of Daaaaaddddd K9 is blocking this site I want to use. Generally there is a good reason those sites are blocked, most are riddled with viruses pretending to be 'free games' and kids cant help clicking the links. K9 stops it.

But if the parents arent savvy I suspect they will just enter the K9 password to allow whatever page has been blocked so wont be much better off than having nothing in place.

[markmiller77e]

I personally use Qustodio. Its free, light weight and easy to use. There are a few cool features too like the extensive reporting feature that let's you view the data for the past 30 days. You can also watch the profile pictures of accounts on Facebook. You can download it here www.qustodio.com

[shtu]

K9 is fairly good, as it's a product made by Bluecoat, who also produce some heavyweight content filtering systems.

You can also use OpenDNS to provide content filtering, http://www.opendns.com/home-solutions/parental-con...

[Puggit]

I'd also suggest some way of being able to see what they are doing. I use TeamViewer which allows me to connect on to the kids' computer whenever I like and see what they are doing. I can connect from iphone/ipad/laptop...

Also very useful when something needs fixing and I can't be bothered to leave the sofa as I can remote control

TeamViewer sticks a popup on their screen, but I'm sure there's software that doesn't let them know they are being watched!

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

Block it on the router with OpenDNS...that way he can't circumvent your restrictions on his smart phone (although if you're wondering why an 11yo needs a laptop, I guess the poor little bugger hasn't got a mobile yet )

It's completely free and can be managed on-line http://blog.opendns.com/2010/06/23/introducing-fam...
Just create an account, set your controls and change your DNS server to 208.67.222.123 & 208.67.220.123

ETA oops - already mentioned above.

[hms]

How about also ensuring that any computer stuff is done in the living room, or somewhere where the parents are normally around?
h

[Zod]

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

Block it on the router with OpenDNS...that way he can't circumvent your restrictions on his smart phone (although if you're wondering why an 11yo needs a laptop, I guess the poor little bugger hasn't got a mobile yet )

It's completely free and can be managed on-line http://blog.opendns.com/2010/06/23/introducing-fam...
Just create an account, set your controls and change your DNS server to 208.67.222.123 & 208.67.220.123

ETA oops - already mentioned above.

I use openDNS. Highly recommended.

[Dan_The_Man]

markmiller77e said:

I personally use Qustodio. Its free, light weight and easy to use. There are a few cool features too like the extensive reporting feature that let's you view the data for the past 30 days. You can also watch the profile pictures of accounts on Facebook. You can download it here www.qustodio.com

I use Qustodio but my daughter has worked a way around it, no idea how but it's on a Samsung and she's been limited to 2.5 hours use a day but recently got around the app to allow unlimited time.

[stemll]

Assuming it's a Windows box then a Microsoft Family Group does everything I need it to and it's free.

It only controls web through Edge but can stop them installing other browsers. Controls screen time if you want it to, plus spending and also extends to the Xbox (including spending) and (if you install MS launcher) onto Android phones too. Didn't see anything elsewhere that offered enough to be worth any cost. That said, he's pretty sensible and well aware of what he is and isn't allowed to do.

As for why an 11 year old needs a laptop, at that age they are starting year 7 and if their school is anything like my son's then he wouldn't be able to do half of his homework without it. Several subjects set tasks that have to be done online (maths and music sprint to mind).

[MissChief]

stemll said:

Assuming it's a Windows box then a Microsoft Family Group does everything I need it to and it's free.

It only controls web through Edge but can stop them installing other browsers. Controls screen time if you want it to, plus spending and also extends to the Xbox (including spending) and (if you install MS launcher) onto Android phones too. Didn't see anything elsewhere that offered enough to be worth any cost. That said, he's pretty sensible and well aware of what he is and isn't allowed to do.

As for why an 11 year old needs a laptop, at that age they are starting year 7 and if their school is anything like my son's then he wouldn't be able to do half of his homework without it. Several subjects set tasks that have to be done online (maths and music sprint to mind).

Said 11 year old is 18 now and doesn’t need parental protection anymore.