Saturday, June 02, 2007

Internet filter for parents

I've been resisting allowing my kids any access to the Internet due to my fears of what may happen - online predators, accidental exposure to inappropriate sites, etc. If you're a parent, you probably share that fear. I've just installed and configured an application I found on Download.com called, WebAllow. It's free, easy to configure, and even works with older Window operating systems. From their site:



WebAllow is a parental control utility that restricts access to all but
selected websites. If you are concerned that your teenager instead of doing the
homework is browsing the Internet this tool is for you. If your 5-7 year old is
playing flash games on a certain site and you a worried that he might click on
an inappropriate add and start browsing questionable material, then this
software is right for you. You may predefine list of "approved" domains, load
them into this software, activate blocking and you may be sure that Internet
Explorer will be able to show data from domain on approved list. Even if a link
is leading to another page on another domain is clicked, this software will
block it if is not on the "approved" list.

WebAllow can also be easily used as a kiosk type restricting software. Suppose you have a public computer at your store and want to display only your merchandize and pricings. By adding your website to the "approved" list and restricting access to other sites on WWW you may be sure that customers will be looking at your catalogue will not be browsing through the Internet in search of better deals that you can offer.
Give it a try. Let me know what you think at the CoCA forum thread or comments.

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