Parental Control Software

Net Nanny is a product you’ve quite possibly heard of. Costing £20 for a single user license. It boasts an impressively wide range of features.

Net Nanny offers highly configurable internet filtering, and expansive instant message monitoring, scanning message content for any “red flag” phrases. The program also boasts social network monitoring, and sends parents alerts if any suspicious activity is detected on Facebook or otherwise (even in Facebook chats).

Video games can be blocked to ensure adult content isn’t experienced by youngsters, and time controls along with remote monitoring are available. Net Nanny also comes with some clever technology such as dynamic content analysis, which can intelligently block sites, for example a news website with a gory picture on it. In other words, the application is judging by the page’s actual content, not just its web address and remit.

Some users do complain that the program can get a bit carried away and block sites which don’t need to be censored, but when it comes to the kids, most parents would probably rather be safe than sorry, anyway.

Overall, it’s a thorough and well-rounded system, and represents good value for the asking price.

There’s also a mobile version of Net Nanny for Android phones. It comes with web filtering, text message monitoring and app management, along with data security and device location features. It’s slightly cheaper than the desktop version at £18, but that’s a bit of an ask for a mobile product.
http://www.netnanny.co.uk

AVG Family Safety, AVG is another name in security which most people will be familiar with. AVG’s parental control effort isn’t a free solution, however, but is cheaper than Net Nanny, offering a license which covers 3 PCs for £13.

AVG’s product, as you’d expect from a paid-for piece of software, has a host of features. As with Net Nanny, it allows parents to monitor a child’s activity on social media sites, and restrict access to chat rooms. It also has key logging capabilities, and can pick up on dodgy phrases being typed in chat rooms, notifying parents via email (or text).

The application also has a strong arm content filter with 58 categories of protection, covering all online bases, and search query monitoring on the main search engines.

Again as with Net Nanny, the usual time management facilities are available, as well as blocking of software or violent, age-inappropriate video games. And again like Net Nanny, it has stronger measures put in place against cleverer teens who might try to get around parental controls.

AVG’s effort isn’t quite as expansive a solution as Net Nanny – for example, its logging features aren’t quite as in-depth, and it lags very slightly in other areas. But then, there’s a price difference, with the AVG product being two-thirds of the asking price.

There’s also an iOS version of AVG Family Safety for the iPhone and iPad. It provides web filtering protection which works pretty well, and the best part is this app is a free download from the App store.
http://www.avg.com/gb-en/avg-family-safety