Net Nanny for your young surfers $10 AR

[rondeemc]

I have been looking for a program for my kids (5 and 10) that will allow me not to have to monitor their surfing. CompUSA has the Net Nanny program for $9.99 after rebate at both internet and B&M. Best price I have been able to find was $25 previously. Anybody using this program? Any alternative suggestions?

Comp link

PC World review

cnet

 

[FPSguy]

According to this comparison article from PC Magazine, it looks like CyberSitter or Cyber Patrol are your best bets. Of those two, CyberSitter is cheaper and also got a better review. PC Magazine did not like Net Nanny. I have been looking for a deal on CyberSitter or Cyber Patrol but have not been able to find any good discounts for current versions of the software. Don't be fooled by PC Magazine's good overall rating for Norton Internet Security (which can be bought at a significant discount). If you look at their chart regarding how effective the programs are, Norton did not do very well in that area (which I consider to be the most important part of the evaluation).

 

[rondeemc]

Cybersitter does look like and option but the price is a little steep. I mainly want to have their computer set to allow just a few sites and block everything else. That and have time locks. These options seem to be standard fare. My youngest is the adventuresome type and will be the one I worry about. Figure I have a few years for the software to mature and improve on its effectiveness.

 

[Jobowoo]

bah! Death to net nanny!

 

[yodayoda]

here's a deal: develop trust and rapport with your kids and pocket the $10.

 

[XZeroII]

Spend time with them on the internet. Teach them right from wrong and impose still penalties if rules are broken. Check history and logs. Much better deal than net nanny.

 

[longhorn]

Rambling about non-parents giving parental advice deleted.

 

[rondeemc]

Spend time with them on the internet. Teach them right from wrong and impose still penalties if rules are broken.


My kids are not at the age/nature where that is an issue yet. My concern is inadvertent discovery. An example is a friend of my daughter's was typing in names of children from school to see what came up. Harmless intent on her part but the result could have been troubling. I want to set up a few sites that they can access whenever they wish so they feel like they have some control. Sites that I have already been to and approve of. As for right an wrong, well that is an ongoing process not confined to just the internet

 

[FPSguy]

To those saying that "spend time with your kids" is the entire answer:

My concern is NOT trust or whether my kids know right from wrong. My concern is that my kids are VERY comfortable with the Internet, and aren't afraid to guess at a URL. One time they guessed something seemingly innocent and it turned out to owned by a porn site. I don't think they need to see that stuff, even by accident. We are there most of the time when they are on the Internet, but not 100% of the time. I think this kind of software would be useful for those occasions.

 

[Shaftatplanetquake]

What happens if your kids do see some pr0n?

Are their heads gunna explode? I just don't see anything bad happening if they do.

 

[baseballfan]

<< What happens if your kids do see some pr0n? Are their heads gunna explode? I just don't see anything bad happening if they do. >>


Now that you've made it obvious to everyone that you are not a parent (please say you're not)... part of being a parent is protecting your children from things you judge are harmful or not appropriate for them. Will their heads explode? Obviously not. Would it be a good thing for my 8 yr old son to see some of the "adult" content that can be found (intentionally or otherwise) all too easily? Not in my judgement. It's not an issue of being puritanical. Children will see scantily clad people from numerous sources unless you lock them in a closet. It's a matter of degree, and (imo) keeping a healthy view of sexuality and relationships.

 

[rondeemc]

Well said baseballfan.

 

[cellan]

Okay, I recently have been buying and trying these programs. Save your money on Net Nanny, even at $10 that is to much. I paid $30 and it is worthless. It is a very cumbersome program in that it feels like stoneage technology, bogs everything down and blocks CNN and MSN yet immediately allowed in a porn site when I did a test run. I tried it for about a week before I decided it was simply awful.
Next on the list was Norton Internet Security which has a parental controls option. Now Norton is great for blocking viruses and etc but the parental controls seems to wack out repeatedly. One minute it will work and the next minute it will block you from Disney sites as not allowed. So you type in www.disney.com is allowed and it still blocks you. It was an extremely buggy program.
I kept it for internet security but disabled the parental blocking program to save my sanity.
Third I am now using Cyber Patrol. If you happen to use Prodigy they offer a year free to all Prodigy subscribers. I got mine through SWBell Internet which uses Prodigy. I have now used it for 3 weeks and have been very happy. It has had a few glitches but easily straightened out. It seems to be a good program and is easy to work with.

 

[cmsanto]

I had the same worries even though I do check my ten year old daughters history and cookies folder. So I set up the blocking feature that comes with latest version of explorer. It kept on stopping my daughter from going on to completely innocent sites so I would be constantly called to put in the parental password. After a while she stopped calling me so I figured it must have been doing something right. Anyway after a day or two of not getting called for the password went by, I asked her - is everything alright with getting on to your favorite sites. "Sure" she responded, "I just type in the password and explorer loads them ASAP!"

 

[Jovack2]

I've personally been looking for a porn destroying machine lately, because I'm sick of being a watch dog! I think I'll look into cyber patrol.

 

[OTR]

We-Blocker is free and works pretty well.

 

[SlickRick]

Do these programs stop SPAM also ?
I need some type of SPAM filter on my Outlook Express .
I know I can use "mail rules" but i need something better .
Comments / suggestions anyone ?
Thanks...............Rick

 

[breweyez]

IE has the ability to block web pages with adult content. Give it a try. It may not be good enough for your needs....but ya may be surprised.

 

[rondeemc]

I have tried IE will poor results. Maybe version 6 is better but I prefer staying with 5.5 so I need a supplemental app.