Child Safe Internet

KidRocket is a web browser for kids, that limits Internet access to about a dozen child-safe websites (Sesamestreet, Crayola, Nick and others). It offers a full-screen interface that can be locked by the parent, effectively preventing access to the desktop or other programs while it is running. In addition to web browsing, it also includes a doodle pad, a virtual Starbrite game and a math trainer. You can also choose to disable printing and keep track of the time the browser has been in use.

Chat Controller is a parental-control application, that enables you to limit the use of Instant Messengers on your computer. It allows you to restrict usage based on the user, application and day/time. The program is compatible with all popular chat applications, including AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Miranda IM, MSN Messenger, Skype, Trillian, Windows Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. You can create individual rules for different users, restricting some, allowing others as needed. Chat Controller also includes an audit tool that will find all supported Instant Messengers installed on your PC, including version and install location. The program runs as a Windows Service.

Kidz CD 1 - Surf Station is a web browser interface for young children (6 years or younger) that allows them to access popular internet contents in several categories including Games, Stories and Television. It offers a very easy-to-use and kid friendly interface that uses the entire screen and also prevents casual access to the desktop (you have to press CTRL+L to exit) while it is running. Furthermore it also disables the right mouse button preventing confusing dialogs from appearing. Even though we did not like the fact that the parent cannot add or remove any sites, the selection provided by the software is very extensive and includes all the popular characters like Dora, Barney, Bob the Builder, Blues Clues and many others. It allows you to let your young kid play on the computer without having to supervise every mouse click.

ParentalControl Bar is an add-on for Internet Explorer that helps helps parents prevent their children from accessing adult-oriented websites. It comes with a set of pre-defined filters based on sexual material, strong language, violence and other criteria, allowing the parent to select the appropriate filtering options for their kid. You can also add your own sites to a blocking list, or allow specific sites by simply clicking a button in the newly added IE toolbar. The current version only works with Internet Explorer.

Parental Filter is a specialized parental control filter that enables you to block porn from your web browser. It uses a built-in database of web sites that are blocked, as well as a list of keywords that it scans for on web pages, and blocks them if a they are found. You can specify a list of sites that the user will be redirected to instead, and also customize the list of blocked sites and keywords. Parental Filter provides a password protected interface, can run fully automatic in the background. The program is very effective and works well.

Naomi is an Internet content filtering program, intended for families and parents in particular. It constantly monitors all Internet connections for inappropriate materials, and immediately closes down the browser if encountered. The programs considerations include obscene or violent contents; pornography and erotism in the form of images or texts, as well as sites that popularize drugs, gambling, terrorism, hate propaganda and more. The program uses a built-in filter list (which cannot be modified) as well as heuristic scanning and semantic analysis of web pages and links. It recognizes more than 10 major languages and supports the ICRA labeling system. The interface is password protected to prevent unauthorized disabling of the filter. Naomi`s biggest strength is that it is completely fool-proof and fully automatic, with no additional configurations (other than picking a password), it supports any browser or Internet application and does not change any of your settings - on the downside, it does not offer any control over the filters. The filtering worked well during our tests.

Web Wheels is a browser interface designed for pre-school and elementary school aged children. It provides a simple and unsophisticated interface that allows easy access to a list of sites that have been added by the parent, and there are no other sites accessible from within the interface. Your kid can access the sites via links on the browser home page (if he/she can read) and you can also assign an image (not provided) to a link for easier reference. The only browser control provided are Forward, Backward and Home and Print (printing can be restricted to a number of pages a day). Overall, Web Wheels is based on a good concept but shows obvious shortcomings in technical and aesthetic aspects.

Kids Web Menu provides a simple web browsing environment for young children that provides access to a list of popular kids websites. A password protected page allows parents to select the sites that they want their kid(s) to access and they are then shown on the browser`s home page as clickable thumbnail images. Unlike similar programs, Kids Web Menu does not prevent access to the Windows desktop, nor does it allow parents to add sites of their choice - it acts as a simple browser environment that makes web access a little easier for small children.