Best Internet filter for my 9 year old son

grace2much

Hi all, My 9 son uses his laptop in the living room along with us so we can keep an eye but he's growing older and I want to make sure I protect him for the dangers of the web.

Have you any recommendations for a good filter etc. I don't mind paying for this but if there is a robust free one I'd look at that as well. Thanks in advance for the help

weegie.geek

K9 seems pretty decent.

KillerWatt

Second vote for K9.

It's not exactly "feature packed" (eg, it doesn't self learn like some of the paid for variants), and it can be quite over zealous in what it decides is unsuitable (that's not such a bad thing though).
If it should decide a site is unsuitable, the site is logged and you can override the decision in the Admin control panel (either as a one off event, timed event, or permanently allowed).

The only REAL drawback I can see to K9 is that it is moderately easy to circumvent the Administrator password if you have Admin or Power User rights on the local machine, although neither of our kids (14 & 12) have worked out how to go about doing it yet (not that it matters if they do, because they don't have the necessary privelege level to make the changes required)

On the plus side, it is free (e-mail registration required) and once you have it set up so that your son can view the sites he wants then it will do the job of keeping him away from anything you deem unsuitable.

Alternatively you can buy routers (both for Cable & ADSL) that have content filtering built in, which means your kids won't be able to bypass it at all unless they know the login details for the router.

GeoffX

Something you might like to look at is OpenDNS and their FamilyShield. DNS is usually provided by your ISP - it converts names such as moneysavingexpert.com into a string of numbers that locate that website.

grace2much

Thanks for the k9 endorsement. I tried opendns but it did not install correctly and I followed the simple and clear instructions, though it does look good. I'll see if anymore recommendations come in over the next few days and if not its K9.....:)

littlepanther

Sounds like you are doing a good job, best way is to keep an eye on him, surf with him and bookmark sites that you find with him and encourage him to use them. If he does accidentally stumble on an undesirable site make sure you clear it from the history.

All filters are vulnerable even if kept up to date. You must do the updates for all filters. Yes, use K9 but don't use it as a total fix.

There are many resources out there, including http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Yourchildshealthandsafety/Internetsafety/DG_071138. This is the UK government website.

But watch out for your son using chat rooms, social networking like Facebook (even though it does say you should not be under 13 children still sign up).

And there is a short video here that covers a lot of it with useful tips http://!!!!!!!/cgWOcI.

None of these are comprehensive guides but will alert you to how important it is to keep an eye on your kids.

dlboy

K9 is fairly simple blocking. Doesn't seem to have things like application and Internet usage scheduling, profanity masking, chat room blocking and monitoring – and alerts sent to parents and so on.
Net Nanny does this – it must be the most comprehensive and up-to-date product available. It also wont break the bank (£15) and it has the added advantage of being able to administrate any number of PCs remotely. This means if a parent needs to allow a specific blocked page, or application use they can do so from their own PC on any number of licensed users. (The admin PC does not need a license as the administration is done through a web page)

grace2much

Back with an update.......I have installed K9 and all is working well so far . As my son progresses (if you call it that!!!) on to facebook or similar I'll need to look at things again. But for so far K9 is fine. Thanks for all the help and advice from everyone:T