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[broadstairs]

My son has decided to get his daughter a laptop for Christmas and with my help we have been able to get a Windows 7 second user laptop for her. She is nearly 11 years old so he will want some form of parental control to prevent her getting into stuff she should not, primarily during web browsing. I am wondering what people here may have used in these circumstances, searching brings up quite a lot of possibilities. He will probably not want to use any general router or ISP based solutions as that may get in the way of him using his PC. I have already set up her user to only have access between the hours of 7am and 9pm but I'm guessing he will want something more on the laptop so he can feel reasonably sure she will not get into any nasties.

Stuart

[ryant704]

Various anti-virus software provide parental controls.

[broadstairs]

Various anti-virus software provide parental controls.

Yes there are so mamny alternatives, I'm just wondering if anyone here has any first hand experience of any of them....

Stuart

[GigabitEthernet]

TalkTalk provide them with HomeSafe. You're on TalkTalk, no?

[JGO]

I've been using Hosts.mvps (see below)  as a first line of defence for years, and it certainly blocks some S*X nasties. For anything the parent needs to update it regularly - it isn't magic.   

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

[broadstairs]

TalkTalk provide them with HomeSafe. You're on TalkTalk, no?

Yes I am but my son is not and Homesafe is an ISP  thing which gets in the way of everything using the connection, my wife would not let me turn it on here.

Stuart

[broadstairs]

I've been using Hosts.mvps (see below)  as a first line of defence for years, and it certainly blocks some S*X nasties. For anything the parent needs to update it regularly - it isn't magic.   

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

This again looks interesting but I was hoping to find something which was a little less techie. I may have spent nearly 40 years in IT but my son is not a techie.

Looks like no one here yet who has used any of this stuff...

Stuart

[kitz]

I've not used any personally as I used router rules, but yrs ago I've put net nanny on a couple of machines for others.  K9 web protection is something else I've put on a machine, many yrs ago.

They possibly have both changed since, but from what I recall k9 did a good job for a freebie.

[Berrick]

Hi trust everyone is OK and working off those pounds put on with the xmas excess??

I think its important to take a few extra steps these days. How easy or difficult to achieve the level of protection as parents you are comfortable with depends on the setup you have.

Host files are a great way of basic protection though with Win7/8 you have to copy the host file to somewhere like your desktop to be able to edit it, then copy it back to its correct location.

Another area which gets over looked as a result of recent changes in browsers is disabling the ability to "browse in private" and using group policy to disable the ability of users to delete browsing history.

Another gun in the parents arsenal is explaining to the kids and showing them that you have the ability of viewing their screen remotely without warning using something like real VNC. These few things proved mighty powerful when my kids where growing up.

other useful tools for example is ESET NOD32 antivirus. It can be used to block access to USB ports and control which websites users can or can't access. 

[Ronski]

PC Pro recently did a review of various programs and ISP offerings, can't remember what the outcome was and I don't have the magazine anymore but you may well find the article on their website.