To use or not to use parental monitoring software?

[SueWayang]

Hello, everyone!

My name is Sue, I'm a mother of 13 years old boy.
Recently I've caught my son, watching X-rated web-site…
We've discussed it with my husband, he wanna use parental control software. Actually I've always thought, that it's not a solution of the problem, but we've finally decided to try some…anyway we can always reinstall it..

So I've got 2 questions for you:

What do you think about parental control software (to use/not to use, may be some one can share his experience)

Which software to choose? We've checked some and stopped on 2: Care4teen (www.care4teen.com/) and NetNanny (www.netnanny.com/). NetNanny has many good reviews, but what I like about Care4teen is that parents build base of bad resources (everyone can add some resource to a black list), so it seemed to have a good filter. Or may be you can recommend smth else?

I think parents who don't install parental controls on their internet are idiots misguided. I would also supervise their use of social media, and x box live to ensure they aren't talking to anyone they don't actually know, and behaving appropriately.

I'm not a parent of teens though, just a teacher of them. Some of the stuff I hear about is shocking.

Hey, noblegiraffe! Thanks God we don't have problems with X-box! Well, about social media, this software also can block or monitor social media websites, if smth...

Take a word of advice, I grew up with internet limits and blocks everyone of which I circumvented if you want to limit his time on the internet give him something better to do. As for porn that's really normal. I've actually seen kids get bullied for having limited internet.

My son is younger (7) and we used K9 protection. Does the job. However, as he gets older he will be able to circumvent it if he is computer literate.

www1.k9webprotection.com

No FB before 13 is the only block here, and actually my 13y DD doesn't want it.

Otherwise, no blocking software. DD2 has grown up with the net, had a lap top since she was 6.

She wouldn't have done anything to risk having it confiscated when she was small (she knows DH could snoop if he chose to).

Now I just have to trust her. She can do anything she likes on someone's phone on an hours bus ride, even though her own phone is very slow.

DD1 wouldn't do anything silly. Watch over age TV yes, but not social media, she has a few very good very sensible DFs and that's always been that.

DrDre, thank you!

I think working parents should install parental control on internet as they cannot be always around the kids...NET PURIFIED software blocks all the websites which shows inappropriate contents...It has timers for internet access and social media access... and the best part is that the software is totally user friendly.

I would say that the talk with the kid should be the first thing done. Parental control can be used, of course, but as an additional tool. You do not even have to tell your kid that the soft is installed. I was using the net nanny for about 1,5 year and after that I found out PCWebControl I stay with it. It has the feature that allow to build a black list of undesired websites like you wrote and it works in a background.

Thank you, Nattashy!

We've been using a combination of OpenDNS and Romaco's Timeout software. OpenDNS can block by category, add domains to the block list and see a report of which domains have been accessed. It's managed through a web interface. Timeout isn't developed any more, but it is available for download and free (I don't mind paying, but still looking for one that meets my remote management needs). Timeout is for limiting time though than for blocking/filtering.

I don't like to monitor her social media usage, although my wife looks at it sometimes. I just hope she's smart enough to only interact with people she knows from school (or so that is what she says it's for - Instagram).

Have you tried turning on the parental filters the ISP
provides? At least that's free before you go and fork over cash.

I would assume they are easy to by pass. Try googling bypass, circumvent and the software name. You don't have to be very literate at all with computers.

I did that when some one asked how easy it is to download movies via torrents. Never do it myself but managed easily on page 2 of googling. Same with getting netflix to think you are from the US.

I would urge you to try the google test before you entrust the software. It's easy enough to see if it can be broken within an hour of googling at least!

My first guess of bypassing them will be via a proxy btw. See if that search leads you to a quick solution of breaking it yourself. Remember teens have a lot more time on their hands than you.

"blocks all the websites which shows inappropriate contents"

This will be a marketing claim, because it is simply not true in any tech way. Objectionable content is not tidily labelled in such a way that it can be reliably blocked, nor can any system keep up with The rate at which new content appears.

But even though there is no tech "magic bullet", using filters will reduce what can be accessed.

For a teen, you need a device-based filter (unless they have no gadgets which work outside the home). K9 is good.

Really k9? 30 seconds on googling tells me

blog.whitesites.com/How-to-remove-K9-without-password__634468736280312500_blog.htm

And another youtube video said the same thing.

And if you have the access to a physical PC, you can get the admin password easily.

Link to one of the youtube videos. This is the 3rd link on google. The blog was first link

It seems the skill level needed to break it is 0. Unless one of you is going to tell me these sites are lying. I haven't actually installed k9 myself ofc.

I use Microsoft family safety centre and opendns. Works well for us as family safety centre can be adjusted on a per-user basis.

If you google for instructions, you'll find out how to disable any filter: K9, Net Nanny, whatever.

The best you can hope for is a) those which work well if no attempt to circumvent made; and b) those which are fiddly to disable and/or difficult to reinstall so the attempt is spotted.

scaevola the OP child is 13 and that's why I'd like to point out how easy some of the filters can be disabled. I agree with your point 2 basically. Parents do need to be aware that there could be attempts to disable them.

But I still believe any content control software that can be disabled by shutting down the process or removing a file is very badly designed.

Content control on the internet is doomed to failure, unless you set up a strict whitelist. Even then, it may fail.

Proxies are often just other internet connections, the same as yours. Anyone, who you don't know, can set up a proxy for someone else easily.

To manage children on the internet.... educate them. Give them power.

Hi can i resurrect this thread and ask for some advice?
My dd has a new phone and i wanted something so i can monitor her messages etc doea anyone know where i can get this thanks

No idea if it is any good but Google turned up this app: mobileforcefield.com/

We are using Family Safety in windows 8 on our PC but the browser controls are very heavy handed. You would need to test out any software a lot before using it as the kids will quickly disable anything too obvious.

Thanks its not so mych that i want to disavle stuff / shes 10 so theres all ready restricitons on it - i wpuld like a log of messages sent and received , i will hace a look , thank you !