IT problem

[Lucy88]

My DS is 6 and likes to use my pc to play games/educational stuff on the internet. I do supervise him and as the pc is in the lounge, I can always see what he is doing.

He has recently gone onto a website, where you log in and are able to create a character, play games and chat to other 'kids'. As soon as he logged in and I looked at the site, I stopped him using it. I don't want him chatting to other 'kids' online, as he is maybe not old enough to understand the implications or dangers of doing this. I did explain briefly to him that we don't talk to strangers in 'real' life, so we should not talk to strangers on the internet. He accepted what I said, but I am not sure he fuly understands.

I have now realised that he is a lot more IT savvy than I thought and I need to put some parental controls onto my internet - but don't know where to start.

I don't want him to have any access to websites that have adult content, where he is able to chat to other 'kids' and I want to be abel to maybe only let him have access to things that I allow.

I would be grateful if anyone can advise me what is available and where to start.

Thanks very much.

1. Why not Google something like: parental control software

1. Since he likes online educational games, you could try out this service www.myowntutor.org.uk which is completely free for at least 2 weeks when you use the promo code 1023. It has a parental login where you can set-up what the child does, and monitor what they have been doing; and it even emails you a weekly report of their activity. It uses games and covers all of National Curriculum subjects - so it's worth trying out.

1. Another option would be to use software eg CD ROMS or DVD that does not access the internet. Software like this is very rare these days - so options 1 and 2 may be the way to go.

Most ISPs provide some parental control free but you can buy software to control or monitor his use.

If you are using Windows 7 that has some parental controls built in. You can set them up by clicking on Start, Control Panel and then under User Accounts and Family Safety clicking on Set up parental controls for any user.

However, it sounds like you need more than the built in stuff provides. Microsoft provide Windows Live Family Safety for free which does what you want and works with Windows Vista or Windows 7. I am nothing to do with Microsoft but I use this on my son's computer and am perfectly happy with it. It does everything you seem to need and more.

There are plenty of other options, especially if you are willing to pay.

I have excellent parental controls included in with my Norton Security.

Oh forgot to say accidentally bared the BBC website when I first started using it, stopping access to the excellent famous people section.