Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources internet blocking software recommendations?

I just got mobile broadband & a laptop to use for internet connection at home, the dialup was driving me crazy.
GS8 will have quite a few liberties with the laptop. I thought by setting up his own profile I could allow him to access a limited number of websites. But every day I keep finding more interesting websites and I don't think it's realistic to allow access to designated websites. So, I'm looking into software which will block websites. I see 'netnanny' has a good review and it's affordable. Any other recommendations?

BTW, we don't have cable so we never had access to The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, etc. I found today that they have some episodes which can be viewed on the PC, and they have lots of interactive educational games for the kids. The national park system also has tons of stuff for the kids, as well as webcams to view different areas of the country.

My dds have their own computer. It is in the office along with my computer and my husband's computer so an adult is almost always in the room or nearby when one of the girls in on the computer. We put shortcuts on the desktop to the websites that the girls frequent. I haven't found that the kids stumble upon inappropriate websites. I just worry about them when they do internet searches so I ask my dd8 to let me know when she googles something.

This is a safe search engine that my dd's school uses.

http://nettrekker.com/

This is a game that my dd played on the Disney website that teaches kids about internet safety.

http://disney.go.com/surfswell/

My dd knows that she is not allowed on sites like MySpace. I also don't allow her to have an email account. Too much inappropriate spam is send to email accounts. I don't feel there is any way to allow a child to have an email account that is not filtered by a responsible adult.

Summer

DS8 has had an email account for a couple years, but he doesn't know the password to access it so I always log on to it first.

The laptop is in our living room, right now, but of course we can put it in any room, at any time. I hadn't shown him how to start the connection, but I kind of put the challenge in front of him, saying he didn't know how to connect. He got in from chores about 10 minutes before I did, and was connected to a link I put in his favorites in that amount of time.

I just checked out what Norton has available, since I wanted to get Norton Internet Security on here ASAP. They have an add-on parental control pack for free, is anyone familiar with how well it works?

We use AOL. My dd has her own sign on screen. I designated the screen as a 13 and under user and AOL limits the websites she can visit. When she tries to visit a new website that the program doesn't recognize as child friendly, I get a message asking for permission. I also get daily reports of all the computer activity on her log on screen.

I installed Norton Internet Security last night since I've always had good results from using it to protect my PC's from virus's. I also downloaded the parental controls. I found it is not compatible with any other parental control software. So far it looks good. But I'm having some other issues with Norton that I've never had before.

Bianca,

How do you get daily reports? Is it sent to your from AOL? Or do you just check the history yourself from your toolbar?
Because I am somewhat lazy, I would love to have a report e-mailed to me via some software program.

I

Hi Incogneato,

AOL sends me an e-mail with the list of websites she has visited and how long she has been there. When you set up their sign on it will prompt you to set preferences. That is where you tell them how often you want those reports. The are sent to the "main" sign on name.