porn site blocker

[nickster]

Is there a good program that is free to use to block my 13 year old son from getting on porn sites?

[Bogie]

There are many programs out there, but I suggest, that if it is that important to you, to purchase a good program to do the trick (excuse the expression).

NetNanny (http://www.netnanny.com/)

AllPornGone.com (http://www.allporngone.com/)

ChildWebGuardian (http://www.childwebguardian.com/porn-blocking-software.html)

CyberPatrol (http://www.cyberpatrol.com/porn_blocker.htm)

Now, in the process of blocking porn, all of the above, and any porn blocking software, will block legitimate sites - a fair trade-off in my books. Little pain, big gain.

We tried an online filtering service called Kidsnet, on one computer (for when grandchildren visit), and found it too slow and a real pain for the user and admins.

I am sure that there a few "Free" ones out there, but beware, I have heard a few horror stories on some of them (can't remember which ones), but like "free" Spam Blockers they were allowing "certain" porn sites through on purpose.

[Taz]

Also depending on your firewall software you can set up your own filters and block domains that may get through filtering software. I use Norton and have several sites blocked.

[Jackthemeangiant]

My uncle has a Netgear router that has a built in filter. We went to town thinking of words to block :P

[AMD]

There is no software that filters/blocks sights which can't be easily disabled. Even if there's a password, it's easy to go into msconfig, registry or startup folder and disable it. (anything that says otherwise is a marketing ploy)

Routers with filters can be reset or bypassed without any effort.

Put the computer in a central area and add a BIOS password so that the system can not be used when nobody else is there.

[Jackthemeangiant]

There is no software that filters/blocks sights which can't be easily disabled. Even if there's a password, it's easy to go into msconfig, registry or startup folder and disable it. (anything that says otherwise is a marketing ploy)

Routers with filters can be reset or bypassed without any effort.

Put the computer in a central area and add a BIOS password so that the system can not be used when nobody else is there.

Umm, I can gurentee you that your averge joe 13 year old kid would not know how to do any of the above.

[Taz]

Umm, I can gurentee you that your averge joe 13 year old kid would not know how to do any of the above.


Yes definitely, my semi skilled 14 yr old can't get past the filters set up in my Norton firewall and its not for her lack of trying.

[Bogie]

Any effort is worth implementing to help "keep your children, as children, for as long as possible". It is what being a parent, and grandparent, is all about.

Another option (the one we chose for the computer our grandchildren use), if you are on an existing highspeed connection already, is to sign up for the AOL "add-on" service. It has excellent parental controls and site blocking, antivirus control, plus fun stuff for the kids. Only $9.95 CDN per month for multiple users. Low cost investment in their future. Each child has their own login and restrictions.

Or use NetNanny software, or similar, for standard IE use.

[Rustynut]

Norton Internet Security has a Parental control feature that does block many sites of off colour nature, depending on your settings. You can block most any site you wish.

[AMD]

Umm, I can gurentee you that your averge joe 13 year old kid would not know how to do any of the above.

I did at that age - not nearly as uncommon or complicated as many people think.

[tsehou]

Agree with AMD, kids each year are getting smarter and smarter with computers. And with the power of the internet, the kid can learn how to disable the program. The information isn't hard to get and if they have access to another computer with internet that has no blocking program they can look the things up.

[Skyguy]

I did at that age - not nearly as uncommon or complicated as many people think.AMD is right. It probably wouldn't take more than a few conversations with the right computer savvy friends at school or elsewhere to get around your roadblocks. Or like tsehou says... They can just find another PC with a much lower security setup.

There are any number of programs that will do the trick for most parents. NetNanny (http://www.netnanny.com/) gets a lot of good press... but nothing's perfect and you can expect any program to make the odd mistake - ex. blocking breast cancer info while allowing your son into online gambling sites...

[Walter]

Blocking a 13/14 year old from sex is an issue that really requires it's own thread but as far as restricted access to sites no matter what you do they will get access if not from the home computer then from a friends whose parents are not as strict a disiplinarian as you seem to be.

[tony23]

l have been using net nanny 5 for 8 months for my 14 year old and it works great very happy with it.

[Bluvertigo]

Naomi 2.5

Naomi is able to constantly monitor all internet connections, protecting children from inappropriate online material - such as obscene or violent contents; pornography and erotism in the form of images or texts; sites that popularize drugs; gambling games; terrorism; hate propaganda; occultism; sects; blasphemy, etc.

http://www.radiant.altervista.org/indexen.html

[imboden]

If your internet is with Bell Sympatico, you can get either the Freedom Antivirus & Firewall (incl. parental controls) Or the MSN Premium Sofware whichenhanced browser, email. allows you to create up to 10 email addresses, which can each have their own level of controls, geared to the age group, and very hard to get past, depending on settings. 4 of the people in my training class [yes i work for sympatico at tech support] tried to get past them when our trainer put the controls for young child (0-8yrs) and we couldnt get thru.

[felixtrio]

There is one posibility. Have the computer in question in plain view. That way, anyone passing by could see what is being displayed. I know that if the son is by himself with no one home there is nothing stopping him. Get dial-up. It takes forever to download anything.

Be old fashion. If he calls it up, there will be the lost of internet usage. Who rules the roost?

[prarie]

You could use Blocklist manager with Protowall or Peerguardian. You can import porn ip ranges and they will block those porn sites. According to their site, Protowall is one of the only avilable applications that can handle 10000 advanced IP deny rules (globally about 2,000,000,000 IP's) without PC/application slow down or application GUI crashes.
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/index.php

Another option is to download or make your own rules for specific ip ranges of porn sites and install them in your firewall.
YoSponge makes has thorough and easy to follow directions on his/her site based on the Kerio personal firewall.
http://www.geocities.com/yosponge/

One caveat though, the more levels of security on your machine, the more trouble shooting you will have to do when something goes wrong as it could be program A, B, C, etc.