Net Nanny

My kids aren't too happy with their old Dad these days, and that's a good thing! What am I talking about, you ask? I've just installed Net Nanny from Content Watch on their PCs.

Net Nanny's Administration Screen

In case you've been living in a cocoon for some time, there's a lot of bad stuff available on the Net today: violence, hate crime, gambling, porn and more. The worst are the sexual predators who try to seduce young children online. You need to get smart and protect your children before they are exposed to this type of stuff, and the earlier the better. Sure, they will complain you are limiting their online freedom. Too bad. It's our responsibility as parents.

Net Nanny's Filter Settings

Another great thing about Net Nanny is the ability to set access hours. If your kids are like mine, they probably spend far too much time surfing the Net, playing games, checking out teen magazine sites, watching cartoons and music videos, and much more. Trying to get them to stop what they're doing and to do their homework, their chores or come down for dinner is a challenge. But with Net Nanny, I can clamp down on the hours they get to be online. I've limited their online access from 5 pm to 9 pm, Monday through Friday. And we keep their PC out in the open in the playroom for good measure, so we always know what they are watching.

Net Nanny's Time Controls

Of course, there are those time when you can't be around and that's when kids tend to get into the most trouble, tempted by the absence of a parent. Net Nanny to the rescue. You can set the software's filters to be as stringent or as relaxed as you feel comfortable. If your kids tend to frequent sites you want to limit access to, you can do that, and make them request override permission to gain access.

Net Nanny's Usage Reporting

You can also setup individual accounts for the entire family. I've set up our software so each person has their own login. Net Nanny tracks everyone's access and chats, and as the administrator, I can generate reports and drill down to see exactly what my kids are looking at, who they are chatting with, and what they are talking about.

Some parents might argue this borders on invasion of privacy, but the way I look at it is this: as long as my kids live under my roof and are dependent upon me for everything, it is my responsibility to shelter them from dangerous elements.

Look, no matter how good a parent you are, you can't possibly be looking over your kids' shoulders every minute of every day, but with Net Nanny you can have an additional layer of protection and control. To learn more about Net Nanny, please click here.