Parental control software helps parents control their kids’ online behavior and what they are being exposed to. There is a difference among the available software as to what software can do and a wide variety of possibilities in many of them. The basic purpose is to ensure that kids are not at risk of developing addiction and dependency in any way.
Most people know the features to filter websites for adult and other harmful content. Monitoring features can also be useful in tracking all of the computer activities, e.g., website visits, what has been written in all applications of the computer, and so on. This is done both with monitoring with screenshots and recording keystrokes.
Some softwares have the possibility of blocking applications such as games, chat, and gambling applications that can be useful for blocking someone from using harmful and age-inappropriate games and applications or chat applications. Time control is also a very useful tool in parental control software.
If you need to be alerted in an email or with an SMS when your child does specific things on the computer, you can be notified of that. Many software will also have a good report system so you can look at all computer activity and filter what you are looking for based on time, date range, or different kinds of computer activities. As you can see, there are many more options to choice than just simple filtering when deciding to get yourself parental control software. So, the parental control software can be used for the following things:
- Blocking and filtering websites
- Monitoring the whole or specific computer usage
- Block chat, games, or other applications
- Time control to limits per day, week or month and specific time of day
- Protect privacy and monitor for bully and predators against getting access to you children
- Create a different access level based on a different family member or problem
- Get instant alerts and a full report on computer and internet usage
When someone decides to use an internet filter, it is important to know no matter which application you are using, and it is best to use little time first two weeks or so to adjust the filter to your needs.
Most filters come with a database of filtering, and you may want to use that feature. You may also want to make a list of your websites on your own in a special database that you consider your kids should not access for some reason. So, if the software has an inbuilt filter, you should use that as well.
Then there are dynamic filters that filter all web pages before someone enters them and screens the content to avoid access to harmful content. This filter is important when you have new domains and web pages showing up in millions each day.
Finally, you should choose one that has an allowed list filter that can override the inbuilt filter. For this, in the first couple of weeks, you should insert “Good domains” for your kids into this list, so it will never be blocked. You can also use this setting to allow your child only to access a few web pages, and all other pages will then be blocked.
So, there are lots of ways to make your family filtering system best by your standards and needs, and you can even have different access to each family member in some of the softwares.
