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 Lower the chance of your children and students viewing unsuitable sites. Linda Bruce and John Hilvert round-up Internet censoring software that controls what they can and can't access on the Net. |
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| CyberPatrol 4.0 URL: http://www.cyberpatrol.com System requirements: Windows, Windows 95, NT, IntranetWare, Macintosh List price: $US29.95 registration; free demo available from Web site Overall value:  Pros: Good configuration, mature product, local support. Cons: Can be costly if you want to stay up-to-date. Features: Automatic blocking of access to specified (CyberNOT) Internet sites; includes CyberYES allowed sites list; daily updates of blocked sites; ChatGard prevents children from divulging personal information online; built-in support for the PICS standard, including the SafeSurf & RSACi rating systems.
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| CyberSentinel 1.5 URL: http://www.securitysoft.com/ System requirements: Windows 3.1 and 95 List price: $US49.95 (single user); free 30-day trial version available from Web site Overall value:  Pros: Focus on recording rather than blocking; no updates required. Cons: No Macintosh support; a little pricey for what it does. Features: Data collection function allows parents to review inappropriate and potentially harmful material gathered from the computer; software can display warnings to screen or stealthily gather inappropriate computer usage by end-users; puts the power of decision in the hands of the parents on what is appropriate content and usage; does not require periodic downloads or updates to stay effective.
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| CYBERsitter 97 URL: http://www.solidoak.com/cysitter.htm System requirements: Windows 95 and Windows NT List price: $US39.95; free demo available from Web site Overall value: Pros: Improved range of features and support for standards; free updates. Cons: No support for Macintosh; known to suppress anomalous sites. Features: Web advertising filtering; automatic update of filter files; smaller, category specific, filter files for faster updating; optionally blocks all Newsgroups, FTP, and chat; can be set to ignore e-mail; user definable filtering criteria; more intuitive interface; full support for PICS compliant ratings systems; can maintain a complete history of Internet activity, including attempts to access blocked material.
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| EdView Channel Lock 1.1.0 URL: http://www.edview.com/ System requirements: Macintosh, Windows 95/NT List price: $US39.99; free demo available from Web site Overall value: Pros: Positive approach of locking all access to educationally approved sites; good client support. Cons: Too restrictive an approach for many students. Features: Comes with EdView Smart Zone and the EdView Channel Lock. Smart Zone is a dynamic database providing access to "tens of thousands" of safe educational sites on the World Wide Web. Each site has been reviewed and categorised by EdView reviewers (over 100 educators). EdView Channel Lock is password-protected software that "locks" students into the "wealth of Internet resources" -- parents or teachers control the lock.
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| GuardiaNet URL: http://www.guardianet.net/ System requirements: Windows 3.1 or 95 List price: $US59.95 (four users -- additional users can be registered for $US6.95); free 30-day trial version available from Web site Overall value: Pros: Less intrusive to PCs; no Macintosh support. Cons: Parental control is less flexible than other solutions. Features: Server as opposed to client-based filter system; pricey; you can select different levels of access and access can be individualised; accessed information is placed on an encrypted identifier and stored on the hard disk of your PC, floppy disk, or smart "chip" card; site restrictions defined by parents are portable and can be enforced at home, school or the library.
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| Internet Filter (v1 & 0) URL: http://www.turnercom.com/if/suite.htm System requirements: Windows 3.1 and 95 List price: v0 is free and downloadable from Web site; v1.0 $US40 Overall value: Pros: Free version available. Cons: Generally weak filter which lets through too much. Features: Version 1.0 offers a comprehensive Internet scanner that can block or log all net resources including WWW, newsgroups, Internet hosts and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) sessions; version 0 is a scaled down version with non-changeable configuration.
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| Net Nanny 3.1 URL: http://www.netnanny.com/ System requirements: Windows 3.x/95 List price: $US26.95; free 30-day trial version available from Web site. Overall value: Pros: Good parental control; price; can operate on non-Net PC applications. Cons: Can be more intrusive on the system. Features: Monitors, screens and blocks access to anything residing or running on your PC whether you are connected to the Internet or not and in real time; can determine what is screened with free, fully editable/customisable lists; can identify what you do not want entered or received on your terminal.
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| NetSnitch 2 URL: http://www.netsnitch.com/ System requirements: Windows 95 or NT List price: $US39.95; free 30-day trial version available from Web site Overall value: Pros: Focuses on tracking rather than blocking. Cons: Pricey for its functionality. Features: Records unsupervised connections to WWW; doesn't block anything but provides a password-protected record of all the URLs your child visits and the date and time of the visit; up to parent to impose necessary guidance or discipline.
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| SurfWatch 3.0 URL: http://www1.surfwatch.com/homes/index.html System requirements: Windows 3.1, 95 and Macintosh List price: $US39.95; free trail version available from Web site Overall value: Pros: Mature product; daily updates; good platform and technical support. Cons: May be overly restrictive; harder to configure than other utilities. Features: Simple installation; based on views of an "experienced team of Web surfers" and advanced spidering technologies to constantly comb the Web for the latest sites to include in filters; blocks 16 topics across the four core categories of sexually explicit material, violence and hate speech, gambling, and illicit drugs and alcohol; easy customisation; can "fine tune" Internet access by customising your SurfWatch filtering and creating custom filters of your own preferences; daily filter updates; restrict searching for objectionable material in all search engines.
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| Triple Exposure 2.51 URL: http://www.ips-corp.com/tripleex.htm System requirements: Windows 3.1 and 95 List price: $US29.95; free trial version available from Web site Overall value: Pros: Does what other filters don't do. Cons: Highly intrusive. Features: Does not employ filtering or blocking techniques -- searches an entire computer for evidence of inappropriate material, such as pornography; will scan for and display all pictures and movies, and all files containing profanity or other user-defined keywords; locates hidden files and identifies renamed files by contents not by extension.
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| Web Chaperone 1.1.1 URL: http://www.webchaperone.com/ System requirements: Windows 95 and NT 4.0 (Macintosh forthcoming) List price: $US49.95 (including one-year money-back guarantee); free 15-day trial version available from Web site Overall value: Pros: Innovative approach that has promise. Cons: Could be overly restrictive; may slow down a system. Features: Only software that pre-scans every page before your child sees it and rejects pages with inappropriate content; no expensive list and label updates to buy; can fine-tune the protection for each child; if a page is rejected, WebChaperone offers positive choices; quick access to the best kid's stuff on the Web.
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| WinGuardian URL: http://www.webroot.com/chap1.htm System requirements: Windows 95/NT4 List price: $29.95; free trail version available from Web site Overall value: Pros: Focuses on recording rather than blocking. Cons: Highly intrusive approach for many kids. Features: Runs completely hidden and monitors almost everything a user does on the computer; tracks what programs are used; logs all text typed into any program and can log all Web sites visited; can "lock down" Windows 95 environment so that users can only run programs that you authorise.
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| WizGuard 1.25 URL: http://www.wizguard.com/ System requirements: Windows 95 and 98 List price: $US29.99; 14-day free trial version available from Web site Overall value: Pros: Focuses on browser installation; promising approach to filtering criteria; price. Cons: Limited platform support. Features: Uses Web browser format for configuration; no additional updates or subscription of any blocking lists or database required; filtering based on content sensitive technology that focuses on patterns of how all pornographic Web sites are put on the Internet; does not block sites on sexual harassment, breast cancer, AIDS, safe sex, sexually transmitted diseases unless those sites contain offensive content deemed inappropriate for children to view; customisable blocking and time management to regulate duration user Web surfs.
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View Report of the Children And
Content On-Line Task Force
Install
Adobe Acrobat for Windows 95/98
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