INTERNET FILTERS

Since the dawn of the internet, pornography has made its presence felt. Today it is a $10 billion industry, greater than the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball - combined. Over two million porn sites exist on the internet today, with 2,500 new ones added each week. And with all the other violent and offensive websites out there, the problem is not going to get better anytime soon.

Against this backdrop, internet filter programs work hard to block objectionable material from innocent eyes. Each offers a unique approach or feature set to meet this pervasive challenge.

When evaluating the different internet filter programs, there are certain factors you want to consider. Some of these include:

•  Features.  Does the package only block websites? Can it also filter chatrooms, emails, and file-sharing services?

•  Support.  Support ranges from toll-free telephone service to 3-day email answers. Make sure you understand the level of commitment you're signing up for.

•  Cost.  Pay attention to the full cost of the package; some services may make you pay to answer your questions.

TopConsumerReviews.com has reviewed and ranked the best internet filter programs available. We hope you find these reviews helpful in protecting you and your family!

 

Cost:	$39.99
Features:	30 day free trial

 

Net Nanny, formerly Content Protect, is a fully featured internet filter solution that works for the entire family. An easy-to-use interface, robust blocking strategies, and remote monitoring capabilities give this product our highest ranking.

Net Nanny is compatible with many popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo, AltaVista, Dogpile, AllTheWeb, MSN and Lycos. One feature we liked was the dynamic filtering capability. Some sites, such as Yahoo News, are constantly updated throughout the day. Net Nanny constantly monitors the content that is displayed on these sites; meaning that, depending on the news articles posted, the site may or may not be blocked. This "safe search" option may only be bypassed with an administrator password - children are not allowed on blocked sites, even with a different search engine. This product also blocks content in multiple languages.

Pornography, hate sites, and questionable chat rooms are all filtered. This product can also be programmed to block online game and gambling sites, so that only games with parental ratings that you deem appropriate are available for children. Net Nanny allows parents to customize internet access for their family's needs. You are empowered to fully or partially block Peer-to-Peer downloading (eliminating your exposure to record-industry lawsuits), Instant Messaging, chat rooms, and even specific web sites. You are also able to monitor time on the computer, including your children's online whereabouts. You can also read the full text of Instant Messages.

Net Nanny offers protection from other areas of the Internet, not just the World Wide Web. Children are protected from lesser-known modes of electronic communication such as Usenet, FTP, Forums and email.

One impressive feature of Net Nanny is the ability to monitor and manage its functions from any pc connected to the internet. From any pc in the world you can take a look at activity logs and make any changes you deem necessary.

The initial install is simple; Net Nanny installs and configures itself. Once complete, you automatically receive upgrades and updated site listings from the internet. With this clever feature, you always have the most current listing of objectionable material without having to install upgrades.

A 1-800 number is provided for customer support, which is available M-F. There is also an email address to email questions.

Net Nanny provides all the features we could ask for in an internet filter, including robust blocking, a simple interface, and remote monitoring. These capabilities, along with a very reasonable price and free trial period, combine to give Net Nanny our highest rating.

 

Cost:	$49.95
Features:	15 day free trial

 

Safeeyes combines professional grade filter servers and a user-friendly PC interface to use specifically for home internet filtering. This gives parents a high quality filter that is easy to install and can be used on any computer anywhere with any ISP.

Rather than storing lists of objectionable sites and data on your pc, Safeeyes takes a different approach. When you connect to the internet, Safeeyes routes you to servers maintained at their location. All your web traffic flows through their servers before it is returned to you; which means, they can block objectionable material before it is ever delivered to your pc! This also frees you from the hassle of installing and updating screening software on your pc. The filters are updated with new material on a daily basis. In our time trial tests using high-speed internet access, there was no measurable delay using the Safeeyes filtering servers.

Configuration is a simple process. 35 categories of potentially objectionable material are predefined for you. When setting up user profiles, you identify which categories they are allowed to access. This makes for a great timesaving feature.

Safeeyes also gives you the ability to fine-tune your configuration. Do you want to allow or block specific websites? Simply add them to the user's profile. Do you want to allow or block specific applications, like P2P file sharing services or instant message applications? Again, Safeeyes allows you to simply add them to the user's profile. Safeeyes also allows you to define the time periods when you want individual users to be able to access the internet.

Updated websites are added to the Safeeyes servers on a continual basis. There is no need to download new versions of block lists, because all of this information is stored and maintained on their servers.

If someone does try to access objectionable material on your pc, Safeeyes can instantly and secretly notify you by email or by telephone. With the telephone service, a recorded message is played asking you to call a number and provide a password to retrieve your message. This prevents unauthorized access of your information by third parties. Still, even with this notification Safeeyes could stand some improvements to their reporting module.

One interesting note is that this is the only internet filter in this review that is compatible with Macs. All others internet filters in this review are for PC only.

Customer Service is done primarily via email. However, they do have a toll-free number for customer support 9a-5p EST Monday - Friday.

Safeeyes won the 2006 PC Magazine's Editor's Choice Award for best parental control software.

Safeeyes combines a strong internet filter package with daily upgrades and secure, offsite servers. This powerful solution earns one of our highest marks for internet filters.

 

Cost:	$39.95
Features:	14 day free trial

 

Cyber Patrol is one of the most feature-rich Internet filtering products in our review, blocking websites, newsgroups, search engine images, and even objectionable words and phrases used while chatting or instant messaging.

This product uses a layered filtering technology that involves the CyberList database and a dynamic filtering technology. This combination makes a very powerful filter that is capable of capturing sites that are not yet in its database.

Cyber Patrol gets high ratings for all of the extra features it offers. Some of these include

	•	a YES List, which is good for families with young children, only allowing them onto pre-approved sites.
	•	Setting up allowable times for internet and application usage
	•	Controlling program downloads

CyberPatrol makes use of categories to group potentially objectionable material. These categories can be turned on or off for individual user profiles. A couple of the more interesting categories include

	•	Spyware - This protects the computer by preventing access to sites that promote potentially malicious software that can debilitate a computer.
	•	Criminal Activity and Phishing is another category that is set up to protect the user from giving out personal passwords or log in information.

Updated material is available for download on a weekly basis.

Free technical support is available online, and by email and fax. However, no phone support is offered.

One drawback to Cyber Patrol is its interface. It is one of the more complex interfaces in our roundup; being technically savvy is definitely a plus when configuring this program. Another drawback lies in its reporting; the reports are simple but should be improved.

In spite of these drawbacks, Cyber Patrol delivers on its promise of a feature-rich internet filter. The layered filtering technology and range of blocking capabilities give this product high marks.

 

Cost:	$49.95
Features:	10 day free trial

 

Like the higher-ranked SafeEyes, Bsafe relies on its servers to block objectionable material before it is ever delivered to your pc. This material can be defined differently for each user profile that you set up.

Configuration of Bsafe is a simple process. First, you set up a profile for each user in your household that will access the internet. Next, you decide which "categories" of material you want to allow for each user profile. Bsafe groups objectionable material into 32 different "categories". Examples of these categories include Gambling, Pornography, Personals/dating, and Web-based email. For each profile, you block or allow entire categories of material. This makes configuration of each profile a very simple and timesaving process. And in other timesaving move, Bsafe assumes the responsibility of categorizing new websites into one of these categories for you. Of course, you also have the ability to allow or block individual websites for each user profile. And, you can define the time periods for each day that each user can access the internet.

One of the most thoughtful features we liked was their online help system. Bsafe provides a very thorough seven page, 136 Q & A support section for customers looking for help. In addition to this they offer a free telephone help line that is open 7am to 11pm Monday thru Sunday. They are one of the few companies in this industry to offer free phone support, especially with such long hours.

For reporting, Bsafe boasts a "tamper proof reporting option" which is a nice feature. Three reports per week can be generated and emailed to whomever to show which websites have been visited that week by that computer. They also provide instant email notification if someone tries to access blocked material on your pc. If your pager supports text messaging via an email address, you can send these alerts to your pager for notification wherever you are.

With secure server-based internet filtering, and an easy to use interface, Bsafe receives some of the highest marks in our review.

 

Cost:	$39.95
Features:	No free trial, but 30 day money-back guarantee

 

Cyber Sentinel prides itself on its monitoring capabilities. This product has a built-in library that allows each internet session to be monitored for sexually explicit content and pornography. Additional words and phrases that might be used by a predator or pedophile in an email, instant message, or a chat room can be added to the library by parents. The library can also be programmed to not allow any personal information to be divulged.

In addition to logging all online activity, Cyber Sentinel captures, logs and reports any attempted violations. When a violation has occurred, the system takes a snapshot of the screen and the application that triggered the violation is immediately closed. The screen captures are then stored in a secure database for the parent to review. This way Parents are able to monitor and supervise all computer traffic flowing in and out of home computers. Parents can even receive an email notification at work when a home computer policy has been violated.

Setup and installation is painless. Cyber Sentinel also supports time management

For customer service, Cyber Sentinel has an FAQ page that lists 18 questions and answers online. If your question is not one of those 18, then you must correspond via email and wait for a response. This is definitely not as convenient as a telephone number for those questions that only require a quick response.

One potential drawback to Cyber Sentinel is that multiple user profiles are not supported. Once you define the rules for objectionable content blocking, all users of that computer must liver under those same rules. The software does supply you with a password-override key, but this grants the user unlimited access to the internet. This solution would not work well for a household with kids of varying ages, who need different levels of restrictions.

This internet filter gets good marks for easy set up configuration. However, the lack of support for multiple users, leaks in the blocking mechanism, and limited customer service keep this product out of our top tier solutions.

 

Cost:	$39.95
Features:	No free trial, but 30 day money-back guarantee

 

My Nabyoo is simple to install and configure. The clean interface is easy to use and navigate.

My Nabyoo blocks offensive content from appearing in web pages and newsgroups. It also comes pre-set to block over 50 file-sharing programs; this list seems to cover the area very well. You can also add new ones if you run across any.

In addition to blocking websites, My Nabyoo can also be configured to restrict access to chat rooms and even games that have been installed on your pc.

One interesting feature of My Nabyoo is something called "automatic screenshot". With this feature enabled, My Nabyoo secretly takes high quality pictures of the screen every few minutes. Later, parents can view a DVD style slide show of the snapshots. Other filters employ screenshots also, but not exactly like this one.

All customer service is online. They will communicate via email if the question cannot be answered through the FAQ page.

This simple product is a sound, if not basic, internet filter solution. We feel it could benefit from some enhanced options and better customer service model.

 

Cost:	$34.95
Features:	14 day free trial

 

I Protect You has a clean and easy-to-understand interface, although it looks a bit outdated. Each main category has clear descriptions that help guide you in using its features.

Installation is quick and painless. Upon configuration, you can set up different users, and groups of users, with different access rights to objectionable material. In fact, there are four different levels of responses that can be utilized when restricted matter is encountered, based on maturity, interests, habits, and parental control needs. This allows for a great degree of customization.

I Protect You allows you to filter harmful websites and newsgroups. In addition, you can block emails, online chat programs, instant messages, and file sharing services. The database has an auto-update feature that ensures its content is current.

I Protect You also lets you restrict when, and for how long, your child can access the internet. This is useful if you want to restrict the total amount of time that your child spends online, in addition to the time periods they are allowed to access the internet.

One unique feature of I Protect You is its ability to limit the amount of data that can be sent or received via your computer. This can be used as a way to help restrict any software that gets downloaded. We'd like to see other internet filter packages adopt a similar option.

The website itself has a number of useful articles which make it a great resource for learning more about internet filters. This makes the site a good starting point for parents who want to learn exactly how things like peer-to-peer networks and spyware work. However, the layout of the website was not intuitive or easy to navigate through.

Customer support is all via email. They provide customers with a form to fill out and say they should receive an answer within one to three business days. We'd like to see better support offered for their customers.

I Protect You is a decent internet filter with some interesting features. We'd like to see an updated interface and better customer support options to round out this product.

 

Cost:	$54.00 (12-month subscription)
Features:	15 day free trial

 

Installation of Netmop is very easy. In less than 5 minutes, the software can be downloaded and installed on your pc.

Configuration of Netmop is a simple exercise. You create a user profile for each person who will access the internet. Once created, you define categories of objectionable material that you want blocked from that user profile. Currently there are 16 different categories of material that can be blocked, including Alcohol and Tobacco Use, Gambling, and Weapons.

Three categories of material are blocked for EVERY user - Pornography, Criminal Activity, and Adult Material. There is no password override to gain access to sites grouped in these categories. According to Netmop, they want to protect not only your children, but also You.

Netmop is another server-based internet filter. This means that objectionable material is blocked on the Netmop servers before it is ever delivered to your pc.

In addition to website filtering, Netmop also offers filtering for chat, email, newsgroups, search engine keywords, and file sharing. This includes peer-to-peer website sharing.

Netmop offers customer support both via email and telephone. While telephone support is only encouraged as a last resort they do give a non-toll free number that can be used 24/7.

Netmop offers quite a few filtering options within its own framework, but could benefit from an increased support for customization and reporting.

 

Cost:	$49.95
Features:	7 day free trial

 

PC Tattletale's website takes a real scare tactic approach towards parents. While there are plenty of dangers lurking in cyberspace, there are many solid reasons to purchase an internet filter that aren't based on fear alone.

Built primarily to monitor and capture a user's whereabouts while online, PC Tattletale has rather limited filtering capability. Simply supply a list of keywords that you find objectionable. If the child tries to go to any web site that contains the targeted keywords, PC Tattletale intervenes and displays a "Page not found" error instead. The theory is that your child will soon tire of trying to display that page and move on to something else.

Unfortunately, this level of rudimentary filtering is severely lacking when compared with the other products in our review. First, you must maintain the list of keywords yourself; no one else is monitoring this list for you. Second, a keyword may be objectionable in one context, but not another. For example, health-related sites may contain keywords that would be objectionable if used on adult-oriented websites; but the method used by PC Tattletale will block all sites regardless of how the word is used. Third, no attempt is made to filter emails, chat rooms, or other forms of communication.

On the monitoring side, PC Tattletale provides some useful features, such as screenshot captures and color-coding different chat personalities for ease of recognition.

PC Tattletale has features that make it more appealing to monitor, or review, the activity that takes place on your pc, rather than stop it from happening in the first place.