| The Internet contains an almost limitless supply of information on its tens of billions of web pages. Although most of these pages contain useful information, it's a sad fact that the content of some pages can be quite offensive to some peopleand that there are some Internet users who prey on unsuspecting youths. As a responsible parent, you want to protect your children from any of the bad stuff (and bad people) online, while still allowing access to all the good stuff. How do you do this? Using Content Filtering Software If you can't trust your children to always click away from inappropriate web content, you can choose to install software on your computer that performs filtering functions for all your online sessions. These safe-surfing programs guard against either a preselected list of inappropriate sites or a preselected list of topicsand then block access to sites that meet the selected criteria. Once you have the software installed, your kids won't be able to access the really bad sites on the Web. The most popular filtering programs are Cybersitter (www.cybersitter.com) and Net Nanny (www.netnanny.com). In addition, if you're an America Online subscriber, check out AOL's built-in (and very effective) Parental Controls feature. You can select different filtering options for different AOL screen names and choose from four age-rated categoriesKids Only (12 and under), Young Teen (1315), Mature Teen (1617), and General Access (18+). Kids-Safe Searching If you don't want to go to all the trouble of using content filtering software, you can at least steer your children to some of the safer sites on the Web. The best of these sites offer kid-safe searching so that all inappropriate sites are filtered out of the search results. tip  | Kids-safe search sites are often good to use as the start page for your children's browser because they are launching pads to guaranteed safe content. |
The best of these kids-safe search and directory sites include AltaVistaAV Family Filter (www.altavista.com; go to the Advanced Search Settings page and click the Family Filter link) Ask Jeeves for Kids (www.ajkids.com) Fact Monster (www.factmonster.com) Google SafeSearch (www.google.com; go to the Preferences page then choose a SafeSearch Filtering option) Yahooligans! (www.yahooligans.com)
Encouraging Safe Computing Although your using content-filtering software and kids-safe websites are good steps, the most important thing you can do, as a parent, is to create an environment that encourages appropriate use of the Internet. Nothing replaces traditional parental supervision, and at the end of the day, you have to take responsibility for your children's online activities. Provide the guidance they need to make the Internet a fun and educational place to visitand your entire family will be better for it. Here are some guidelines you can follow to ensure a safer surfing experience for your family: Make sure that your children know never to give out any identifying information (home address, school name, telephone number, and so on) or to send their photos to other users online. Provide each of your children with an online pseudonym so they don't have to use their real names online. Don't let your children arrange face-to-face meetings with other computer users without parental permission and supervision. If a meeting is arranged, make the first one in a public place and be sure to accompany your child. Teach your children that people online might not always be who they seem; just because someone says that she's a 10-year-old girl doesn't necessarily mean that she really is 10 years old, or a girl. Consider making Internet surfing an activity you do together with your younger childrenor turn it into a family activity by putting your kids' PC in a public room (such as a living room or den) rather than in a private bedroom. Set reasonable rules and guidelines for your kids' computer use. Consider limiting the number of minutes/hours they can spend online each day. Monitor your children's Internet activities. Ask them to keep a log of all websites they visit; oversee any chat sessions they participate in; check out any files they download; even consider sharing an email account (especially with younger children) so that you can oversee their messages. Don't let your children respond to messages that are suggestive, obscene, belligerent, or threateningor that make them feel uncomfortable in any way. Encourage your children to tell you if they receive any such messages, and then report the senders to your ISP. Install content-filtering software on your PC, and set up one of the kid-safe search sites (discussed earlier in this section) as your browser's start page. Subscribe to America Online. AOL offers great filtering options for younger users; you can set up your kids' email accounts so that they can't receive files or pictures in their messages. AOL's filtering options can also be configured to keep younger users away from chat rooms and other inappropriate content both on AOL and the Web.
Teach your children that Internet access is not a right; it should be a privilege earned by your children and kept only when their use of it matches your expectations. The Absolute Minimum Here are the key points to remember from this chapter: Avoid computer viruses by not opening unsolicited email attachments and by using an anti-spam software program. Fight email spam by keeping your email address as private as possible, upgrading to Microsoft Outlook 2003, and using anti-spam software. Use anti-spyware tools, such as Microsoft AntiSpyware, to track down and remove spyware programs from your computer. Protect your computer from Internet-based attack by turning on the Windows Firewall, or using a third-party firewall program. To protect against inappropriate content on the Internet, install content filtering softwareand make sure that your children use kids-safe websites.
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