Best Filtering Software

Best parental control software

Your choices about what type of content is objectionable are based on your moral, social, political and religious beliefs. Furthermore, you may find some types of content inappropriate for your youngest child, but suitable for your oldest children. For those reasons, flexibility is the most important buying consideration for most parents. According to reviews, SurfControl's CyberPatrol 7.6 (*est. $40 per year) offers parents the most options.

In an older review, WebUser gives CyberPatrol a five-star rating, citing outstanding features and performance. Reviewer Mark Wilson says the program provides "a wealth of filtering options." Though it doesn't earn the top spot in UK-based Computer Shopper's latest ratings, Karl Wright says it is easy to set up and "blocked everything we'd expect it to." Wright's only complaint is that chat filtering is "less impressive." PC Magazine's praise is restrained, but still positive overall. CyberPatrol rates fourth in Choice magazine's testing, but the editors readily admit that any of the top six programs are equally effective in filtering web content and that little separates the best programs.

CyberPatrol can be customized for each child by using existing Windows user accounts, or additional user profiles can be created (an unlimited number of profiles is available). Parents can customize options for limiting time on the computer or in any particular application. The program can also block access to other programs, even ones that don't access the Internet, such as your financial software. In addition, CyberPatrol can filter, monitor and record instant messaging and chat programs.

CyberPatrol includes 13 categories of questionable content. You choose which categories to block. Flexible parental control extends to individual web pages. Parents can block entire websites or just objectionable content within web pages; you choose which words to block. The program includes blacklist and whitelist filters that allow you to block or allow specific pages. You can even override a filter for a one-time exception. (A blacklist filter blocks certain, specified pages, while a whitelist filter allows only pre-approved pages to pass.)

If you don't want to spend the time to micro-manage, you can adjust the strength of the filters and let the program decide. Other advantages of CyberPatrol include preventing children from sharing personal data, the ability to run in stealth mode and free technical support. CyberPatrol's newest version also offers remote management, which lets users administer an unlimited number of computers from a single machine.

The major drawback to CyberPatrol is cost of use, since the program requires annual subscriptions (you can save money with a two-year subscription), and each subscription applies to only one computer. In comparison, Safe Eyes 5.0 (*est. $50 per year) also requires annual subscriptions, but it can be installed on up to three computers with no additional charge. If you wish to protect users on several computers, Safe Eyes is a better value.

PC Magazine chooses Safe Eyes 5.0 (*est. $50 per year) as an Editor's Choice (and the previous edition, Safe Eyes 2006, won an Editor's Choice award last year). The latest version offers the ability to create up to ten user profiles, up from four in the previous version. It also offers an enhancement to the user interface, with a helpful Account Summary page that gives an overview of current settings and allows customization. User accounts are not tied to Windows user accounts, but they can be connected with it for automatic login if that's desired. This allows for more flexibility in account management than programs like Webroot Child Safe, which only offer the option of using Windows user accounts.

PC Magazine reviewer Neil Rubenking likes Safe Eyes' reporting features. Safe Eyes is one of several programs that can be controlled from a remote location via the Internet. Changes become effective immediately. If your child engages in online behavior that you or the program has pre-determined is unacceptable, the program's publisher, InternetSafety, will contact you by e-mail, text message or telephone. Like CyberPatrol, Safe Eyes offers the ability to blacklist (always block) or whitelist (only allow) websites.

Safe Eyes doesn't have as many features as CyberPatrol, and the level of control is considerably less versatile and flexible. Safe Eyes is not capable of real-time analysis. However, it can block 35 categories of content. On social networking sites, Safe Eyes can record activities and produce reports so that parents can monitor usage. It will record if any identifying information is posted on these sites by a child.

Safe Eyes allows parents to establish a profile for each user, and kids must log in before they are allowed access. You can set time limits; the program logs web usage and chats. Safe Eyes also allows you to restrict or log chat usage, file sharing and access to any other Internet applications. Unlike CyberPatrol, however, Safe Eyes only works with Internet applications -- it can't block applications on your hard drive (but it can block peer-to-peer programs).

Safe Eyes is Macintosh-compatible, and although we found an unfavorable Mac-centric review of Safe Eyes 2006, Safe Eyes 5.0 for Mac seems to have remedied many of the problems with previous versions. However, the Mac version still can only block, not log, instant messaging. And Macintosh users will definitely want to consider Leopard's integrated parental controls before purchasing an external software program for this purpose.

In the past, Net Nanny generally fared rather poorly in reviews. That's all changed following its acquisition by ContentWatch, which married the product to its highly rated ContentProtect filtering software. Though the current version bears the Net Nanny brand, reports say the functionality and performance are more reminiscent of ContentProtect. Top reviewers add that the new Net Nanny 5.6 (*est. $50 per year) is even better than ContentProtect -- and light years ahead of the old Net Nanny (versions 5.1 and earlier).

Net Nanny 5.6 offers remote administration and the ability to block a wide variety of applications including chat, newsgroups, instant messaging, file sharing and e-mail. It also uses dynamic content analysis to analyze every page, so if a site is brand new or has changed, it will be blocked if inappropriate.

However, Net Nanny 5.6's particular strength is its intuitive interface, designed with non-tech-savvy parents in mind. Choice magazine and TopTenReviews.com are among those that top-rate Net Nanny, and PC Magazine recently honored it with an Editors' Choice award. Critics say that ease of use, dynamic contextual analysis of URLs (allowing real-time blocking) and remote management rank as its strongest features. PC Magazine's Neil. J. Rubenking lauds its excellent Flash-based reports and notes that key features are "hardened" so they are not easy for kids or even teenagers to circumvent.

Like CyberPatrol, Net Nanny comes with a license for one computer, and additional licenses must be purchased separately (*est. $20 per additional computer). However, TopTenReviews.com notes that settings are transferred between computers, making multiple installations easier. And Net Nanny offers toll-free tech support.

We found several reviews of the new parental controls in Microsoft's Vista, including a review at CNet.com that compares Vista and Leopard, the new Apple OS, in that regard. Vista offers all the major features of standalone software: time limit settings, adjustable levels of site and application blocking, IM blocking and usage logging. It also offers the ability to restrict or allow games based on the ratings from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).

One criticism is that Vista doesn't allow parents to customize time limits as well as some programs (you can't set a daily or weekly maximum, says PC Magazine's Neil J. Rubenking), and another is that it doesn't offer remote management. According to a review by a blogger called "Island Dog" on the WinCustomize.com website, Vista's controls are easy to set up and use, and very effective and difficult to circumvent.

Microsoft charges no fees to use Vista's parental controls. Updates are automatic. The lack of annual fees is a competitive advantage. Vista isn't suitable for every computer, however. Experts say Vista's system requirements are steeper than the minimums stated by Microsoft (as shown in our comparison chart). Experts recommend 1 GB of RAM. Microsoft has a page dedicated to describing the features of the parental controls in Vista; you can find the link in Best Research below.

Apple's new operating system, Leopard, offers comparable features to Vista and standalone software, except that it doesn't allow the same fine-tuned control over games as Vista does. However, CNet.com's review found that Leopard's user interface was much more intuitive and easy to use, and it had better control of time limits, using a drop-down menu instead of a calendar grid. It also allows parents to make the computer easy for a young child to use, removing unneeded icons and simplifying the interface. And it offers the ability to remotely manage a child's computer from the parent's computer.