Free Filtering Software

Free parental control software

The most comprehensive reviews of freeware for parental control come from Choice magazine, which pits them against commercially available programs in its comprehensive, multi-category analysis. They conclude that the parental control freeware they tested performs as well as or better than commercial offerings. Parental Control Bar is freeware and ranked third overall and is "as good as commercial program CyberPatrol." Drawbacks to freeware are usually a relative lack of features, say Choice's editors, and lack of technical support.

Among freeware parental control software options, K9 Web Protection 3.0.23 by Blue Coat places sixth in Choice's review and is rated a seven out of ten by MoralMetric. MoralMetric says K9's big drawback is lack of IM and peer-to-peer controls, rendering it a good fit for younger children but not teens.

We only found one professional review of Crawler Parental Controls, but UK's Computer Shopper thinks enough of the program to rate it number one and grant it a Best Buy designation. Reviewer Karl Wright says, "It has all the features you'd expect in a paid-for program, and it's also easy to use." His only complaint is that the program can be overzealous. The program gets mixed user reviews at CNet's Download.com; some love the program, others not so much, and there seems to be no middle ground.