Internet filters - how do they work? any free ones?

[mamalatte]

We only have one computer in our house, so it is both my work computer and the one my kids (age 7 and 11) use, mostly to watch videos or play online video games. So, they don't get to use it very often because I am usually using it, and when they do get to use it, I am usually nearby and supervising/aware of what they are watching. However, I do occasionally let them use the computer by themselves -- for example so I can catch a few extra ZZZs on a Sunday morning (or like recently, when I was under the weather for a few days I let them use it more than usual so I could get some rest).

Is there some kind of internet filter I can get to block any porn-type sites they might accidentally come across (or seek out)? Is it software that goes on the computer, or something different that has to do with the router or internet access (we have wifi in the house)?

One place I worked had some sort of filter in place for all employees, but it would often block sites that we legitimately needed for research, so I don't want to set up something on my own computer that will have this problem. On my home computer we have different "users" set up on the computer, one for me and one for the kids -- I have a password on mine, but there is no password on theirs. Is there some way I can block/filter their internet usage without affecting mine?

Of course if there is any FREE solution that anyone knows of, that would be even better!

Any thoughts/experiences much appreciated!

[ToomuchStuff]

There are levels of filtering. You don't say what your operating system is, but one of the differences between Home and Pro with Microsofts OS, is some of the networking features you can setup in Pro.
Your NAT box (typically sold as a home firewall), probably has some abilities. (I think most due these days) They vary by subject matter/keywords to time (turn on when kids aren't home but parents are). You will have to see the doc's for the model you have.
Then there is the Netnanny's or whatever brand they are calling them, softwares of the world. Schools will normally recommend what they use. Then you have things like your Hosts file which effects all users.
The best filter IMHE is to have the home computer in a public room where a parent or adult can overlook what one is doing. Because none of these will stop what a kid does/learns outside the home, at a buddies, on their computer, etc.

[mamalatte]

Thanks. I have Windows 7 Home Premium. I don't know what a NAT box is or a Hosts file, sounds like I need to educate myself some more regarding my options.

Totally agree best to physically watch the screen but as an exhausted single parent I occasionally let them watch it unsupervised in the early morning . . . Maybe I just need to stop that practice; the main result is that I wake up to fighting over the computer, so there are two reasons to just tell everyone they have to read books, do puzzles, or any of the many other non-computer things that are available to pass time in the early morning while Mom sleeps til 8 a.m. :)

[SteveinMN]

Filtering software pretty much falls into two camps: blacklist and whitelist. Blacklists are set up so access is allowed to all sites which are not on the blacklist. Either you or your software provider add to the list (because a blacklist will stop a direction to go to debbiedoesdallas.com but won't catch debbiedoesdallas2.com or debbiedoesdelaware.com unless those sites, too, are put on the list.)

Whitelists are set up so you (or the software provider) allow access [I]only to sites listed. So if the whitelist has just www.yahoo.com (http://www.yahoo.com), www.kidsgames.com (http://www.kidsgames.com), and www.hometownlibrary (http://www.<em>hometownlibrary</em>).com on it, requests to debbiedoes[anyplace].com will be caught. But so will requests to www.dictionary.com (http://www.dictionary.com), www.hometownnewspaper (http://www.<em>hometownnewspaper</em>).com, and any other site that's not on the list.

So it's a matter of how much latitude your kids have to go surfing by themselves. There also will be false positives. I got caught by the company proxy once looking for programming course on DVD because the same site also sold XXX DVDs. No blacklist will catch everything and a whitelist may give you enough update tasks to make you regret the choice. Also if everyone on the computer is using the same account, you will have to disable the list for whatever you want to do or you will be subject to the same restrictions.

All that said, you might poke around your browser or OS a little to see if there's something that will let you restrict content (some search engines will do this in their on-line preferences). It would be smart anyway to create a separate account on your computer for your kids. With that you can lock down very tightly their Web access and even the possibility that they can access your work files or personal email/browsing history and cause even-inadvertant havoc.

[mamalatte]

Thanks, Steve. I do have a separate "user" set up for the kids and myself. My "user" has a password they do not know, so they can't get in there and poke around or mess anything up! They also have fewer programs available under their user.

You are right, Windows 7 does have built-in "parental controls" which I was not previously aware of. That seems like a good place to start. And then it looks like also I could also download some sort of Web filtering program. At least I have some ideas now as to where to start, thank you very much!