Because the Internet allows all kinds of information to be posted, you will find material and information that may be objectionable to you and your family. Many of these sites are responsible, and use every means to "BLOCK" these pages from viewing by those who should not or do not want to view them.
Before you purchase any of these programs, you should know that they do not work effectively unless you read, understand and install the program on your computer properly. In most cases the procedures are very simple.
HOW THEY WORK
In general, these programs "look" for words and phrases that would be used in objectionable material; or responsible Web Pages that have registered with them as inappropriate for viewing by minors.. These programs allow you to add words to the lists so that you may "fine tune" the rejection criteria. If any of these words appear on the web page that is being addressed, the program will not allow its content to be displayed.
These programs also provide a means for "PASSWORDING" the program so that it is difficult to defeat as well as easy for an adult to turn the software off. This is important, and should not be taken lightly. The adult password system allows you to find things that would usually be blocked by the word search. As an example, if the word "breast" is used in the search, an adult could not access a page which had a receipe using chicken breasts, and could not access articles on breast cancer.
HOW DO I KNOW ITS WORKING ?
If someone is smart enough to understand the workings of the Internet, they may be smart enough to defeat the software. The way to minimize this, is to change the password regularly; and remember what it is. DO NOT write the password down where someone can find it easily.
In order for your computer to run efficiently on the Internet, it stores the most recent web pages and images it looked at in a browser directory called the CACHE. When the Internet session is over, this file is usually NOT erased, and you can look at it later. If the computer has been used to find objectionable pages the cache will hold the evidence. Most people using the Net forget about this file, so it is a good place to look for clues.
Bookmarks are used to find Pages that you want to return to in the future. These bookmarks are held in a bookmark file. This file is usually on the hard drive, but could be placed on a floppy disk. Check this out.
DISCLAIMER
The creators of this Web Page do not recommend any one of these programs over another, and do not make any claims of usability for them. We have presented the programs on this page for informational purposes and to help you find the programs that will make your Internet usage safe and enjoyable.