Parental Control Software

Why you need parental control software

Growing up in today is nowhere near what it was like for us growing up as kids, our parents used to worry about us crossing the street and “taking candy from strangers”, but today there’s a huge exposure to a whole new set of dangers within the online world. Managing these dangers is not quite as simple as just checking the history on your PC or monitoring activities, the last place your children are likely to access the internet is your home PC. We live in a mobile age and mobile devices are dominating the marketplace, your children now have plenty of different ways of accessing the online world and the dangers within.

With so many devices and different ways to connect, protecting your children from the dangers that lie within the Internet is that much more challenging, but essential to prevent tragedies ranging from cyberbullying to predatory behavior.

Cyber Nanny programs and proper settings can help you to keep tabs on all of your kids’ online activities, assuring you peace of mind in knowing that your kids are not exposed to online dangers. And if they are exposed to online dangers, Shield Genie’s parental control software can alert you to the threat and tackle it immediately.

But is it really so important that you protect your child’s every move on the web?

Do you really know what the actual dangers are that children face online from their tablets and phones:

Cyber bullying. As if bullying inside of schools and on the playground wasn’t enough of an issue, bullying has now evolved from the physical to the online world of social media. With the security of hiding behind a pc screen or with the anonymity of a screen name and a virtual personality, many take it upon themselves to taunt young or emotionally vulnerable children. Most children do not tell their parents if they are being cyber bullied and deploying parental control software is a way of ensuring that you can protect your child from this kind of activity online. Always remember to address this matter immediately, as cyberbullying has proven itself emotionally crippling and even deadly.

Pornography

You would think it is easy enough to block access to porn sites so that your kids cannot access adult material, but pornography is openly shared on social media, through chat applications or via email accounts. Shield Genie software will also detect pornographic materials via these channels to ensure that no one ever intentionally or unintentionally has access to 18+ materials.

Sexual Predators

Varying in sizes and sickness, predators are always just a few keystrokes away from you or your family. One way to limit access to family Facebook, Twitter or Google+ accounts is to set your accounts to private and select the option to stop search engines from using it as a result. When parents set up their kids’ accounts for emails or social media-Parents should always do this-they can also set alerts for contact, comment approval and notification, presets for NSFW and omit pornographic search results with profile parental controls.

Some parents believe or are convinced by their kids that constant monitoring is not needed, while others convince themselves that just profile and search engine settings is enough. Researching people online is quite difficult and if active, a profile can prove to be the only result you find concerning someone with constant online or everyday exposure to your child.

A responsible parent can never stop constant monitoring.

Predators know about these settings and how to bypass them. A sexual predator will typically pose as someone your child’s age, behind a false profile and with pictures to prove it “real”. Just like we were taught to learn our address and phone numbers as kids, ours need to be taught proper online etiquette and disclosure. You never want your kid announcing their first night alone or pending family vacation on their pages or with their online friends, you teach them to not share images with anyone other than family members or parentally approved friends and you ensure that their own posts are not misconstrued or offensive.

Phishing Emails, Websites and Identity Thieves

With added security and monitoring, your child can never be exposed to phishing sites or emails associated with predatory marketing sites or identity thieves. Your child has a clean slate, as such they are particularly interesting targets to online identity thieves or fraudulent creditors. Parents should pay close attention mystery letters, emails and phone calls from credit card companies to your child and should always respond to legitimate collection calls to collect information on the possible exposure of your child’s identity.

RECORD ACTIVITY

Knowing what your children do online means that you can discuss their Internet activity with them from a fully informed perspective. You can step in and advise them if they are viewing inappropriate content or engaging in inappropriate activity.

• Record all the websites your children visit
• Record in detail when, where and how long they spent time online
• Track and record all keystrokes typed into your computer with the keylogger
• Review all online searches
• Automated screenshots record graphics, emails, IM and webcam. You can play back an entire session online like a movie
• Record incoming webcam feeds with inbuilt video
• Auto save any document in any Windows application. Never lose work again!
• Block any websites you wish
• Block any applications you wish

SAFER INTERNET

Certain Internet filters have mutliple categories for web blocking and filtering, updated daily. Sometimes, you can’t be there to monitor your child online. Be sure they are safe by limiting or removing your child’s access to undesirable web content.

AUTOMATIC ALERTS

Be aware what’s going on, before things get out of control. Often parents do not become aware of dangerous activity online until it starts to have a negative effect on their child.

• Red flag keywords can trigger parental alerts via email and text
• Remote reporting means you can keep in touch wherever you are
• Keyword alerts can notify you of inappropriate language or topics that cause concern
• Keyword alerts can also notify you if they visit a site containing such language or topics

MONITOR SOCIAL NETWORKS

• Record all social networking activity (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace etc)
• Monitor profiles they visit and pictures they post
• Record email, webmail, instant messages and chat

This can help shield your child from harassment or online bullying before your child gets hurt and also enables you to protect your child’s reputation online. Increasingly institutions are using information found on the Internet, particularly on social networking sites supposedly for advertising purposes. Most this information is later used in an effort to focus age specific advertising, but social media sites have proven quite aloof when asked about other ads that appear on a child’s social media profile page but are obviously not meant for children.

MONITOR YOUR COMPUTER

• See every program run, including games and iTunes
• See how much time they are spending on homework or any other program or site
• Know when your child logs on or off
• Auto- receive child activity reports
• Monitor what they watch or listen to

Children have no clue when it comes to illegal file sharing, downloading or peer sharing and not knowing could prove costly. Being aware of what your child does online means you can prevent inappropriate activity from becoming harmful to your child, your family and even your PC.

Watch from the background

You can run invisible in discreet operating mode, offering a softer touch that may work better with some older children who respond better to discreet guidance rather than an authoritarian approach. As your child gets older and becomes more aware of the dangers online, the discreet approach provides the stability of supervision without the intrusiveness of over-parenting.