According to Consumer Search, the top 4 best parental control software are Cyber Patrol 7.6, Safe Eyes 5.0, Net Nanny 5.6, and Windows Vista Parental Controls. Cyber Patrol's big advantage is versatility. It gives parent's more options than any competing product. All parental control software lets users restrict kids' access to Internet applications like chat, file-sharing, or web browsing. It can also restrict access to programs on the computer's hard drive, such as games or finance software. A downside is that it can only be installed on one computer. Safe Eyes is a good choice if your home has more than one computer because it can be installed on up to three systems. Safe Eyes' remote changes become effective immediately. It is also one of the few programs available in Mac version. Net Nanny is very intuitive and smooth for parents, yet hard for kids to figure out. It blocks peer-to-peer networks, allows remote management and provides effective filtering. If one needs this program for more than one computer, licenses can be purchased separately. Windows Vista Parental Controls offer most of the major features of standalone software including time limit settings, adjustable levels of site and application blocking, IM blocking, and usage logging. Vista does not allow parents to customize time limits as well as some program and does not offer remote management, which is the downside.
What should one look for when purchasing parental control software? One should look for user-accessible access levels and customizable websites. This will allow you to tweak lists of blocked sites as well as adjust the level of restriction as kids mature. It is also important to look for filtering of instant messaging and social networking sites. Some of the most horrible online threats are rooted to instant messages and social networking sites. Predators aim to contact kids through these sites and prompt the kids to give them their address, phone numbers, etc. The last piece of advice is to look for a package that is easy to maintain and update. As your child grows and matures, you will want to continually allow access to some of the restricted websites. No parental controls are perfect. Some blockage is better than none, so every parent should take a step toward parental control software.
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