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A Look At Filtering/Blocking Software
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This material may also be found at PC MAGAZINE ONLINE REVIEW OF FILTERING PROGRAMScontinuedMicrosystems Software The most powerful package families can use to safeguard their children, Cyber Patrol 3.1 ($29.95 list, including a three-month subscription to the Cyber NOT list) offers a wealth of highly customized features to control online and off-line computer usage. For the average user, however, the complexity of setup may be tough to handle. Cyber Patrol lets you set restrictions for up to ten users with its Cyber NOT and Cyber YES site and word lists, the PICS rating standard, and your own customized changes. The NOT list, selected by a team of parents and educators, is divided into a number of useful categories, such as WWW, FTP, newsgroups, IRC Chat, games, and applications. The categories are rated to a fine level of precision for objectionable content, including nudity, sex, cults, drugs, violence, gambling, sex education, alcohol, and tobacco. You can receive weekly updates to the lists by subscription. This program also includes a very granular time management system to monitor online and off-line activity. Although you can't track specifically where users have gone online, you can track such things as bypass (times the program was shut down and avoided) and total usage of the computer. The ChatGard option keeps personal information, including names, addresses, and phone and credit card numbers, from being sent online by replacing the words and character strings with x's. You will definitely need the help and READ.ME files for the time-consuming setup routine. Cyber Patrol features lots of functionality, but be prepared to work to extract the product's full potential.
Solid Oak Software Inc. Targeted primarily at preteens and young teenagers, Cybersitter 2.1 ($39.95 list), from Solid Oak Software, effectively and unobtrusively logs Internet activity and blocks inappropriate material. Cybersitter's free daily updates, customized settings, and context-sensitive phrase filtering make it an ideal tool for parents to restrict the areas of the Internet that cause the greatest concern. The product blocks three preset groups: WWW and FTP sites, Usenet newsgroups, and individual words and phrases. In each of the categories, you can block access, log hits, or both. Cybersitter also supports the PICS-compliant ratings systems, RSAC, SafeSurf, and Solid Oak's own Voluntary Content Rating system (VCR). In addition, you can create a custom list of words and phrases to prevent your home address or phone numbers from being transmitted. The context-sensitive phrase filtering lets you enter groups of words in sequence to block inappropriate transmissions. If a child tries to search for offensive words (such as the seven words you can't say on television), the search won't return any sites. If you search on more ambiguous words (say, girls or drugs), Cybersitter's smart filtering allows sites on topics such as girl scouts or pharmaceuticals to be displayed, but blocks pages containing offensive content. During our testing, Cybersitter worked extremely well, only occasionally blocking good sites with bad-sounding URLs (for example, an Engineering site with "BourbonStreet" in the URL). When a child tries to access a restricted site, Cybersitter either will deliver a DNS error or a customized message from the parent. If a child gets into a newsgroup or Web site that isn't blocked, Cybersitter blanks out offensive words, making descriptive messages look like a Mad Libs page. The list of restricted Web sites, newsgroups, and adult chat lines is updated daily as a free download. You can't edit the restricted list, but the company promises an override feature in a future version. Installation is simple, with the hardest question asked being your e-mail address and the name of your SMTP server (optional at setup time, but required later for updates).
Pearl Software Inc. If you want to evaluate what your child is viewing online and create your own lists to limit access, Cyber Snoop 2.0 ($29.95), from Pearl Software, is the tool for you. A stealth utility that records every move your child makes on the Internet, it provides no preset lists of restricted sites but offers many customized features for online activity. Cyber Snoop tracks IRC chat, e-mail, FTP, Usenet, and Web activity and saves it in an Activity Log that looks and feels like a database. Each entry is displayed by source, URL, e-mail sender, and the date and time. Using the log, a parent can sort entries by keyword, date, e-mail, Web, FTP, newsgroups, or chat sites. You can view the text as well as the encoded binaries of anything that your child receives or sends over the Internet. The Web button generates an HTML Quick Link page within your browser, and if you're connected to the Internet, the button generates hyperlinks to take you directly to any site in question. Cyber Snoop lets you create separate Allow and Block lists for each of the five sources it monitors. You can allow full access, block all access, block access only to listed sites, or allow access only to approved sites from each source, but logging is universally either on or off. This product can import and export text files from either list and also export the Activity Log into the Allow or Block lists to use as filters. On request, Pearl will also supply a list of more than 1,800 Not Recommended sites that can be imported into the filter. While Cyber Snoop does not mask or block words and requires you to create your own filter lists from scratch, it is one of the more flexible filters we've seen in this roundup. If you want to know where your children have been as well as protect them from inappropriate material, Cyber Snoop is for you.
Net Nanny Ltd. For complete control over what information can be sent or received on your PC, the flexible and easy-to-use Net Nanny 3.1. ($39.95 list) may be your answer. You can use its free downloadable lists (updated every two weeks) or your own custom ones to mask objectionable words, block sites, or even shut down a program, while logging all activity that occurs. NetNanny is not as robust in its filtering capabilities as Cybersitter or in its charting as Cyber Patrol, but it is still an effective filtering tool. To get started, you can use Net Nanny's downloadable Can go list of URLs or its Can't go list of URLs, newsgroups, and chat channels to reflect your own values. You also can create your own don't want your child to share with others, such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and credit card numbers. You will need to enter all permutations of a number (555-1234, 5551234, and 555 1234), to catch all possibilities, however. When Net Nanny detects a listed violation, it can block access, monitor hits, mask words, or shut down an application -- all of which worked well in our tests. The password-protected administration program controls these penalties, and they can be reviewed and modified at any time. Administration is easy to access and use, even while using other applications. Net Nanny's successful monitoring and personalized custom options, along with its informative manual and easy configuration tools, make it well suited to families having children of all ages.
PC DataPower Featuring sophisticated time management for applications, Rated-PG ($54.95 list), from PC DataPower, lets you control your children's computer time. The product also includes more than 2,500 Internet addresses that have been rated according to the SafeSurf Internet Rating Standard. While the installation process is virtually hands-off, configuring this system is not. The time-consuming process begins by requiring you to log on by using the Microsoft Windows 95 Logon Screen and the user name Admin, in order to change settings. To switch users or test your settings, you must shut down and log on as a different user. Under Admin, all restrictions are turned off. All applications used, including your Internet dial-up and browser, must be listed in the Application Control List. Applications may be set for daily, weekly, or monthly time usage for each user, and you can set a warning or simply shut down when the time expires. You also may allow for a time extension; all applications and files can be password-protected for each user. New installations can be restricted by using the Never run option in the preferences window. This product provides usage reports that can be filtered by users, user groups, application groups, or all of them. You can use the reports to generate pie charts or bar graphs of how each user's time is spent. Rated-PG's site and word list can be updated by subscription. Registered users get two free upgrades. Although difficult to set up and run, Rated-PG works well and is easy to manage once configured.
SpyGlass Inc. A pioneer in the industry, SpyGlass's SurfWatch 1.6 ($19.95 direct) remains an effective filtering tool but doesn't let you edit restrictive lists or change your password. Its ease of use, simple setup, and robust filtering library still make it a worthwhile choice. SurfWatch places a priority on restricting sexually explicit Web sites. It also lists, identifies, and blocks sites containing violence, hate speech, illicit drugs, alcohol, and gambling. When a user tries to access a restricted site with Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer, or Mosaic, SurfWatch returns a Blocked message. SurfWatch also blocks FTP and Gopher sites, newsgroups, and IRC chat channels. At press time, this product didn't allow access to its word-and-site database. But Version 2.0 -- which is due out by the time you read this -- will allow users to create their own Custom, Restrict, and Allow lists and will also include the Yahooligans Allow list. SurfWatch becomes operational immediately upon installation. You can subscribe to its monthly maintenance plan. Despite some limitations, this is still a good choice for families who want a program that essentially runs itself.
Logon Data Corp. A robust word- and URL-filtering tool, X-Stop 2.0 ($29.95), from Logon Data Corp., is straightforward and simple to use. It screens obscenities and racial and ethnic slurs, and it blocks illicit Web sites and searches. It also was the only product in this roundup to offer a means of restoring your system after a disable attempt. The system uses dual password protection, and the user may customize although not view the included lists. Since X-Stop warns that tampering can leave your PC functioning erratically, a comforting feature is the Rescue Disk. Created during the install process, the Rescue Disk allows you to rebuild if someone tries to hack your system. X-Stop has five filtering libraries: foul word, e-mail, URL, search engine, and search engine keyword. You can receive free daily updates from X-Stop's Web site. The user customizes the actual lists without access. By your entering words, URL addresses, or search engines onto the library-edit screen, the Remove button will be enabled. If the word or address doesn't exist, the Add button is enabled. X-Stop will filter words from its foul word library on and off the Internet. Though X-Stop doesn't currently monitor the Winsock, Logon plans to add Winsock 2.0 support in a future version of the product. We tested word processing applications, e-mail, even Visual Basic, and X-Stop x'd out the words as quickly as they were typed. In short, X-Stop takes the job of blocking obscenity seriously. For users looking to filter what their children see without a lot of bells and whistles, X-Stop offers a solution.
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