Internet for Beginners

Child Safety on AOL

Monitor online activity with AOL Guardian.

When you opt ofr AOL Guardian, you will receive "report cards" via email that will show you where your children are surfing the Web, what email they are sending and receiving, and see their IM activity.

Online Timer

The Online Timer will let you customize when and how long your children can access AOL. You set the controls by day, time of day, or session length.

Approve email contacts.

You can create a list of approved email addresses that will allow your child to interact with friends without worrying about email from unknown sources.

Decide whilch Web sites your children can access.

You will be able to choose which Web sites your children can access. You can also approve sites they request with Web Unlock (TM) features after you've viewed it.

Manage Parental Control features away from home.

You can access Parental Controls via AOL.com. This way you'll be able to monitor your children's activities online even when you aren't home.

Limiting access to other software.

The Internet Access Controls feature allows you to "lock down" your PC to keep your children from surfing the Web with external browsers. This means your children won't be able to bypass Parental Controls on what Web sites they can visit by opening another browser outside of the one provided with the AOL software and service.

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Parental Controls are separated into four age categories:

• Kids Only (12 & under)
• Young Teen (13-15)
• Mature Teen (16-17)
• General Access (18+)

Kids Only (12 and under):

• Age-appropriate content through AOL's Kids Only Channel.
• Age-appropriate content on the Internet, when accessed through AOL.
• Premium Services blocked.
• Instant Messages are blocked.

Young Teen (13-15):

• Age-appropriate interactive features and information on AOL.
• Age-appropriate interactive features and information on the Internet, when accessed through AOL.
• Premium Services blocked.
• Private and member chat rooms blocked.
• Instant Message notes blocked.

Mature Teen (16-17):
This category allows the most freedom of the children's categories.

• Access to most interactive features and information on AOL.
• Access to most interactive features and information on the Internet, when accessed through AOL.
• Web sites with explicit, mature content are blocked.
• Internet newsgroups are blocked.
• Premium Services are blocked.

General Access (18+):

• Full access to all features and content on AOL.
• Full access to all features and content on the Internet.

Some features on AOL are, by default, blocked when Parental Controls are set at Kids Only and Young Teens. Parents can choose to block these features for the other two category settings as well. There are other features, however, that are not automatically blocked, and parents can edit these controls themselves, blocking certain features while leaving other features unblocked.

For directions on editting different features via the Parental Controls, read the following how-to articles:

• Email Controls
  
• Chat Controls
  
• Instant Message Controls
  
• Download Controls
  
• Newsgroup Controls
  
• Web Controls
  
• Premium Services