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Protecting Your Family Online

Introduction

These days we are always hearing about the internet, most of the time we are told how wonderful and enabling it is but occasionally there are darker stories about the dangers of the internet, especially for children. After reading this document I hope that you will have a better understanding of what the dangers are and what you can do about them.

DANGER!

First off let’s put things in proportion, despite all the media reports of sexual predators on the internet these people are still in a tiny minority. The advantages of using the web are huge and far outweigh the risks, especially as with the application of a little common sense the risk can be dramatically reduced. So what can you do?

Put the Computer in a Common Area

One of the most common pieces of advice not to allow your children to have a computer in their rooms; instead put the computer in a common area of the house. This makes it much easier to supervise them, however, it’s not always practical, especially as children get older; teenagers are hardly going to be happy chatting to their friends online with half the family staring over their shoulder.

Content Filtering

So, you’ve given them a computer in their room, or you don’t have time to supervise them at all time, what other measures can you take? There are a variety of parental control programs which allow you to stop your children accessing certain websites or running specified programs. Content filtering programs are the most common variety; these programs disallow internet access to content which is on a centrally maintained and updated list of unsuitable material. Some popular examples are netnanny,  CyberPatrol and CyberSitter.
There are also programs which keep a record of key information such as your address and contact details and prevent your children from divulging this information online.

Protect the Computer to Protect the Child

As you are no doubt aware the internet is awash with malicious software: malware, viruses, spyware, Trojans, the list goes on. Happily, most of these can be stopped simply by installing freely available antivirus software. This is a must for any computer but will be especially important in protecting your children as the antivirus software will catch any malicious programs that your child may inadvertently download.
As well as antivirus software you will want to ensure you have adequate user control implemented, make sure the administrator account is password protected and the user account your child is using does not have the right to uninstall the various software packages which are protecting them. There is a good guide to user security in windows available from the Microsoft support centre here: http://support.microsoft.com/

Smart Kids

Many parents will find that their children quickly outstrip them in their knowledge of computers and especially as kids get older, it can become impossible to stop your children accessing harmful content on the web.  At this point you must realize that whatever technology you are using, it is just a tool which makes it easier to protect your children online. Everyone has their own opinions on how to raise children and this is what it ultimately comes down to.

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