Internet protection for kids is a vital part of being a modern day parent. Keeping your children safe on the internet can be hard work and constant monitoring of what your child is doing is not always possible. So what do you do if your child is obsessed with the internet but you don’t have enough time to watch what they are doing all of the time? The answer is simple; let someone else lookout for the safety of your child for you with internet security.

What is OnlineFamily.Norton?

Being supportive of your child’s online activities is important but there is a way of allowing them more freedom without putting them at risk with enhanced internet security. The OnlineFamily.Norton program is designed to help parents to ensure their children come to no harm online while at the same time allowing them a certain level of freedom.The OnlineFamily.Norton service is free allowing yout to protect your kids online at no cost.

OnlineFamily.Norton can be set up very easily. You register, then add each of your children to the service. None of their personal information is provided you only need to enter their age and gender. The internet protection rules are automatically set up based on the year your child was born. You can further customise security rules for each child on their profile page. The OnlineFamily.Norton website makes the set up of the service very simple with easy to follow instructions.

Here are some of the most important features provided by the OnlineFamily.Norton service that provides great internet protection for kids:

• Personal Profiles – Every child is different and you have the ability to manage your child’s profile information based around their individual interests, age and tastes
• Web Monitoring – This service allows you to see exactly which web pages your child has visited to enable you to check if they have been exposed to any harmful material or inappropriate content
• Block websites – Being able to block certain websites is vital if your child enjoys surfing online
• Chat Monitoring – The option to monitor who your child is friends with online is important as this allows you to see who is talking to your child
• Time Settings – You can use the OnlineFamily.Norton service to set times your children can be online. This is great if your children have a computer in their bedroom.

Other vital offerings from the internet security service include social network monitoring and a time limit for how long your child is allowed to spend online per day. Ensure your child is safe with the OnlineFamily.Norton service it offers internet protection for kids. For more information please visit www.onlinefamilyinfo.norton.com.

You can find furhter information on how to protect your kids online from these articles. Keep Kids Safe Online

Guest Article by Louise Goldstein

Norton has notched up another award; this time its OnlineFamily.Norton, a free online safety service, which has walked off with the iParenting Media Award in the Best Software category.

Norton is the brand name of Symantec, the US NASDAQ quoted group, and is one of the main players in the computer security industry.

OnlineFamily.Norton is all about creating a service, based on the internet, that hands parents the power to connect with their children’s online experiences. The idea is to understand what the kids are seeing, learning and actually doing whilst online. And this process is known as ‘The Talk’ – the communication between parent and child to help keep the latter safe on the internet.

Created in 1996, iParenting.com is a parents and parents-to-be online community website. It is part of the Disney empire and sits alongside such other sites as FamilyFun.com, Kaboose and DisneyFamily.com. Indeed, it is part of a 40 website network which grew from one single website, www.PregancyToday.com.

And iParenting Media is the team behind the iParenting Media Awards Programme which is certified as a product review system.

Marian Merritt, Norton Internet Safety Advocate, said:
“We are extremely pleased that iParenting Media has recognized OnlineFamily.Norton as the best solution to protect kids online. Unlike existing parental controls software, which focus primarily on blocking objectionable sites and applications, OnlineFamily.Norton helps protect kids online by fostering a dialogue between parents and kids about their online lives.”

An iParenting spokesperson said:
“Unlike many parental control products, OnlineFamily.Norton aims to create dialog between parents and kids, not assert draconian control.”

Symantec is behind the Norton Antivirus series of products which protect computer users from cybercrime in all its manifestations, including viruses, spyware and phishing. It develops software programmes to combat such nasties, whilst trying not to absorb too much computer power to run them in the background.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Norton has compiled a list of the top US kids online searches last year and near the top of the pile was the somewhat predictable searches for “sex” and “porn” which were number four and five respectively with those aged 18 and under.

Norton, which is the anti-virus software made by Symantec, make the point that whilst parents may live in hope their teenage offspring are searching for things like the blockbuster movie hit New Moon, or in the case of the seven and unders Sesame Street, their kids will also be finding out a few other things as well.

However, the good news is that the top three kids’ searches in 2009 were YouTube, Google and Facebook.

But Norton advises parents to be aware of what their children are searching for, as each of the first three choices above can of course lead to highly inappropriate content. They are also recommend using a software package to help parents keep an eye on their kids online searches. The Norton OnlineFamily is one such choice for those parents keen to get help.

And when the stats are shown for those searches including the words Sex and Porn, there seems little differences between the boys and the girls. For example, although for boys the search term sex came in at number four, for girls it was only one less at number five. In case you were wondering, girls put the search words Taylor Swift in at number four.

As for the boy’s top 25 searches, they were mostly concerned, apart from the adult related words, with social networking and shopping sites, and games. The girls also had a panache for social networking sites, but were more interested in music, TV, film and celebrity sites.

Not surprisingly perhaps, recently deceased pop mega star Michael Jackson was the most popular celebrity search last year with kids, coming in at number 12, with Taylor Swift at number 13. Other top celebrity searches included Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Lil Wayne, Megan Fox, Eminem, Beyonce, Britney Spears, Demi Lovato, the Black Eyed Peas, the Jonas Brothers, Rihanna, and Chris Brown.

Marian Merritt, Norton Internet Safety Advocate, said:
“When it comes to online threats, parents need to be concerned about more than just their child running into inappropriate content. What makes OnlineFamily.Norton unique is that it gives parents insight into kids’ online activities and what interests them most so that parents can ensure they have a discussion with them about topics they’re curious about, as well as protect them from cyber threats.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Learn how to control your kids surfing here

Computer security giant McAfee has introduced a new software programme that prevents children from online dangers such as viewing bad content, getting involved in cyber-bullying and engaging in communications on social networking sites.

Known as McAfee Family Protection, it gives parents a chance to not only protect their kids whilst online, but also to teach their offspring safe surfing habits and techniques.

Brent Remai, vice president of consumer marketing at McAfee, said:
“Cyber threats are increasing exponentially, and at the same time more and more children are spending time online. I see these dangers every day and the threats are very real for kids. It takes both education and technology to protect kids from online dangers, and the McAfee Family Protection software makes it simple for parents to keep their kids safe online.”

McAfee revealed that 62% of parents worry just as much about teenage online safety, as they do about drinking and driving. Furthermore, studies have shown that 52% of teenagers have provided personal information online to people they didn’t know. What’s more, one out of 17 children have been bullied, harassed, or threatened online.

McAfee Family Protection includes a number of unique features. Foremost, is its ability to be structured in terms of the child’s age group. Then comes parental emails, or texts, which warn when their child is trying to access banned websites. Parents can also filter out inappropriate YouTube videos and also block instant messaging and email services. And it does all this without exposing the computer user to unnecessary screen advertising.

And for those parents who cannot be near their child’s computer for long periods of time, they can create and change settings remotely by logging onto a website where they can access their personal account.

It costs from $39.99 and works with various other McAfee computer security products, including McAfee VirusScan® Plus, McAfee Internet Security and McAfee Total Protection.

Features include:

• Web Blocking. Lets parents block up to 35 categories of bad content including pornography, hate sites and school cheating;
• Program Blocking. Helps avoid programmes such as peer-to- peer file sharing programs that may disable family PCs;
• E-mail Content Management. Allows parents to pre- approve e-mail addresses of friends and block unknown e-mail addresses. It can also completely block Web-based email;
• Social Networking. This feature records and alerts parents when inappropriate, or personal information is posted to popular social networking sites;
• Instant Messaging. Lets parents monitor and record instant messaging chats. Parents can also block IM programs that are installed on the PC by using the Program Blocking feature.
• Time Limits. This enable families to select the amount of time children and teens can use the Internet.
• Reports. Provides parents with a complete view of sites visited, including banned sites, as well as recorded IM activity.
• Instant Alerts. These are provided by e-mails, or texts, and warn parents when access to bad material is attempted and when confidential information is posted on social networking sites.

Guest Article by Neil Camp