Child web browser- recommendations?

[ikoiko]

I would like to give my daughter her own powerbook and allow her to use it in her room for schoolwork, etc.
But I want to block, filter and monitor the web sites she either goes to and prevent her from accessing.

So, does anyone know of a special browser or a plug in for safari where I can be comfortable she will not go into adult sites?

Thanks!

 

[Tetano]

you can check PithHelmet, I use only for blocking ads but perhaps it can do more...

 

[ora]

You could try freeverse's Bumper Car ( http://www.freeverse.com/bumpercar/ ), it looks good and very customizable.

 

[Giaguara]

norton parental control comes with .mac.
i haven't tried it as i have no need .. anyone tried it? if you have .mac, you might give it a try.

 

[bobw]

I would use anything Norton related on an OS X system. What were you thinking Gia

 

[ikoiko]

so you would recommend Norton stuff for osx... or not?
(facetious alert detected)

 

[bobw]

I would not recommend any Norton product for OS X. Most sites that review products will give you the same recommendation.

CutX;

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/24008

 

[perfessor101]

So, does anyone know of a special browser or a plug in for safari where I can be comfortable she will not go into adult sites?

There is no such thing as absolute security to prevent children from getting into adult sites. Some of the really bottom feeder sites intentionally seek to fool the various filters etc that are on the market and they get pretty good at it too.

There are ISPs who specialize in "family" internet access and in many cases a site can only be accessed after its URL is submitted to the ISP and a committee scrutinizes it and pronounces it safe. That is probably the best protection you can get when a child has the computer in their room away from adult supervision.

The best protection of all is adult supervision which doesn't mean constantly standing over the child's shoulder but an adult in the room or frequently passing through and at least glancing at where the child is on the web.

 

[ikoiko]

and there are no browers available which force a password on the delete/purge history of pages visited... i have not seen it.
==

thanks for the input and help. It is kinda the answers i thought would come about and the two options listed are worth looking into.

 

[brianleahy]

As I recall, IE for Mac has some kind of filtering/blocking system - it relies on an online database that Microsoft maintains of good and bad sites.

However, the one time I tried it, it kept crashing IE. So I can't recommend it.

 

[mindbend]

Aren't there hardware routers that have built-in blocking? And you can subscribe to places that keep updating databases of porn sites and prevent access through the router. Something like that. I thought I heard that somewhere.