Keeping children safe when surfing the Internet is a common concern for many parents. The abundance of unsavoury web sites combined with the dangers of predatory adults has turned the Internet into a minefield for young people. At first you may be able to supervise your children's web use directly but there will come a time when you have to give them more freedom. As well as educating children to the dangers and laying down strict rules about Internet use many parents like to have the extra reassurance of internet filtering software. This is software designed to block access to inappropriate web sites. There are many commercial internet filtering applications available but for some people these are over complicated and unnecessary. I recommend trying out a free Internet filter called ‘Parental Control Bar' as a first step into the Internet filtering world.

Parental Control Bar is provided free by the Website Rating and Advisory Council. It works by identifying sites according to their Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) rating. This is a voluntary system whereby sites identify themselves according to their content. The main ICRA content areas are nudity, sexual material, violence, potentially harmful activities and user generated content. Each of these areas can be either blocked or allowed by Parental Control Bar. It is also possible to block any site that is unlabelled (advisable!) and to block or allow specific sites using a ‘white list' and ‘blacklist' system.

Parental Control Bar software is easy to install even if you don't have much computer experience. Just follow the instructions in my step-by-step installation guide and you will be up and running in no time. Once you have the software installed you are ready to begin blocking web sites. The sections below will take you through the main internet filtering functions.

To enter child mode just click the red ‘Parent-Mode' button on the toolbar (this seems counterintuitive but you'll see what I mean when you have it installed). A pop-up will tell you that child mode is active and the red button will turn to green. Your child will now be able to surf the Internet as normal so long as he or she goes to sites that are suitably labelled. If the child stumbles upon a site that is not allowed then the following pop-up window will appear...

If no parent is present the child can simply click ‘cancel' to be returned to the last allowed site. Alternatively, as the parent, you may enter your password to switch to parent mode or to add the site to the ‘Child-Safe List' (see below). Notice that if you configured a password hint it will be visible to the child at this point. That's why you shouldn't make your hint too easy! Notice also that the reason the site has been blocked is shown in this window. In the above example it is because the site is unlabeled. You can see the other reasons a site might be blocked below...

This is one of the most important features of the Parental Control Bar software. You should make sure these settings are configured before you allow your child to surf unsupervised. To access the Basic Site Filters settings click ‘Change Parental Settings' on the toolbar, enter your password and then click the ‘Basic Site Filters' tab. You should see something like this...

The first thing to notice is the ‘Block Unlabeled Content' setting. By setting this to ‘Block' (default setting) any web site without an ICRA label will be blocked. This is very important as a large number of sexually explicit web sites do not have ICRA labels. You should not change this setting.

In addition to blocking unlabeled web sites there are six content categories that can either be blocked or allowed. The first two relate to sexual content and are blocked by default. The names imply a difference in degree of how explicit the content is but I personally wouldn't trust this to be accurate. I strongly recommend leaving both on the default ‘blocked' setting for children of all ages.

The next three content settings are ‘Violence', ‘Strong Language' and ‘Chat rooms & Message boards'. Note that these are not blocked by default! I find it surprising that these are not blocked in a default installation as I imagine most people will want to block them. The names are fairly self explanatory and you should use your judgement in deciding whether to block them or not.

The final content setting is ‘Potentially Harmful Activities'. This setting covers a range of sites including sites depicting tobacco, alcohol and drug use, horror, weapons and gambling. It also covers sites that promote discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, ethnic, religious or national identity. Again this is not blocked by default but you have the choice of turning it on.

Once you have configured your settings just click ‘OK' to save them. If you did this in child mode you may need to return to parent mode then back to child mode before the changes are applied.

Even with all of the above settings configured to your needs you may find that some sites don't behave the way you want them to. If a site is blocked that shouldn't be or a site is allowed that you would prefer to be blocked then you can use the Child Safe List or the Blocked Site List...

The Child-Safe List is a list of sites that you have decided to allow you child to visit regardless of the site's ICRA label or any other settings. When Parental Control Bar is first installed the Child-Safe List is empty. There are three ways to add a site to the Child-Safe List...

Method 1 - Adult Mode: If you know the name of a site you want to allow then simply visit the site in parent mode and click the ‘Add Site to Safe List' button on the toolbar. After entering your password you will see this pop-up...

Method 2 - Child Mode: If a web site is blocked when your child is surfing in child mode the ‘blocked site' pop-up will appear as described above. If you want to allow the site, click the button next to ‘Add Site to Child-Safe List'. You can now enter your password and click ‘OK' and you will be taken directly to the site.

Method 3 - View Child-Safe List: To view the Child Safe List all you have to do is click ‘Change Parental Settings' on the toolbar at any time. After entering your password you will see the following screen...

All the sites in your Child-Safe List are shown in the main window (just youtube.com in this example). The site you were visiting when you opened the settings is shown in the ‘Allow this site:' window. You can change this to any site you like and click ‘Allow' to add the site to your safe list. This is the best way to add a site when you know the site's name. It's also a good idea to review this list from time to time to make sure all the sites are still appropriate.

You may find that the Parental Control Bar software allows some sites that you would prefer to be blocked. When this happens you can use the Blocked Site List. The Blocked Site List works in exactly the same way as the Child-Safe List except that it blocks sites instead of allowing them. You can add a site either by browsing to the site and clicking the ‘Block This Site' button on the toolbar or by going to the ‘Parental Control Settings' page and clicking the ‘Blocked Site List' tab. Sites in the Blocked Site List will always be blocked regardless of any other settings (even if the same site is added to the Child-Safe List).

If you have followed all the steps so far you should now have your free Parental Control Bar software up and running with all the settings configured according to your needs. There are a few more advanced features that I will show you in Part 2 of this article...

Installing and Using Free Parental Control Software (Part 2)