Internet filter

[DuffMan]

what is a good, cheap internet filter I could recomend to someone, who wants to keep their kids from being exposed to the horrors of the internet.
Not as complicated as configuring a router, something quite easy.
They are not Shaw or Telus users.

[photon]

Most consumer routers don't have that kind of filtering anyway.

I've heard NetNanny is good, but really most of them aren't overly effective.

It depends on what age the kids are.. if they're really young I'd set it up so there's only a whitelist of sites they can go to, and every other site is blocked. As they get older, a filter basically becomes useless because it filters the good along with the bad, so supervision is the only really effective way IMO.

[calculoso]

I've never tried it myself, but I've heard that this software is good. They had a big advertising campaign last year on QR77 and show awards on their website:

http://www.mysafekeeper.com/
$40

[Rathji]

K9 Web Protection - Free Internet Filtering and Parental Controls Software

k9 is what we use, it is free and very customizable. I use it on my computers and very rarely do I need to bypass a filter that seems to be coming up in the wrong place. The biggest thing about it is that is classifies all "open image media" as either OK or Blocked ( depending on your settings ), so assuming you want to block porn etc you need to manually enable images that are ok to view.

[psicodude]

Originally Posted by Rathji

K9 Web Protection - Free Internet Filtering and Parental Controls Software

k9 is what we use, it is free and very customizable. I use it on my computers and very rarely do I need to bypass a filter that seems to be coming up in the wrong place. The biggest thing about it is that is classifies all "open image media" as either OK or Blocked ( depending on your settings ), so assuming you want to block porn etc you need to manually enable images that are ok to view.

+1

I work for the Catholic School Board, and we have been testing it for student laptop's all this school year. I have to say, it works really, really well. Oh, and it's free!

[Buff]

3-4 years ago I worked for a place that used FilterGate. At that time it was easily the best filtering software out there. I haven't had to touch it since then so I don't know if I can still make that claim but it is something worth looking into.

[Russic]

don't forget to stick the computer in a high traffic area . . . that always screwed me up when i was trying to grab porn in my more impressionable days. Of course those were the days of dial-up, so you needed a good 15 minutes to find anything of value.