Parental control software is software that is designed to protect minors from age-inappropriate content. Examples of types of website content that parental control software typically has the ability to block include pornography, websites containing violece, and websites promoting the sale of alcoholic beverages.
Parental control software typically contains a number of functionalities.
At its most basic level, parental control products contain tools to block inappropriate website content. Typically this is category based. But most products also contain the ability to configure whitelists and blacklists. Whitelists are lists of websites that the administrator (parent) has deemed to be okay—a whitelisted website will not be blocked even if it is classified as belonging to a blocked category. Conversely, a blacklisted website will not be allowed to display even when the category is not blocked.
Additionally, most parental control tools contain functions to control or limit the amount of time children spend at the computer:
These functions commonly allow the administrator to restrict access to the internet to certain hours per day. For instance, a parent could set up the control settings so that the internet, or certain programs, will be prevented from running after 10pm—when children should be preparing for bed rather than sitting at the PC.
Many programs also allow users to set an upper limit on the number of hours per day during which the internet, certain programs, or the computer itself can be accessed. If the daily hour limit is exceeded the child will be prevented from being able to access the website in question.
App blocking: This allows the parent the ability to entirely block specific programs, irrespective of the time or day or usage volume.
Invisible installation: Many parental control tools can install themselves completely invisibly on the system. This can make it difficult for even tech-savvy teenagers to devise ways to remove the program and circumvent the filtering.
Aura offers a suite of user-friendly cybersecurity tools, along with powerful parental control features that let you control every aspect of your child’s digital activity. It’s also an affordable option, and it continues to grow and release new updates regularly.
What’s more, Aura is very easy to use, and parental controls enable you to carefully manage your child’s digital activity. There’s also a 14-day free trial and a 60-day money-back guarantee, and we’d suggest taking advantage of these by giving Aura a try.
bark is the optimal choice of a parental control app for parents that want a tool that will do more than simply make nice marketing claims. bark is a product that has been extensively tested and trusted by parents and schools to protect over 5.9 million kids—and it has an outstanding track record for alerting parents to potential acts of self-harm, online predation, and more.
Qustodio is a cross platform parental control tool that supports Windows, Mac, Android, and Kindle. The product is designed for the needs of parents who need to keep their kids safe online. Parents can blacklist categories of websites (or specific categories of sites) and enforce time limits to keep children’s computer time and internet use within reasonable limits.
