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The Internet is a very useful
tool for children and teenagers. They can find homework help,
hobby ideas and plenty of socialization. But sometimes that
socialization turns dangerous and many parents don't know
enough about the Internet, or what their children are doing
online, do keep their kids safe. "There are a lot of parents
out there who tell us they feel helpless because their
children know more about how to use the computer than they
do," says Joshua Finer, president of Software4Parents. It is a
major dilemma, and has led some parents to ban the Internet
from their homes entirely.
Monitor Your Kids
There is an alternative to
doing away with your computer. A new breed of software has
been developed, specifically to combat people who prey on
children on the web. Called
Monitoring Software,
it is a parents best tool in the fight against Internet
predators.
Monitoring software comes
with many different features, depending on what you need it
for. Typically you will be able to retrieve all the e-mail or
chat sent and recieved by the computer. Other software offers
snapshot images of the computer screen so you will know
exactly what your children are seeing. You can even have the
screen snapshots sent to another computer, so if you're at
work you can still see what your kids are doing. Some programs
send the image at set intervals, others only if certain preset
criteria are met. Other great features are junk mail filtering
and recording the whole computer session, just like playing a
tape on a VCR.
There is nothing more
precious than the safety of your family. Smoke detectors and
safety belts are now in every home and car. Monitoring
software is just as necessary to keep your family healthy and
happy."No matter how you feel about your child or how trusting
you are that what's going on is innocent, check it, check it
and double-check it -- or don't have [the Internet] at all,"
says the mother of the thirteen year old Pensylvania girl.
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