Most parents seeking parental control software options have kids in their home using multiple computers and devices, all of which are connected to the Internet. Even a single child may have a phone as well as a computer or tablet. They also are often using their parents personal computer from time to time for school projects or simply to print something.

If that isn’t enough to manage, your family members are connecting to the Internet at school or at a friend’s house. With proper parental controls you can ensure the safety and security of your kids online. Otherwise, it’s difficult to know where to begin. It’s hard enough for a person who has some technical savvy, but what if you are technically challenged?

Let’s face it, a lack of technical knowledge is the case for most of us. We live in an ever changing world where the optimal “kid safety zone” is a moving target. This is where parental control software becomes an essential tool in managing the various needs of any family, according to a range of ages and responsibility.

The good news is, effective parental controls allows you to help keep your family safe in one software download, whether you want to access it on an app or your computer. At Safe Search Kids, we recommend complete parental control management to meet the needs of any family large or small.

Let’s explore what parental control means on every device in your home.

Parental Control is Internet Filtering

Internet filtering is certainly the first priority when thinking about protecting kids from harmful aspects of the Internet. This is the primary focus of our search tools on Safe Search Kids, but we are only a single access search engine. Parent control software takes it one step further by filtering the entire Internet, regardless of what search engine your kids may be using.

Quit simply, it allows you to completely control access to the Internet. The level of restriction can be customized by age. After all, the places your 16 years old can go online is much different than your 7 year old. This includes allowing or limiting access on apps and social media, some platforms of which are only appropriate for older kids.

Parental Control is Screen Time Management

Once you have the peace of mind of knowing all the bad areas of the Internet are completely blocked on every device in your home, you can think about controlling the time your kids spend online. Imagine having peace of mind going to sleep at night knowing your teenager is not able to access the internet past 10 or 11 pm.

These controls can easily be set within the dashboard of your account. Likewise, you can restrict access from your 7 year old so that they can not get online after 8 pm, for example. This screen time management control is at your fingertips for any day of the week from the Net Nanny App or desktop dashboard.

Parental Control Software Monitors Apps

The dangers of the Internet are not just through a website browser. With a software application you can monitor what apps your kids are downloading. You can choose to also block apps you don’t want your family to access at all. As with managing screen time, you can individually customize accessibility for every one in the house and on every one of their devices.

Install the most-trusted Parental Control Software Program serving families since 1998. View family download options.

New apps are being developed and made available on the app store everyday. Whether the app is on an iPhone, Android or Kindle Fire device, you will be notified when a new app is downloaded and installed on any device.

Parental Control is a Location Tracker

Within the parent dashboard, you can also track the location of each family member in real-time from your computer or smart phone. There’s no need to login to an iCloud account and no additional tracking software is needed. The location tracking feature also allows you to check the past history of where your kids have been.

You can coincide their location with whether or not they’ve been online during that time. Let’s say you agree that it’s OK for your child to go to a friend’s house but you just want them to play. You don’t want them spending time surfing the web or going on social media. This is a way to check up on their activity while out of the house.

If you have a gamer in the house, parental control software will allow you to control time spent online.  But it’s not an anti-virus program that protects from outsize threats while gaming.  For that explore Gamer Security. 

Alerts and Reports

With all these parental control features working in the background to filter, block, and monitor online activity there is an additional feature that will help you keep track of things. Firstly, only need to initially set up controls and restrictions for each family member one time. From there it’s easy to fine tune controls as needed. With built in alerts and reports you will then receive emails or texts that keep you up to date with each users online activity.

You decide how often you want to be informed. This may include being emailed when specific search terms are entered or when an app is downloaded. What your kids are searching for online is also an insight into struggles they may be having, including bullying or feelings of alienation with friends or at school.

Safe Search Kids recommends Net Nanny parental control software, which has an App for Android and iOS (iPhone) users, as well as dashboard access on computers and lap tops. Features can be applied on multiple platforms, including Android and iOS smart phones, Kindle Fire, Windows and Mac computers.

Net Nanny is provided by Content Watch, an innovative company focused on delivering Internet protection solutions for the consumer, library, education, government, and business markets. They are the #1 rated provider of Internet Protection tools specifically designed for the non-technical user.

Teaching Internet Accountability and Responsibility

Monitoring and Controlling online activity should always be coupled with showing kids how to be responsible on their own. We all know putting kids in a cocoon will not prepare them properly for life in the read world. Setting up boundaries for kids is of course important, but some of those boundaries can be more lenient for older aged kids while allowing them to learn online responsibility. An internet blocking software can protect kids while they learn how to be responsible with the level of freedom you give them. The older they get and the more responsibly they use that freedom, the more trust we extend.

Download the new and improved Net Nanny 10 Parental Control Software!

Ask yourself these questions about your kids’ activities:

1. What exactly are my children doing online or on their mobile phones?

• Are they chatting with social network sites like Facebook, Snapchat?
• Are they visiting pornographic or other inappropriate sites?
• Are they being bombarded with inappropriate ads on pages for guns, cigarettes, drugs or other illegal activity?

2. How much overall time is really spent on a daily basis on their phone and computer talking to friends or other socializing?

Now Here are Some Facts That May Surprise You

1. One in 5 kids between 11-18 have been solicited online.
2. 60% of kids are exposed to porn before age 12.
3. Over 65% of kids have accidentally visited an inappropriate site online.
4. More than 25% of kids have been cyber bullied, but only 10% of these incidents were told to parents.

We trust our kids to do what is right, but there is so much filth lurking on all corners of the internet and as parents, we should be very concerned – even for the innocent child who is 100% aware of all the dangers involved, it is next to impossible for our children to be 100% protected. In addition to our lack of time, it is an impossible task to manually monitor our children’s online activities. The latest internet and mobile technology supersedes make it impossible.

Why Every Parent Should be Using Parental Controls on Every Device in their Home

Even with the most strict guidelines in place, it is nearly impossible to monitor your children’s activity online doing it manually. In the past several years, a new niche of software has been developed to help families monitor overall online and computer activity.

Parental Control Software is a must.

While there are several in this field, what they all have in common is that the specific monitoring is automated. This does not mean that you can rely on the system 100% of the time to monitor what your kids are doing – parental supervision is essential, whether they are using a laptop, desktop, tablet or mobile phone.

Parental Control Software provides an integrated time management and internet blocking & monitoring solution with the following key features:

• Restrict Internet & Computer Usage based on a customizable schedule or time limits.
• Monitors chatting/instant messaging based on a time limit or schedule.
• Award-winning automated filter of porn, illegal, vulgar and other inappropriate websites.
• Ability of parent to create White “Trusted” list and Black “Restricted” lists.
• Dynamic Content Blocker – blocks inappropriate banner ads on webpages.
• Automatic notification via email when a suspect phrase or word is written in a chat.

Download the most-trusted parental control software since 1998.

With a major shift in the world towards distance learning, the discussion of how much time kids can safely spend looking at screens has only become more vital.  Whether it be on smartphone, tablet or laptop, parents have usually been concerned with the time kids spend playing games, interacting on social media or watching TV shows and movies.

Even in a normal world you would also need to add the screen time spent on school computers used for a variety of purposes, such as searching Google and doing research. All of these online activities add up to a staggering number of hours per day looking at screens. And now we must also take into account the time spent doing online school. 85% of parents worry about the amount of time their kids are spending online these days.

The WHO & CDC both recommend no more than 2 hours of screen time for children under 18.  Finding further specifics, The American Academy for Pediatrics urges a 1-hour screen time maximum for children under 6 years old. 

Furthermore, it has been found that children under 2, who regularly watch at least 1 hour of television on a daily basis, may face an increased risk of cognitive, language, and motor delays. Similarly, other studies have claimed too much screen time can cause social and family dysfunction, as well as development delays and depression. 

With home learning comes more indoor time. However, this makes it especially easy to develop a screen addiction. Did you know excessive screen time can be toxic to our mental health? 56% of teens feel anxious or lonely without their phone.

Yet, distance learning sessions last more than our government recommends we spend on screens altogether – even with compelling data proving its potential to be mentally and physically dangerous. 

Ask yourself: How often are your kids exercising since the quarantine? How social have they been since distance learning began?

The value of education should never be downplayed, but please double check to ensure distance learning isn’t taking a toll on your little ones.

In the meantime, check out the infographic below. It may help you shape a better understanding of how much screen time is too much for your children. 

Source: ubreakifix

Got a kid that loves to game? Or maybe you are an avid gamer yourself. Have you thought much about gamer security? There has been plenty written about protecting your home computer with an anti-virus program, but what about increased performance while gaming?

A big problem arises when the anti-virus is turned off completely because it interferes with the online gaming experience.

McAfee Gamer Security solves the debate within families regarding how much security one can compromise in order to maintain computer performance while playing.  McAfee created Gamer Security as a complete gamer software solution.  Security + Performance.  It was not designed to merely prevent a decrease in gaming performance while staying protected online, the software boasts a faster, more quiet, and safer gaming experience thanks to cutting edge performance enhancing technologies.

Game Boost Engine

Some anti-virus programs have long had a problem with bogging down computers while you are trying to other tasks.  Gaming is more than a task.  It’s be huge drain on an operating system and requires a fast internet connection.  It also craves every ounce of CPU and RAM it can squeeze out of your operating system.  The McAfee Gamer Security program works to get more performance out of your operating system and ensures your games stay prioritized over applications running in the background.

All of this increased speed happens without you having to turn off the anti-virus program that is part of the software.  Slowdowns are bound to happen so this gamer software promises to resolve those slowdowns quickly so your game is not held back from working properly.  This is especially important when playing online with a team.

App Manager

The app manager within McAfee Gamer Security gives you control to kill or de-prioritize resource heavy apps.  While maintaining operating system performance, the software automatically saves stats from your last 5 game sessions which you can look at later.  Settings are customizable, providing intuitive control over system optimization and pop-up suppression is readily available. You can also tweak the software’s multiple settings as desired.

Download McAfee ® Gamer Security – Now 20% Off!

McAfee Gamer Security helps you achieve a smoother overall experience on your PC, from everyday performance gains thanks to the low impact MicroAV engine to the FPS stability. This also results in smoother game play delivered by their Game Boost technology. 

Pricing

Some users may not like the annual price tag on this software.  Not that it’s unusually priced above other anti-virus type programs, but the annual subscription for Game Security is only for one computer.  This may not be a problem as there may only be one gamer in the household in need of online protection, while increasing speed and customizable performance.

Gamer Online Protection with Enhanced Performance – see specs graphic

Not to be infused with parental control software that filters content, McAfee Gamer Security is a software download that allows gamers to enhance their computer performance while stay protected with anti-virus protection.  Will it work on your computer?  If you download the software and are having issues you may request a full refund by contacting McAfee Customer Support within 30 days of initial purchase.

Gamer Security System Requirements

To operate the Gamer Security software you must have Microsoft Windows 10 version 1809 (Oct 2018 update) or later.  If you already have Windows 10 and are unsure of what version is running simply update to the latest version.  It’s a good idea anyway to turn on automotive updates for Windows to ensure your systems is always secure.  The hardware needed on your computer is 2 GB RAM | 500 MB free drive space | 1 GHz Processor.  A high-speed internet connection is recommended.

How is it faster? When McAfee did tests of their gamer security software compared to both traditional and built-in AV they found:

• A faster boot.
• Faster shutdown.
• Faster standby suspend.
• Faster suspend to hibernate.

Get Performance + Anti-Virus in One – Learn More

If you are planning to buy a tablet for your child this year you may also be exploring parental control options for Google, as well as available safety apps for iPads and Samsung Tablets. There are plenty of buzz words out there related on internet safety, security and parental controls.  It can be overwhelming especially for new parents who are giving a child their very first tablet.

We’ll do our best to break everything down for you. The last thing you need is to duplicate processes while overlooking safety and security essentials in an effort to make sure your new tablet or iPad kid safe.  Let’s begin!

1. We’ll explore what you need to make your tablet safe.
2. We’ll let you know what you don’t necessarily need to make it safe.
3. We’ll talk about software programs or apps are redundant.

Parental Controls On Google

Firstly, if you are seeking a free parental control while searching Google, we have an app for that.  Download our Google SafeSearch App for any tablet and instruct your kids to only use it to search Google.  It provides the same strict filtering results as featured on the top of our website, but provided within the confines of an app.  You may want to remove/delete all other search apps such as Safari for iPad and Chrome so they are not accessible for use.

Google also offers Family Link.  It provides free tools to guide kids to good content, teach and set digital ground rules, monitor screen time and track location.

Parental Control Software and Parental Control Apps often refer to programs that block access to the entire web.  Our search app and Google’s Family Link do not block or monitor internet access. Google SafeSearch only filters the web while searching.  Our app and Family Link are free tools you can use to provide a certain level of parental control.

Greater restrictions are needed through a parental control app or software for those who want to stop older kids from taking steps to download harmful content. This may include re-downloading other search apps that you removed from the tablet.  Explore the options available within our recommended Parental Control App for complete blocking and monitoring.

Social Media Safety

Even if you have Google search covered, kids will also have access to outside content via their social media platforms.  Every parent should have an open and honest conversation about which social media websites are allowed in your home.  You can implement agreed upon guidelines as well, but this is where complete parental control apps can allow parents to see everything that is happening on any device the software is installed.

Parental control with a paid subscription model will have a parent dashboard to view app downloads on all devices.  The dashboard will also allow you to limit screen time and block specific hours when users are allowed online, such as late in the evening or when you are not home.  And of course, all bad sites can be blocked not matter what method us used to find them, even if accidentally.

Kids Tablets with Parental Control

If you have younger kids and not looking for a fully functional device like iPad or a Samsung tablet, there are fun activity tablets that already come with their own parental controls built in.  These are very basic user-friendly tablets for kids that provide a safe environment for game downloads and internet search.  Explore these tablets here.

Anti-Virus for Tablets

While parental control is all about protecting kids from accessing inappropriate websites, it does not block viruses.   If you are getting a tablet for younger kids that are going to be strictly using Google safe search, then the risk for infection from computer viruses is lower.  Generally, tablets are safer than PC computers but virus infection can still happen.

iPads are more secure because Apple’s operating system is more closed.  Samsung tablets are running on an Android platform, which is more open, and therefore more susceptible.  Just be aware that parental control or any other app designed to deliver safe search does not protect against viruses or malware.

Other than visiting infected website, email is the most common way a computer will get infected from a virus.   If your child is not running email, then the risk of infect is reduced even more.  If they are using a filtering search engine like ours, they are also less likely to end up on an infected website.  To clarify, parental control software does not stop virus infections.

Read more about options related to internet safety related to virus protection.  It’s another article where were break down the various buzz words related to internet safety and security.

Lets Review for Tablet Safety

• At the very least install our safe Google search app. It’s free.
• And it won’t hurt to consider Google’s Family Link app.  It provides additional tools to equip families to be safe online.
• For complete parental control, look for a software program that promises the ability to control different levels is internet access to different member’s of the family.
• Install anti-virus software for email and consider anti malware software to safety against infected websites.

Read more about options related to internet safety related to virus protection.  It’s another article where were break down the various buzz words related to internet safety and security.

Online Gaming Security

If you have an avid gamer in the household using a PC or Macintosh computer, McAfee provides gamer anti-virus protection while increasing gaming performance.  This stops users from turning off the Anti-Virus program they may have because it slows down their computer operating system.