One common question I am sometimes asked when it comes to internet safety is how to keep kids safe from internet threats. Children, tweens, and teens are all susceptible to internet threats from viruses, predators, and content that parents may consider inappropriate for their age. Also a challenge, is as computers keep getting cheaper and cheaper, kids are more likely to have their own PCs. So what options does one have when it comes to protecting your offspring from inappropriate content on the internet? Here are a couple of options.
Net Nanny
One of the most comprehensive parental control suites I have seen is Net Nanny. Just a penny shy of $50, it’s definitely not the cheapest web content filtering solution, but it is by far one of the most effective. It boasts a very robust feature set which includes filtering of Web sites, peer to peer networks, messengers, social networking, or even video games. It also is a stand out as far as I’m concerned because of it’s ability to create individual user profiles. So if you have a 6 year old and a 16 year old that both use the same computer, you can set them up with different levels of content filtering and automatically attach it to their Windows or Mac user profile. You can even schedule blocks of time when each user is allowed to use the internet.
K9 Web Protection
If you’re on a tight budget, and can’t afford the price tag on Net Nanny, there is a free alternative you can use as well. Although it’s not as feature rich, K9 Web Protection from Blue Coat Systems is a great way to make sure your kids don’t access websites with inappropriate content on them. Best of all, K9 is completely free, (requires registration.) K9, however, does not offer the user segmentation that Net Nanny does. Protection settings are system-wide, and if you want to browse restricted content, you have to provide the admin password to unblock content for a certain time period. K9 will let you decide what categories of websites and content to allow users on your computer to see.
My name is Trenton Knew, owner and chief technician of The Computer Caretaker. I have been proudly serving the greater St. Louis and St. Charles areas with computer repair, maintenance, installation, upgrades, virus removal, spyware and malware removal since January 2009. I would like nothing more than to serve you for all of your computer needs. Experience The Computer Caretaker difference TODAY! 
Awesome article Trenton. I will be needing something like this very soon — I have a 4 year old.