Protecting your kids online

I thought I’d just do a small post on online safety for the benefit of my many clients with children. To quote the Get Safe Online site: “Undoubtedly the most effective method is to educate them from an early age about the risks they may encounter when online … what these risks are, how to spot them and what action to take“. This site is an excellent resource and I would suggest it as a first port of call for anyone with children.

http://www.getsafeonline.org/safeguarding-children/safeguarding-children/

As mentioned above, education is your primary tool, but each device type also has its own methods of setting parental controls. You should use these wherever possible.

A great tool, which will ostensibly give you control over every device attached to your router is OpenDNS – a parental controls solution that allows parents to manage internet access across every device that accesses the internet on your home network. This includes phones and computers that your kids’ friends bring into the house.

http://www.opendns.com/parental-controls – sign up and follow the instructions.

Device specific information

iOS (iPad, iPhone, MAC OSx)

You can enable Restrictions, also known as Parental Controls, on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to prevent access to specific features.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4213

Android

There are apps available to help you manage access or some devices, such as the Google Nexus, have the ability to set up separate users with specific restrictions.

http://www.internetsafetyproject.org/wiki/parental-controls-android

Windows

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/products/features/parental-controls