Other Inappropriate Materials

Search engines do not automatically filter out inappropriate materials. Try these child-safe options.

• Google for Kids:Uses the same technology as google, but only returns kid-friendly information.
• AOL at School: A search engine for educational use. It provides list of websites, encyclopedias, dictionaries and tools selected by online education experts.
• Yahooligans!: An easy-to-browse, searchable list of websites for kids.
• Ask Jeeves: Kids can enter a question and Ask Jeeves will direct you to a web page that provides an answer. If it can’t answer a question, it will show a list of results from kid-appropriate websites.

Should you install parental controls?

Parental controls are a type of software that can block out (or filter) web sites with adult or inappropriate content (violence, sex, drugs). You can:

• choose what types of content you want to block and what you don’t.
• restrict how much time your child spends online and what he does there.
• block access to certain chat rooms, file-sharing, or email.

Service providers (like AOL, Comcast, and EarthLink) and internet safety programs (like Symantec, Zone Alarm, or Norton) have built-in parental controls. You just need to turn them on. Other parental control software products you can safely download are:

• Cyberpatrol 
• Safebrowse 
• Netnanny 
• Cybersitter

Check your computer's history:

This is a feature that lists recently visited web sites. In Internet Explorer, you can find the history by clicking on the “favorites” button (it looks like a star in IE7). See a demo.