How to Prevent Your Kids from Circumventing Parental Control Software
Many parents go to great lengths to protect their child’s safety online out of concern despite the fact that the kids may complain about restricted access. Although most kids appreciate the fact that parents are concerned they will still attempt to get around the parental control settings and software that is implemented on the family computer.
If you understand the different ways that your children can get around parental controls it will also help you to make an informed decision as to which software applications are high quality and which ones can be easily circumvented. This will also help to provide you with the piece of mind that the software you choose is reliable when it comes to protecting your children’s safety online.
How Parental Controls are Bypassed
Many parents are under the impression if they deploy parental controls their job is done and they no longer have to be concerned. This not to criticize as a lot of people are unaware when it comes to technology plus the media can distort what software applications can do as well as some of the weaknesses that children know about growing up in a technology infused world.
For example, parents have allowed their teenager to set up the new family computer unaware that if they gave them access to the administrator account they were also giving their child access to the parental control software settings and configurations. Additionally, some adults are not aware of how to create passwords that are difficult to guess and that Google provides information on just about everything under the sun including how to breach parental control software.
As for access to pornography and social networking sites, it is necessary to configure parental control software to block proxy server sites. These are sites that provide a way for you to surf the Internet anonymously without your IP address being discovered or displaying the websites that were visited. Many of the proxy sites allow you to use them for free since they generate the majority of the income from advertising. When your child is done using the proxy server the only site that appears in the parental control monitoring logs is the URL address for the proxy website that your child used.
Another method that is used to get around parental control software is when your child can choose to boot from a CD which allows them to go anywhere they want to without leaving any tracks on the parental control monitoring log. There is a way to prevent your PC from booting from CD instead of starting Windows normally and this is usually accomplished by pressing the F8 key as your computer is starting and then inserting the CD.
How to Prevent Your Kids from Bypassing Parental Controls
First you can deploy a high quality piece of parental control software that allows you to control each Windows user account and provides you with a way to hide the presence of the software from view. Quality software such as Time Sheriff is capable of providing you with the tools necessary to customize the settings for each user account on your PC in addition to setting time limitations for the amount of time your child can use specific applications and the computer in general. Once the time is up the computer will automatically log off at the time you have configured in the software settings.
Second, you should never allow your kids to be alone on the computer in their room. This is the equivalent of leaving them in a dark alley in a dangerous neighborhood late at night. Instead, keep the computer in a centralized area of your home and explain to your children why you are doing so. Although you do not want to curtail their access to their friends it is still important to be on the lookout for their safety.
Lastly, talk to your children about the dangers of the Internet and the consequences of posting personal information online. As the parent, if you are unsure about how criminals operate online, take some cyber safety classes to educate yourself on the topic so you can talk to your children. Although deploying high quality parental control software is a great idea it should not be the only answer to watching out for the safety of your children.