I was talking with my sister today, who also has scads of kids who use computers, and I mentioned Blue Coat K9. She had never heard of the program. I was surprised! I don’t know where I first heard of it, but it was a few years ago. I love it. I have the program on all the computers and it works wonderfully.
Blue Coat K9 is a “web protection” software– an Internet filter– that is downloadable to your computer. I have tried numerous free (and not free) programs, and K9 is by far the best I’ve ever had. It is extremely thorough. Check the link for more information. I checked and I see that it is Vista compatible now, too. I like that it is thoroughly customizable– you can whitelist or blacklist specific sites, or types of sites. You can set time limits and monitor Internet activity. The only thing I do not like about it is that it signs you out automatically after fifteen minutes or so. This stinks if you have a long list of Internet activity to sift through. It is very annoying to have to log back in and start the whole process again. Blue Coat says they do this to ensure that a child who has hacked into the system is bumped off… but if a child has figured out the password once, won’t he just have to retype it in again to continue? I hope they fix that part of it soon.
But as far as free Internet filters go, I love K9. Moms, check it out. Your kids may not be looking for trouble, but you don’t have to be looking for trouble to come across some pretty nasty sites! K9 should effectively block them. It has worked for us– it may help you, too!
P.S. When you create your password, be SURE not to lose it or you will be locked out of your account. Heh, now how do I know that? :S
March 7, 2008
free programs, security programs