This week, we sat down and gave SafeEyes6 from InternetSafety.com a try and it didn’t disappoint. In our opinion, the most important added feature of this popular parental control software is the ability to filter television and film content, as well as YouTube videos. In this area, the software delivers on its promise to block rated content and explicit content on YouTube, but not without some gotchas. We’ll get into those in a moment, but it is worth noting that those “gotchas” didn’t change our opinion of the quality of this parental control package.
First things first, this software is very easy to install, configure and run. You just hit up http://www.internetsafety.com and click on the “Download” link in the navigation bar at the top of the page and give the thirty day trial a run. When you download the software, you’re given the option to set up your account with the SafeEyes website. This is the Admin account which you’ll be needing to log in and make changes to the software. Make sure you use a secure password that your children won’t be able to easily guess. After configuring the Admin settings you can then go ahead and set up the software to protect your kids as they surf their way around the net. The options you have in SafeEyes6 for protecting and monitoring your child’s activities on the ‘net are:
1. Content Controls -- Flexible content control allows you to select the types of website that are appropriate.
2. Program Controls -- Control Instant Messengers, P2P File Sharing, and other harmful programs.
3. Time Controls -- Control the amount of time spent online, and the times when the internet is available.
4. Usage Logging -- Create and review logs of websites visited, programs used on the Internet, and Instant Messaging Chats.
5. Usage Alerts -- Be notified instantly via email, text message, or phone call when someone visits inappropriate websites.
The content controls, IM logging, time controls and usage logging have become pretty standard fare and offer a wide variety of options for alerting parents to inappropriate behavior on the ‘net, but where this package really shines is in the “Videos” tab. InternetSafety.com is ahead of the curve on this one and allows you to control or block: YouTube Clip-by-Clip, Filter Online TV by Rating, Peer-to-peer and Media Player Blocking (streaming media). We go into this in detail in the video so make sure to check that out. The only caveat to SafeEyes6 video filtering is that it relies on the website you’re viewing video from to properly categorize its videos so that the proper filters are activated. So, basically the software relies on YouTube to properly identify an upload as having explicit content, or ABC.com to properly attach a show’s rating to the video file on its server. No rating attached, or a nude beach video isn’t flagged as inappropriate and it won’t be blocked. That said, this technology is fairly new, so we look forward to watching it mature as watching videos via the web continues to evolve.
One of our favorite features of the software is how the control panel is set up. It’s an activity oriented set up which makes it very intuitive. You want to filter web content? Click on the “Web” tab. Want to set up alerts for whenever a child attempts to circumvent a web filter or block? Click the “Instant Alerts” tab. Worth noting as well is that the “Music” tab also allows you to block explicit content from being downloaded on iTunes, but iTunes also has its own parental controls as well. That said, it’s nice to have the feature built into SafeEyes because there’s a lot to keep track of with children and computer use and being able to control multiple facets of your little ones’ computer use from one place is definitely a plus!
Check out the video for a look at how the “Videos” tab works and the internet videos filters in action, as well as our final analysis of SafeEyes6 at the end of the video.
SafeEyes6, Family Internet Manager
Cost: 30 day trial; $49.95 Annual Subscription
