Norton Keeps Your Family Safe Online
I’m so excited about Norton Family Online. It’s what I’ve been wanting for a long time. A way to monitor my kids’ online activities, set a daily computer time limit and see exactly where they are browsing and hanging out online. With four kids, our biggest problem is limiting the time each child spends on the computer. We usually use a timer, but someone is always going over their time. With Norton Family Online, I set the daily time limit and problem solved…I hope. But that’s only one benefit of this service. Now I can feel comfortable with my children surfing the internet because I’ll be able to monitor exactly where they are going and ban certain sites. No more “I was just on facebook for a minute!” because I’ll be able to tell how long they stayed at a particular site.
Setting up my account was easy. I added each child and then logged onto their windows profile and hopefully set the thing up right. I just went on and tried to check where my oldest had been online, but there seemed to be no activity. Not sure if he went online or was just downloading music to his new iPod Touch. I’ll have to check it out tomorrow. But read on for more of what Norton Family does!
Check out the free trial here!
Key Norton Online Family features include:
Simple, One-Time Set Up: Create an account online and customize each family member’s profile based on age and maturity level. (Pretty easy set up)
Easy to Use and Access: Check a child’s activity or modify a child’s profile, preferences, or time allotment anytime and anywhere using any Internet-connected device. (Tried to do this, not sure if I set it up correctly, but the directions and help section iseasy enough to follow!)
Clear Reporting: All activities are reported in chronological order and only show the Web sites a child intended to visit – eliminating all the extra URLs, like ads, from Web sites.
Helpful Search Insight: Easily view what words and phrases a child uses to search and where those searches lead online.
Convenient Web Site Control: Control the Web content that flows into the home by prohibiting more than 40 topic categories. (I was able to ban things like pornography, drugs, etc.)
Secured Personal Information: Track, report and prevent personal information that a child may purposely or accidentally try to send via e-mail, IM or social networking site. (I can restrict who they instant message and I’m emailed when they try to give out personal information.)
Access to Social Network Information: Monitor activity on social networks like Facebook and MySpace with the ability to see how kids represent themselves, when they login and how often. (Not sure how this links up to Facebook, but I’ll be figuring that out soon!)
Real-time Messaging: Built-in messaging allows parents to have real-time discussions with children about activities and better understand their intentions when visiting a Web site.
True Transparency: Children are able to view the “house rules” they established with parents at any time and are notified when Norton Online Family is active, so there is no “stealth” mode. (On my to do list!)
Custom Alerts: Parents can customize e-mail alerts to address urgent events so they know immediately when a child has reached a time limit or visited a blocked site, etc. (Excited about this!)
Useful Time Management: An easy-to-use time management feature that – if parents find it necessary – gives each child a “curfew” that will limit computer usage.
Think you could use a free trial? Well, what are you waiting for?
Now the only thing missing is how to put a monitor on the iPhone! Hopefully, someone will come up with that one soon! 😉
