NextAdvisor reviews ZoneAlarm 2012!

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June 23rd, 2011 - Posted by Sarah

The 2012 onslaught of Internet security software has begun: We're pleased to bring you our review of ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 2012. Even though it's not ranked by AV-Comparatives, its improvements from last year's version and addition of several valuable features (e.g., 2GB of online backup space, parental controls through Net Nanny) actually bump it up one more star in our rankings! So if you're looking to keept your computer protected, check out all our reviews of anti-virus, anti-malware, and anti-spam software.

Study shows that Facebook has underage users, exposes computers to viruses

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May 10th, 2011 - Posted by Kent

A recent survey by Consumer Reports has shown that Facebook has a bit of a problem with it's age control restrictions. The social networking site is technically restricted to individuals of age 13 or older, a rule that did not stop 7.5 million underage users from signing up. Facebook, like many age restricted sites, relies on user honesty—something in relatively short supply on the Internet.

Why does this matter? Facebook is more than a great waste of time; as the report points out it's also a breeding ground for computer viruses, an information market for identity thieves, and a playground for cyberbullies. Over 5 million computers were hit by Facebook-related viruses and 1 million children were the victims of cyberbullying.

According to the study, a lot of parents just don't care. But they should. The Internet is awesome, but it can be scary and dangerous too. We've chronicled the many, many iterations of Facebook's privacy controls which are murky and counterintuitive even to paranoid and computer-savvy adults. A kid may be smart enough to lie about his age, but is probably not aware enough to understand the dangers inherent in oversharing personal information.

While Facebook is working on the problem, mostly in the form of parental education, parents who care can take a more active role in keeping their kids and their computers safe. Parental control software can help monitor online behavior, including social networking activities. Internet security software helps to keep computers safe from viruses and other malware that can compromise a family's security. Finally, parents should consider investing in identity theft protection which can keep them and their family's financial future safe from criminals both online and off.

Resolve to protect yourself in the New Year

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January 3rd, 2011 - Posted by Kent

Most New Year's resolutions take a lot of effort: quitting smoking, starting an exercise program, organizing your closets. Now, these are all worth doing, but why not take on a resolution that requires virtually no effort, and can save you a lot headaches down the road We're talking about protecting yourself and your digital life in 2011:

1) Resolve to protect yourself from the nightmare of identity theft. You've probably put off getting identity theft protection because nothing's happened yet, or maybe you don't quite understand what it does. Check out our identity theft protection service reviews and comparisons to see how it can help you.

2) Resolve to protect your computer: Incidents of cyber attacks are on the rise. Viruses lurk in more places. The consequences of malware can range from a slowed-system to the theft of your banking information. It can even take control of your computer and make it the unwilling participant in a cyber attack. Internet security software can safeguard your computer and your personal information. Check out our Internet security software reviews to find the solution that's right for you.

3) Resolve to protect your data: If you've never lost a valued file due to a hard drive crash, accidental deletion, or careless over-write, you're lucky. It's a service you may only realize you need when it's too late. Online backup services can keep your data safe from both hard drive failure and your own mistakes. It's not just a safehouse in case of disaster, it's a repository for past versions of files you're working on. We've reviewed the top contenders in online backup, so you can find a service that fits your budget and your needs.

4) Resolve to protect your kids: The Internet is the wild west, and kids are out in it. Parental control software is a valuable tool for parents to monitor and regulate their kids' online activity. Our extensive reviews of Parental control software will give you insight into the essential features of the big names in the industry.

See? Keeping a New Year's resolution isn't so hard. With most of these services you set them up once, and let them do all the work. That way you can focus on those other resolutions that require a little more work.

Net Nanny vs. Safe Eyes

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November 15th, 2010 - Posted by Kent

So, you've decided you need a little control over the computers in your household. After all, the Internet is a wide open space with no minimum age limit. That's why parental control software was invented. Parental control software monitors and filters activities on the PCs in your house. Two of the most popular pieces of parental control software are Net Nanny and Safe Eyes. How do they compare? Let's break it down: Net Nanny versus SafeEyes

Interface:

Both are pretty descent looking and well organized, but Net Nanny has the edge. It's far more intuitive and ready to use after installation. Safe Eyes, while fairly well put-together, was less-organized when it came to presenting content filtering categories.

Filtering:

Net Nanny has a pretty smart filter and does well with multi-word terms, so it knows the difference between "The Enola Gay" (the World War II bomber) and "Gay Sex." Safe Eyes did not do so well in parsing multi-word terms. This makes SafeEyes less than ideal for frustration-free surfing.

Resistance to circumvention:

Net Nanny proved to be resistant to our attempts to get around the filtering mechanisms. SafeEyes, on the other hand, had somewhat mixed results. We were able to bypass the filtering with some proxies sites, but not with others. We feel a smart kid would figure out which ones work and which ones don't.

Monitoring and warnings:

SafeEyes is capable when it comes to monitoring, but there's a bit of latency between when the activity occurs, and when it's reported. Net Nanny is far more active and can even send real-time warnings via email or text messages.

Price and conclusion:

Obviously, Net Nanny was our favorite. It's better designed on all fronts, from filtering to alerting. The most important thing is that the software be smart enough to keep kids from getting around it. Here again, Net Nanny is undoubtedly the champ. As for price, Net Nanny even comes out as the low-cost champion at $29.95 per year (with our exclusive discount), versus SafeEyes at $49.95.

Check out our full parental control software reviews for more information or to purchase

The NextAdvisor guide to parental control software setup

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August 20th, 2010 - Posted by Kent

Parental control software allows parents to monitor the Internet activity of their kids, set online time limits, as well as institute blocking policies for forbidden content. Not all parental control software is created equal, of course, and our rigorous review process really sorted the good from the bad. But even the best parental control software is useless if the computer is not set up correctly. Smart kids can get around the software if there are security holes. This guide aims to provide the basics that will help parents prepare their computers, no matter which software they choose.

1. Think About Passwords and Security Questions

Your parental control software is only as affective as your passwords and security questions. You'll need to come up with good passwords for both your parental control software and your Windows account. You can use the same password for both as long as it's good. What makes it good? It needs to be hard to guess, but easy to remember. If you're stuck for ideas, you can try a random password generator, though its results can be difficult to remember. Later, when you set up your parental control software, you'll need a security question, in case you forget the password. Make sure it's nothing your kid can guess or find out (be wary of biographical questions whose answers may be discoverable via Facebook, such as "High school mascot.").

2. Set Up Your Accounts

Armed with a good password, you're ready to set up your accounts. If your computer currently does not require you to log in, you don't have any accounts enabled. You can get to the "Manage Accounts" page by typing "User Accounts" in the Windows Start Menu. You need at least two accounts for parental control software to work its best:

A) Administrator account. We've called it "Parent" to make things easier, but it can be anything. You'll also set the password on this screen. If there is no password, you'll see an option to "Create a password." If there's already a password, it will say "Change the password."

B) Standard User account. We've called it "Kid" because it'll be easier to keep track for this demonstration. It should have a password too.

C) Additionally, you'll want to make sure the Guest account is either turned off, or has a password, so kids can't use that as a non-protected alternate account.

3. Make Sure "User Account Control" Is Enabled

Most Windows systems will already have this option turned on and configured, but make sure it is on your computer. You'll find this option at the bottom of the User Accounts control panel. The reason it's important to have User Account Control turned on is because it forces the system to ask for a password when new software is installed. This will prevent Regular Users from installing software that could be used to fool the parental control software. On Windows Vista it's a simple on/off switch, while on Windows 7 there are several settings (see here). We recommend "Always Notify."

4. Install and Setup Your Parental Control Software

When you install your parental control software you'll be able to choose which accounts you'll be monitoring and filtering content for . These should map directly to the accounts you've already set up. You probably don't want your own Administrator account to be monitored, but you probably do want to monitor the Regular User Account. If you haven't yet purchased parental control software, check out our comparison and reviews. We put six of the most popular products through rigorous tests to find the best.

How does bsecure work?

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August 4th, 2010 - Posted by Kent

The following is an actual user-submitted question:

Q: How does bsecure work?

A: In our experience, it doesn't work very well at all. But we realize, that's not quite you're asking. You want to know how it functions. Bsecure, like other parental control software products, employs different methods to provide automated supervision for a child's online activities. Primarily it breaks down into three areas: blocking, search restriction, and monitoring. Here's how it works, in theory at least:

Blocking: The blocking mechanism works by running web page content against a list of words, this list is called a "blacklist." If page content matches content on the blacklist, the page will be blocked. Many pages are blocked on their urls alone (Playboy.com, Penthouse.com, etc.). Parents can select which classes of terms they'd like blocked, including sexual, drug, and violence-related content.

Search restriction: All the major search engines have a "safe search" mechanism that employs the search engine's own age restrictions to keep kids from accessing restricted content. Parental control software forces search engines to stay in "safe search" mode.

Monitoring: Want to know what your kids were up to? That's where the monitoring and reporting come in. Depending on the program, and the settings, parents can see all or some their child's Internet activity. It can also monitor activity on other programs such as chat programs.

As we hinted above, we were not impressed with how bsecure handled any of these tasks. It was easy to get around the blocking, the blacklist was poorly implemented, the search was clumsy and difficult, and the monitoring only worked with older programs. It also crashed a number of times when we tested it. It actually got our lowest rating in the category.

To find a better option, check out our parental control software reviews.

Baseball coach listed as a sex offender

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July 29th, 2010 - Posted by Robert Siciliano

Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger

In Ostego, Michigan a local summer baseball league coach was removed from his position Friday after school officials found out he was listed on the Michigan State Sex Offender Registry.

He was coaching for a week when an aware parent notified the school that the coach was a sex offender from 1996. As a parent, you should notify school officials if you are aware of these issues. You can do a search on “sex offender registry” to locate the appropriate resource in your area, and also check out Neighborhood Watch.

That the parent had to tell the school shows a flaw in the school's system of effectively vetting individuals who will work with children. The school district went on to say that while they screen volunteers in the hundreds of background checks they do, this individual's may have been overlooked. What is also a possibility is the coach lied on his application which skewed the results.

Officials point to the sex offender putting his name alongside his father’s name on the application, as his father may have had some ties to the league. This may have been done to confuse the background check process as well.

If you are a sex offender, and you have been prosecuted for something you did to a kid, what the heck could possibly be your motivation to want to work alongside kids, and possibly be discovered? There’s no way to rationalize irrational behavior. I think these kids and their parents dodged a bullet.

That parent who brought to to the attention of the district is a hero.

Robert Siciliano is a Personal Security Expert and Adviser to Intelius.com. For more information see Intelius at Sex Offender Check to reduce your chances of encountering a bad guy. (Disclosures) To help protect your kids when they're online, you can install and use parental control software. Check out NextAdvisor's parental control software reviews to see which one will work best for you.

Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of two books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with McAfee to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.

Jessi Slaughter may be the best reason to install parental control software

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July 16th, 2010 - Posted by Kent

An Internet meme has come from the sad and strange case of Jessi Slaughter, a 11-year-old girl who has been cyberbullied and cyberstalked, so much so that her dad got involved, threatening his daughter's tormentors on a YouTube video. As much as she is a victim, Jessi Slaughter also taunted her legion of "haters" with a series of videos that are shocking, to say the least. If you're faint of heart and don't like hearing 11-year-olds use language that would cause hardcore rapper to blush, we suggest you avoid the video evidence all together—which is why we're not embedding it here.

While Jessi has been the victim of vicious cyberstalking and cyberbullying, her provocative online behavior should have been a warning sign to her parents, though they seem like the "yell first, ask questions later" variety.

In a post about the incident, the normally devil-may-care gossip site Gawker,said:

"Normally, we find fears about kids on the Internet the product of technophobic hysteria. But this case is a very good argument for why parents should at least be vaguely aware of what their kids are up to on the Internet… maybe now is the time to invest in good parental control software before she (the daughter) becomes a meme."

Would parental control software have prevented this situation? There are probably deeper problems here, but a product like Net Nanny can give parents a pretty good idea of what their kids are up to when they're online. For instance it can report on a child's YouTube profile and can be configured to alert parents when troubling language appears in many chat programs. Of course, no single program can block and monitor everything, nor can it replace good parenting.

Check out our reviews of Net Nanny and other parental control software options to find out how you can help keep your kids safe online.