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Bsecure CloudCare 6.1 Review: Parental Control Software |
Rating: |
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| A vast improvement over previous version, but still open to circumvention | |
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Bsecure has updated its parental control software to version 6.1 and has dubbed it Bsecure Cloudcare. Cloudcare, of course, implies that it does its protection "in the cloud" outside of the computer itself. In truth, this is just one possible implementation of the product. We tested both the standard application-based monitoring and filtering as well as the cloud-based Whole Home Filtering implementation. It's important to note that Whole Home Filtering only filters content, and does not actually monitor activity. Bsecure boasts its "Industry-first Whole Home Filtering option provides automatic web filtering for all browser devices that enter your home and connect to your router—Wii, neighbors' laptops, PS2, Smartphones, Mac, and more."
And mostly it does. Set up CloudCare on your wireless network, and just about any device you bring into the home will inherit Bsecure's CloudCare filtering. We say "just about" because during our tests, one of our laptops was able to access content blocked on the other machines. Remember, though, if you want to actually monitor IMs, web activity, and social networks, you'll need to install the Bsecure CloudCare application on each monitored computer. It's a painless installation, but you'll need physical access to the machine. It was better news this time around for Bsecure with regards to proxies. Last time it failed miserably at blocking both proxies and proxied content. This time, it was able to block some proxies using normal http connections, but had mixed results when we tried a secure connection. Essentially it's good with blocking well-known proxies, but it's poor when it comes to detecting new ones. Bsecure's language filter has certainly improved, even if it's occasionally rather baffling. It does a good job with gray queries such as "Enola Gay," "Moby Dick," and "Gay Marriage." Oddly, we were blocked from searching for "sex" in any context, but not the various organs involved. It even did a decent job of telling the difference between pornography and sex education. Inexplicably it blocked searches for "lesbian" and "bisexual" but allowed those for "gay." Bsecure has support for TV and movie ratings. We were succesfully blocked from R-rated content on iTunes, as well as Mature content on Hulu (sorry, "Family Guy"). This is one of the better developed features of the new Bsecure CloudCare. Most of the user activity can be viewed via the web-based control panel on any computer with an Internet connection. Two features, however, require viewing the activity on the monitored computer. A social network activity tool allows you to actually log-in as a monitored user. We tested it on Facebook, and it's a little creepy, actually. The other feature is a chat monitoring tool. It shows messages passed from the monitored account, but not to it. We tested it with the current version of Yahoo! Messenger and it worked fine—a vast improvement over the previous version of Bsecure, which only worked on older versions of messenger. Finally, we should mention the parental warning features. The administrator can elect to be alerted when blocked sites are tried or when certain content is posted to a social network. The warnings seem somewhat inconsistent, and there's not enough provided information to be helpful. All-in-all, CloudCare is a significant improvement on previous versions of Bsecure's parental control software, but it's still far behind Net Nanny. We should also note that we periodically had trouble accessing the web-based control panel. While we find the improvements good enough to bump it up from one star to three, we would only recommend it if you want basic home network filtering or the ability to directly access your child's Facebook account. Even then, it's hardly airtight, and won't stop a determined kid. |
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| Cost: | $49.95/yr for 3 PCs |
| Programs Monitored: | IE, Firefox; Yahoo! Messenger |
| Special Features: | Wireless network filtering; Social network access; SMS and email alerts |
| Social Network Monitoring: | Yes, can access kids' social networking accounts |
| Reports/Alerts: | SMS or email reports; somewhat delayed reports via web interface |
| Kid-Proof Rating: | OK: blocks some proxies that allow kids to bypass controls |
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