childproofing the internet

October 4, 2008 11:23 AM

I have just finished setting up an XP-installation for my four year old boy. Now i need to set up some kind of internet filter.

He really enjoys just fiddeling around with the mouse and seing where it gets him - and i really like that he enjoys it. The problem is that i dont want him goatseed at this age.

I appreciate the point that talking with your kids about what they encounter online is the best course of action from a certain age, but he's not there yet - so i need some kind of reverse firewall to stop him from going to the wrong places and seing what he shouldn't.

Any suggestions?

posted by FidelDonson to computers & internet (9 comments total)

The easiest and cheapest (free) solution is OpenDNS. Make one change in your Internet settings, then create an OpenDNS account to select which of the dozens of categories of Web sites you want filtered.
posted by davcoo at 11:33 AM on October 4, 2008

There are also alternative browsers that are centered around kids, and thus have built-in protections like you're describing. I haven't used one but kid rocket seems like the kind of thing you want.
posted by churl at 11:47 AM on October 4, 2008

If you decide to get him email, look at www.zoobah.com We use it and have been very pleased.
posted by pearlybob at 11:59 AM on October 4, 2008

Seconding OpenDNS. It's awesome.
posted by jluce50 at 12:04 PM on October 4, 2008

I just downloaded KidRocket, and it's a little weird - the download is just a straight .exe file.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:21 PM on October 4, 2008

k9 web protection is what I found for the exact same problem - I've not done a massive amount of testing but it seems really pretty good.
posted by xla76 at 12:35 PM on October 4, 2008

Yeah I should have clarified that I've never used kid rocket myself; just that it seemed like the type of thing you were looking for. As an alternative, you could also try kid zui or peruse the relevant google directory.
posted by churl at 1:01 PM on October 4, 2008

I found that Kid Rocket pretty fascinating. It's a no-install browser that only goes to X number of sites. The browser can only access these sites. For a 4 year-old, this seems pretty nice. And consider the fact it's just a single file - no installation necessary; you can put it on a flash drive or something and he can use it on any computer. If I had little ones I think I would give it a spin - at least you wouldn't have to worry about surprising (!) pop-ups.
posted by Gerard Sorme at 2:20 PM on October 4, 2008

Kid Rocket looks nifty, seems very safe, and would keep me entertained for a good long while wre I four, but geeze, Pac Man is way more stressful than I remember it being. Those ghosts are fast!
posted by DarlingBri at 2:59 PM on October 4, 2008