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Tools

Welcome to this Tools section—here we talk about some of the many products or “tools” on the internet which can help you. Many products have what are called "parental controls" to let you manage what your children can see or do online. Once you know where to find them they are usually quite easy to use.

For example MSN’s Instant Messenger has options that allow you to block certain people and keep a record of conversations. This will make it easier, both to check on conversations and save any evidence you may need to report abuse. You can also check with your internet service provider to see what parental controls they can offer you.

Filtering software is another way to control your child’s use of the internet. Nowadays filtering software can do everything from blocking out pornography to monitoring chat sessions and even controlling the amount of time that you want your child to spend on the internet. However it’s important to remember that filtering is no substitute for good parental involvement and no filters are ever 100% effective.

Filters can also block things that you might want your children to see, like educational or news websites, or political material that you’d be perfectly happy with them reading. If you want to research some great filtering packages there is a really good website called GetNetWise.org which has a whole list of them. You can find more information about this site and other services in our Info Centre.