 Safety Software for My Family! |
| Review Date: August 27, 2008 |
| Reviewer: VJ, Oakland, CA USA |
| I have owned several versions of Net Nanny - and the latest, version 5.6 is awesome. It allows me to set-up a profile for each family member based on their age. Net Nanny just won the 2008 PC Mag Editor's Choice Award for Parental Controls- and it has earned it and more in my house. My kids have their Internet access shut off every school night at 7PM sharp thanks to Net Nanny. Anyone who isn't using a filter or parental controls and has kids surfing the Internet is asking for trouble |
great watch dog
|
| Review Date: December 14, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Michael R. Garrett, |
| This product has been a great help in controlling our child's time on the internet and the content that is accessed. The added features of e-mail alerts and remote access are a definite plus. |
Review after a year of use...
|
| Review Date: December 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Lyndon Unger, Granada Hills, California |
Now, if you're reading this review, you're one of 3 categories of people:
1. A Parent wanting to protect your child from internet smut/garbage.
2. A Parent wanting to regulate your children's internet usage by setting time limits.
3. Like Me - An adult who's wanting to protect yourself from internet smut/garbage or simply regulate time online.
So, here's what NetNanny will do for #1-2:
- You can filter all web content based upon language, images, etc.
- You can block specific sites (like Youtube).
- You can regulate computer games from being run at certain hours.
- You CAN disallow IM or E-mail by simply disallowing the site/program during certain hours, (it seems some reviewers are confused on this), though this will NOT FILTER your e-mail account or those of your children if they're getting "buy viagra here" e-mails.
- You can have it e-mail you immediately if there is attempts to get around the software, and see the log of where the culprit was (on the web) when the attempt was made.
- You can set time limits to the web.
- You can shut off basically all the web except specific sites (though this takes a little know how and I haven't tried it).
On the whole, you can maintain a fair amount of control with your kids and NetNanny. I'm not sure if there are better products for sale that will do this all, but when I was shopping a year ago, NetNanny was definitely at the top of the game.
So, here's what NetNanny will do for #3:
I'm a pastor, and I want to protect myself from web-smut and other trash. I don't go out searching for it, but it's around enough and far too easily. My wife is jealous for my eyes, and I covet them for her. In my books, NetNanny is a definite necessity if you're in any sort of ministry. It logs your web-traffic, you can send your web-history to any elders or whoever is keeping you accountable (and your spouse, of course), and it will be a stop-gap when temptation comes your way and you buckle for that 1/4 second it takes to click something you shouldn't.
NetNanny won't remove sin from the heart, or change your desire to sin if you're actually WANT to, but it will help guard you from unneccesary temptations and for this, it's invaluable!
It's not perfect (since it often filters on language, it may filter out things you want to get too that have 'flagged' words), but that's a small price to pay for some insurance of integrity and purity.
I definitely recommend it...it's a LOT better than some of the free software by "Covenant Eyes" or "XXXChurch" or even Focus on the Family.
In fact, if you're in ministry and don't have a filtered and recorded computer, you need to change that right now.
Don't be an fool.
"1 I have made a covenant with my eyes;
how then could I gaze at a virgin?
2 What would be my portion from God above
and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
3 Is not calamity for the unrighteous,
and disaster for the workers of iniquity?" - Job 31:1-3
If verse 1 doesn't describe you, then verse 3 will. |
Works Well, But....
|
| Review Date: September 9, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Christopher F. Kerr, Larwill, IN |
Net Nanny 5.5 effectively blocks users from internet content that parents deem inappropriate (not only porn, but news or hate/violence, etc.). Parents can select what types of websites and online activities to block their children from viewing or using. Should individual sites mistakingly be blocked, they can be individually set as an exception. Also, the program may be de-activated with a user-set password. In fact, all changes to Net Nanny require this password. Overall, Net Nanny 5.5 works as advertised, and works very well.
Perhaps a little too well. Net Nanny protects itself so deeply in the system that attempts to tamper with it in the registry or with third-party programs can cause serious damage to the operating system of the computer.
I had installed and run Spyware Doctor to block spyware from my system; Spyware Doctor mistakingly identified Net Nanny as a malicious program and blocked key aspects of it from operating as well as deleting several Net Nanny files. After a re-start, Windows would boot up but no longer connect to the internet; I could no longer move files, and certain programs failed to run at all. System Restore would no longer work, even in safe mode, and I couldn't re-install Net Nanny because it requires an internet connection to do so.
Thanks to this Catch-22, I had to install Windows on a fresh hard disk in order to utilize my old files. While this may seem to be more of a complaint for Spyware Doctor, it demonstrates that Net Nanny is protected so deeply in the system that if anything goes wrong with it, it can wreak serious havoc in the operating system.
Another complaint about this program is that it runs without regard to Windows profiles. While profile settings can be established, an additional password is required once you log in. It's easier just to use the same settings for everyone and use the master password to shut Nanny Nanny down if it becomes a nuisance.
Overall all, Net Nanny delivers on its promise to keep minors away from unwanted internet content, but the program protection is deeply rooted and therefore poses a potential risk to the operating system should anything go wrong. |
I guess I didn't read the features close enough
|
| Review Date: December 1, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Scott Grigsby, Ohio |
I really liked the idea that I could download this product for free for a 14-day trial. After hours and hours of reading reviews, I felt like a ping pong ball. It turns out that sometimes the best way to evaluate is to test drive it yourself! So that's what I did.
What I found was that the software was extremely easy to download and set up. I liked that I could block out time zones for my kids and limit their time online. I also liked that it did a GREAT job of blocking objectionable content. It also sent me lots of emails to let me know that certain things were being blocked. It even told me when it was handing out warnings (I'm not really sure what the point of these warnings are, now that I think about it. It seemed kind of cool when I first set them up, but in reality it didn't really mean anything -- to me or my son.)
My main problem with this software is that it doesn't cover email or IM, and those are two things I'm very concerned about.
So, in the end, I guess it was my own fault that I didn't read the product features description closely enough. All that research made me go blind I guess. I wish I could say that I had found the product that did exactly what I was hoping, but for now I'm back into the review pool, wading through all of the information. |
|
No video reviews found for this product.
Leave a Reply