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A Safe Surfing Tutorial for Parents
By Kevin Loring
As parents we all care about what information our children are subjected to. We can't protect them from all the evils of the world but we can teach them to be as safe as possible. Computers are now a necessity in most business' and homes and access to unlimited resources is as easy as point and click. Children and younger adolescents are learning computers faster than previous generations. It's important for all of us to do our part in maintaining and protecting our children, systems and information. Teaching our children "safe surfing" practices not only decreases their chances of fraud & identity theft, but also decreases their chances of attack by virus & SPAM (unsolicited email advertisements).
Here are some basic guidelines to help make young children's surfing safer. (For both of you)
A) Search & Show. Search for websites you think your child may like. Use topics, characters, TV Shows and more to find sites targeted specifically at children. Then, Show these sites to your child. Be sure to add the site to your favorites (or bookmark) for quick easy access to your child's favorite sites. Also use a kid safe site as your homepage as it will display every time you open your browser. This can be especially helpful if your child likes one site in particular.
B) Email. Help your child with email. Go through it with them and show them exactly what SPAM and other kinds of unwanted emails look like so that they will know BEFORE they click. This will lessen the chances of more SPAM and reduce the chance of virus attack. Also teach your children how to use a junk filter if such feature is available on your email system.
"Be aware that the biggest problem with the Internet is that the written word is not easy to interpret. " When you speak something, people can hear the tone of your voice. If they can see you, they can take visual clues from your face and body to see if you're trying to be funny or trying to soften what sounds like a harsh statement. This is lost in text, and sometimes this can come across as mean or rude, even when the writer did not intend them this way. This is the reason some people use emoticons (visual clues) in their e-mails, it saves everyone alot of confusion.
C) Chat rooms & Forms. Most people sign up for web sites on a daily basis without much regard for the safety of the information they are sending. A stalker may potentially target a child in a chat room and by simply chatting, learn where they go to school, where they hang out, who their friends are and much much more. Members of these websites also usually have a "user profile". This database of information can give, those of bad intent, clues to the targets location, or even show a picture of the intended victim. By simply searching member profiles on other websites you could find even more information about the person. This is not to say, "Don't ever go in a chat room". Most chats are fun, lighthearted gatherings of like-minded people sharing knowledge and Smiley Faces.
My recommendation would be to teach our children what information is and which is definitely NOT ok to share with people online. Have them ask permission before filling out sign up forms for web sites. Information like social security numbers should only be given to trusted sites with an encrypted connection. I would also suggest that parents spend a few minutes on the web site themselves to see just what goes on there. NEVER ALLOW your child to meet someone they met online alone. As a parent you should try to know as much about your child's online friends as you do their friends as school.
If monitoring your child's activities online becomes too time consuming or for whatever reason is ineffective you could also try a Key Logger. A key logger, as the name suggests, logs keys as they are entered and should only be used as a method of last resort. This will keep a text file for you to read later, some programs can even email it to you at work. You'll know what your children are typing on the computer keyboard at all times. You won't be reading what others are saying to your child but you can read the reply your child sends back. Most log programs run in the background at startup so even if your computer were turned off the logger would still be effective. To find Key Logger software try www.downloads.com.
*Note: I feel key loggers may have some privacy issues for some families and would not recommend them if such is the case. It has also been said that key loggers for private home use by adults to keep an eye on children is no different than being in the same room while your child is on the phone. In both cases do you only hear/see the child's replies. But with a key logger you may have access to your child's (or spouse's) passwords. Using this information to "spy" (like read another's email for example) can be considered "hacking". This opens a whole new can of worms. I suggest talking about it as a family and maybe setting some ground rules about Use of Information.
What else can I do?
A) Disable AutoComplete. Auto logon features on websites are great. But if your child is curious or has seen you surf, they may wish to visits sites they had seen you surf. Monkey see, monkey do. This can compromise the security of your account, as they will have access. The website doesn't know it's your child and not you. I personally lost 100 emails this way. Also, deleting Cookies and temporary files BEFORE your child logs on will also disable some auto logon features on some sites. Cookies are used to store information on your computer in a temporary file. These cookies tell the website a number of different things. It can tell the site to enter your name and password or simply what background color you liked or when you last visited. Sometimes these cookies are necessary to properly track your stats for some web sites.
B) Enable Content Advisor. Open Control Panel, click on Internet Options now click on the Content Tab. The Content Manager will allow you to manipulate which sites are approved as "Safe". It will also allow you to supply a password for restricted material. This is an excellent tool. I think it's highly overlooked. No expensive software needed and it has many features.
C) Create a New User Account on your computer for your child. In the Control Panel, click on Users, to set up a new user account. You can restrict the settings for your PC integrity. I recommend this with younger children as you can disable the ability to install programs and disable the ability to change system files. An added benefit is that children will have their own desktop and this keeps YOUR desktop and integral system files safe.
D) Enable Parental Controls. Most Internet Service Providers, such as AOL, MSN, PC Dreams, Mid-Maine and more, provide Parental Controls for parents to filter content from your child's viewing. I highly recommend this feature. It can filter many inappropriate websites and is an extraordinary weapon in the fight to keep our children safe.
E) Use Google Safe Search. Google has an amazing search filter for parents. This allows your children to safely search the Internet for games, resources, and more without being hammered by unintentional adult websites or other objectionable material. You can also set this as your homepage. A homepage is simply the first website to pop up when you open Internet Explorer or your preferred web browser. By using Google's Safe Search as your homepage, your children will be more likely to use the search engine as it will always be the first thing they see before browsing the web.
F) Take a basic computing course. Many parents are unfamiliar with the terms and technologies they are using and letting their children use. Our children pick up computers much faster as their minds are eager to absorb this myriad of information. I've seen a lot of parents and grandparents who rely on their children/grandchildren for technical support. Taking a basic computing class and preparing yourself will help you tremendously in teaching your children to be safe, knowledgeable computer users. For many parents unfamiliar with the PC and Internet this action may be the single best suggestion I have in protecting your children in regards to the Internet.
About the Author
Kevin Loring is the President of PC Dreams, Inc. Visit http://www.mypcdreams.com for more info.
This article is free to use on non commercial web sites as long as the above link remains intact.
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/16393.html
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