Protecting Your Kids Online

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The Time-Scout Monitor is one way to limit and keep track of the amount of time kids spend on the computer.

This week's All Tech Considered is about some of the ways you can protect your kids when they spend time online. It's a broad topic and there are lots of different options, but here are some of the things we found:

• The McGruff SafeGuard software monitors Web activity and filters content and there's a free version available. Unfortunately, it only works with newer Windows PCs.
  
• Some of the kid-friendly Web browsers available include Buddy Browser and KidRocket.
  
• A guide to setting up parental controls and passwords in Internet Explorer.
  
• Two Web filters for the popular Firefox browser: ProCon Latte and FoxFilter.
  
• An excellent resource that tells parents exactly what to expect in video game content, What They Play.
  
• PowerCop and Time-Scout Monitor (pictured above) are two devices that allow you to control how much time your kids spend on the computer at the source: the power source. Maybe not such a hot idea for laptops, though.
  
• Chicago Tribune has tips for protecting your kids when they're using a cell phone.
  
• McAfee's Family Protection software and security software from Trend Micro.
  
• SpectorSoft has several versions of surveillance software that can record keystrokes and give you reports on your child's Web activity.
  
• Lori Getz has done a good series of articles for momlogic.com on these kinds of topics.
  
• Good recent article from Canada.com.
  
• Nine ways to keep tabs of your kids online this summer, from ABC News.

Got more to share or thoughts on the piece? Post them in the comments.