Computers connected to the Internet can be wonderful learning tools for children. They can also be a recipe for disaster. Like all tools, it all depends on how they are used.
Obviously, no parent wants their children to visit inappropriate websites, chat rooms, or communicate with strangers via email. As a parent, you decide what is appropriate and what is not. But there are far more common risks from the misuse of a computer.
A good rule of thumb... if you have children you have spyware.
Children often download music from file sharing sites. Almost without exception this results in spyware being installed on your computer.
Children tend to be impulsive and often fall victim to hackers without realizing it. An all-to-common example is "toolbars", often promoted as making some task easier. Again, almost without exception, they are spyware.
Children, being curious, like to experiment. For example, a client's son decided to randomly delete files from the hard drive. Unfortunately he deleted some very important files that our client had failed to backup.
Our suggestions...
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If your computer is used for business or has any type of financial data stored on it, do not allow children to use the computer.
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If you are going to allow children to use a computer you also use, set up user accounts. That way they get an account with a limited set of rights and you have your account with a full set of rights. Properly setting up accounts can be tricky... contact us for assistance.
- Safest solution is to buy yourself a new computer and give the old one to your children. Of course, you'll want to move all your important information to the new computer and remove it from the old one. You may also want to share the same Internet connection to keep costs down. If you need assistance, contact us.
- Whether your children are using your computer or their own you will want to exercise some control over what websites they visit, chat room use, email activity, etc. How you do this is up to you. If you want to limit certain activities, "blocking software" is available. However, our experience is that most blocking software is generally not effective. It can also be too restrictive. A much better approach is to use a "keylogger" This secretly records ALL activity on the computer and only you can see the reports. We offer a law enforcement grade keylogger that is totally undetectable, cannot be defeated, and can even email activity reports directly to you! It's a very powerful product and must be installed correctly which is why we install it for you and configure it to your needs. If you want to know more, contact us.
- Finally, do your updates, use the
Firefox
browser (100% pop-up proof and FREE),
Thunderbird
email client, and
Mailwasher Pro
. It allows you to manage your email while it is still on the email server, BEFORE you download it to your computer. That makes it all but impossible for your computer to become infected. It also gets rid of SPAM (junkmail). We recommend
Mailwasher Pro
to our clients (and use it ourselves on ALL our computers).
Children or not, you really need to do all these things in addition to using antivirus software in order to ensure a safe and enjoyable Internet experience.
