For Parents - How to protect children from viewing unsuitable content in the Internet? 

Dear parents,
The following argicle is intended to inform you about the existence of unsuitable content for children in the Internet, and to present possible means to decrease or limit the possiblity of child access to such content.

What is a dangerous for children web-site? 
Dangerous for children web-sites is such a web-site, which contains an impropper content for viewing by children. Such content can be described as belonging mainly to one of these three types:

• pornography
• violence
• racial intolerance

Even a harmless site can turn into a dangerous one. For example, an incorrect or misleading information can be published intentionally in a forum by a malevolent or incompetent user.  

Is there a means to provide only useful to children information?  
This issue necessitates mutual efforts by the whole society, for exaample:

• media: popularization of sites for literature, education, recreation, etc. 
• parents: spurring the interest of children to such sites
• institutions: enacting of proper legislation to limit the dissemination of such a content among children.

How can parents limit or evade the access to improper content? 
The following approaches can provide help on the issue: 

• placing the computer in the living-room 
• taking more care towards the activities of children in the Internet 
• applying site-access blocking software
• applying software preventing the sending of personal information over the Internet
• applying software for remote monitoring of the Internet activity 
• etc.

Unfortunately, none of the described approaches provides a full guarantee that the improper content will be evaded. The Internet Services Provider informs about the existence of different options for evading or decreasing the possibility of a child to view improper content, but the main responsibility is parents'. 

How to block "dangerous content"?
There is a free or commercial content blocking software, which prevents veiwing a web-site, which contains a predefined set of key-words. The software cannot stop 100% of the improper content, but still provides some means of protection.

How to prevent the sending of personal information over the Internet?
There is a free or commercial software, wchich offers this functionality. The parents can configure what personal information they wouldn't like their child to share over the Internet:

• home address
• address of the school/kindergarden
• phone
• e-mail
• etc.

Useful link:
Logprotect  –  the experience of Europe, a free software, presented by the European association of the Internet Service Providers. More information on it and a download link can be found here.

How the remote monitoring of the PC is accomplished?
The remote monitoring can be organized either by setting up a web-cam, or by applying a specialized software, which "clones" the monitor at home on the monitor of a remote computer, for example the one in the parent's office. Both approaches necessitate some specialized knowledge on the configuration and usage. The good news is that a wide variety of specialized and user-friendly free or commercial software is available in the Internet.  

Useful link:
TeamViewer – a software to connect to any PC or server over the Internet. The user can remote control from the office his/her home PC as if sitting in front of it. The software is free of charge for home users. More information on it and a download link can be found here.

What is DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol)? 

DHCP is a protocol that enables host autoconfiguration (IP address and a DNS server).
For activation of the DHCP on your computer, please click here and on the POP-up window click "Run".

What is an Active Session? 

Each computer, when used in any kind of network (like LAN, Wireless or other), constantly sends requests, or the so called TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) sessions to other destinations (like google.com or others). The TCP session is also called an Active session or just a Session.

Examples:

• when you download a file to your computer over the Internet with a download manager as FlashGet, GetRight or other), the file is broken down to many pieces, before it is transferred to your computer and reassembled to its original structure. Each one of these pieces uses one session to be downloaded to your computer;
• Skype, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and other chat clients use constantly between 2 and 4 sessions to the servers of the service providers to show the Online status;
• when you veiw web-pages with Internet Explorer, Firefox or other web-browser, each simultaneously opened new web-page (no matter whether it is in a new window or in a new tab) use one session untill it is fully displayed, after which the session is released till your next click on some link;
• if you use a P2P (Peer-to-Peer) software like: Kazaa, Grokster, Gnutella, eDonkey, eMule, Torrent, BitComet, BitTorrent or other for downloading files, make sure you have made the optimal settings (usually in the setup or configuration menu of the program). The optimal settings are usually about 10 sessions less the number of maximum number of sessions available in your Internet subscription. If you are not sure about the maximum number of sessios in your Internet subscription, ask your Internet Services Provider. This setup would alow you to download files at optimal speeds and still have some free sessions (10 in our example) reserved for web-browsing or other purposes, so that they are not blocked until your download has been completed;
• and the most important, if you have a computer virus, trojan, worm, or other parasite, programmed to spread to other computers and infect the maximum number of computers in the LAN segment or in the Internet, it is possible that this parasite uses the maximum number of sessions available, leaving none for your disposal. For the user this seems as a stopped Internet connection. The solution is to run an antivirus software, and if it is good and updated, it may disinfect your comptuer.  If you are not sure about how to do this, call the 24x7 Powernet Helpdesk and reserve a convenient date and time for a visit by a computer specialist to clean up your computer (please note that it is a paid service. You may ask the Operator about the fee) 

What is a Spyware? 

Spyware is a kind of unwanted software, which can be installed on your computer in various ways, for example while you browse web-pages which contain such a software and deliberately and without your knowledge install it in on your computer, or when you install an "infected" software, etc. 

Spyware can hideously and without your consent do different actions on your computer, for example:

• display unwanted advertisements
• collect personal information for third parties
• change the settings of your computer
• alter the functioning of other programs, from slight changes to complete freeze of the whole system
• change the start page (home page) of your web-browser, add unwanted features to your browser, desctop, etc. 

Also, spyware can make the return to initial computer and software settings very diffuclt. 

What is an Adware? 

Adware is a kind of software, that shows unwanted and intrusive advertisements, and makes it easy for third parties to show such advertisements on your monitor. Adware can show advertisements in your browser (e.g. to change the original advertisements of a web-site with others), open commercial web-sites, and collect marketing information for your Internet behaviour. In order to protect your computer from unwanted installation of adware, it is recommended to read carefully the Terms of Use and End User License Agreement before installation of new or free software, and of course use a reliable vendor of computer protection software (antivirus) and keep it regularly updated.