MWeb give you the control!

With Easter holidays around the corner, your kids will be spending more time at home watching television, hanging out with friends and surfing the web. For the last holidays you finally got an always-available ADSL connection because with the kids downloading games, music and information from the Internet, the dial-up costs were killing you. So while you can now safely budget for your internet expenses and they can enjoy the faster, always-available Internet access, you’re now worried about what exactly it is they’re being exposed to online.

The Internet is a marvellous resource – for research, education, news, leisure and socialising. But let’s not be fooled, just like anything where society at large has access, there are some risks. While the best parental guidance is undoubtedly physical supervision, you often can’t be leaning over their shoulders while they surf or chat to friends via email. So how do you control what they’re viewing without physically padlocking the keyboard?

The latest and most effective tool for controlling what your kids are able to access online is a new software product from MWEB called Web Filter. Available free to MWEB members, Web Filter is a unique filtering solution for Internet content where rules can be created for each user to create separate surfing restrictions on a single computer. Using an easy category-based listing, you can control exactly what websites can or cannot be accessed, giving you peace of mind when you’re not there.

Natalie Thayer, General Manager of MWEB Home, says children these days are learning to use the Internet in primary school and while there is no substitute for physically being there to check on them when they’re online, this is often not practical for many parents.

“It’s important for parents to feel comfortable with their children’s use of the Internet and so we are offering an effective way of being able to control exactly what kids can access online. Web Filter utilises the world’s largest and most current categorised list of websites (URLs), which is organised into 59 different categories (such as pornography, illegal activities, violence, gambling and sex). Parents can then select which categories are out of bounds for each user.”

Once the software has been installed, a simple programme allows parents to easily set up the filter categories and apply them to the different users of the computer. For example, you may want your teenage son to be able to access information on sexual health, but you might not think it appropriate for your eight year old daughter. You can also specify the kind of programmes that may or may not be downloaded from the Internet, such as online games or chat programmes.

So how do you get it? MWEB members can simply log on and download the software from the MWEB site. Web Filter works on any computer and with any Internet connection

MWEB’s Web Filter is also ideally suited to small businesses that want to restrict unacceptable Internet use among staff in order to increase productivity. It is also suitable for schools and other educational institutions, where more than one user has access to the same computer.

For more information, including a list of filter categories go to www.mweb.co.za and click on Web Filter.