How To Install Free Parental Control Software

If your children are getting to an age where you can't always be around to watch what they are doing on the Internet then you will probably be concerned about them inadvertently accessing Internet pornography and other inappropriate sites. There are many applications available that claim to block web sites but none are perfect and they are often expensive for what they do. If you are considering using a web site blocker or Internet filter then I would advise trying this free parental control software first. I will not claim that it blocks every single inappropriate web site on the Internet (no Internet filter can do this - regardless of what the sales pitch says!) but it goes a long way to blocking inadvertent access to adult sites. It also logs your child's web use so you can see what has been blocked and what has been allowed.

Parental Control Bar is a free web site blocker (Internet filter) available to download from the very reputable site Download.com. It has been tested to ensure it is free from spyware and gets a four star rating from the sites editors. There are numerous positive reviews of the software from satisfied users. If you want to allow your children to use the Internet unsupervised then this is a good place to start.

By following the ten easy steps below you will have Parental Control Bar up and running in no time.

First download the Parental Control Bar software by going to http://www.download.com/ParentalControl-Bar/3000-2162_4-10578873.html. Click the button that says ‘Download Now' and save the file ‘parentalcontrolsetup.exe' to a folder on your hard drive (E.g. My Documents).

Close any browser windows that you have open (including the download page). You may want to print this page first so that you can continue to follow the instructions.

Find the file parentalcontrolsetup.exe in the folder you downloaded it to (E.g. My Documents) and double click it.

If you get a Windows security warning click the button that says ‘Run'.

If you didn't close all of your browser windows you will see the following message...

Just Click ‘OK' to continue.

A window will open asking you to accept the terms of use - click ‘I Agree'.

The following screen will appear...

Enter a password that you can remember and your children will not be able to guess. You can also enter a password ‘hint'. This is a short sentence that will remind you what the password is if you forget it - don't make it too obvious or your children might work it out! Then click 'Next'

The next screen allows you to enter your email address...

You should enter an email address that your children cannot access. If you don't have one, just make something up for now - it won't stop the software from working (but you will not be able to use the 'forgot password' feature - so don't forget it!). Click 'Next' again.

The installation program now begins to download updates from the Internet. You may get a security warning from your personal firewall if you are using one - you will need to click ‘Allow Access' or something similar depending on which firewall you have installed. Once you have done this you will see this screen...

When the installation is complete a browser window will open...

You will notice that the Parental Control Bar toolbar has been added to your browser.

Initially Parental Control Bar is in ‘Parent-Mode' (Red Button on Toolbar). Click the red ‘Parent-Mode' button to switch to ‘Child Mode' (Green Button). You then get a message that tells you your computer is now blocking web sites...

Click ‘OK' and you can now allow your children to surf the Internet. When you want to use the PC yourself (without any restrictions) you can click the green ‘Child Mode' button. Once you have entered the password you provided during the installation you will be back to ‘Parent-Mode' and can continue surfing as normal.

If you want to know more about how to get the most out of Parental Control Bar have a look at my user guide: Installing and Using Free Parental Control Software (Part 1)

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