Net Nanny 2011 Review
Net Nanny 2011 Review
Net Nanny is the second ranked product in the parental software category. The product's content filtering and blocking capabilities are superior to the majority of its competition. Unlike our number one ranked product WebWatcher, Net Nanny cannot capture images of the user's desktop or record a child's keyboard strokes. However, the app is equipped with an impressive internet-access-scheduling feature. Unique to Net Nanny is the blocking and filtering of online games.
In business since 2001, ContentWatch is a Salt Lake City, Utah based company. The corporation's focus is on the development of internet-security solutions for education, libraries, government, businesses and the individual. Net Nanny is its most well known internet-security solution.
Installation & Management:
Net Nanny is a subscription-based service. Once purchased, the manufacturer generates an email that contains a link for software download and an activation serial number. Completing the software's installation is a trouble-free undertaking. After a system reboot, the application automatically commences its monitoring, filtering and blocking duties.
Because of its proactive content filtering capabilities, the response times of both Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer are slightly slower than normal. The application does seem to have a minimalistic draw on system memory and somewhat slows the monitored PC. The benefits of the application clearly outweigh this negligible depletion of system resources. Only advanced computer users will notice the slowing of the computer.
Customization:
The app's customization options are a refreshing change. Parents can select what to filter and create filtering exceptions. The establishment of family-based, age-based and individual user profiles is a straightforward task.
For parents who monitor several computers, the application allows for the export of profiles to all monitored computers. Net Nanny is an excellent parental software choice for families with multiple children of various ages.
The parental software has over thirty-five defined categories and a host of default settings for internet browsing, instant messaging, chat, social networking and other internet-related applications. Some users of the product may become frustrated because they cannot remove words or phrases from the app's basic word list. The software allows for the addition of words and phrases but not their removal. To compensate for this perceived shortcoming, parents can make exceptions within the application.
Recording Capabilities:
The application records all visited websites. Social networks pose numerous threats to children. Many parents have legitimate concerns regarding their child's online social networking profiles. Net Nanny may calm the fears of many parents because of the app's advanced Social Network monitoring capabilities.
Parents can receive detailed reports regarding a child's Facebook, MySpace or other social networking profile. These detailed report includes a child's friends' list, uploaded videos, pictures, wall posts, instant message conversations and a multitude of other activities.
To obtain this information, the monitored child must agree to install the targeted social network's app for Net Nanny on their personal profile. Should a child refuse permission, parents can easily block the child from accessing the site.
Unfortunately, Net Nanny only keeps the collected information for twenty-four hours. After the time has lapsed, the application removes the collected data. The company imposed this time limit to appease several social networking sites. This appeasement facilitated making the Net Nanny app available to teenagers and other users of the targeted social networking sites.
In some instances, this process of appeasement can impede a parent's ability to collect evidence of child exploitation or cyber bullying. This deleted data might have proven useful in assisting a parent with the correction of a child's harmful online behavior.
The parental software can capture the transcripts of conversations that occur in chat or instant message applications. Net Nanny has support for Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, Jabber, ICQ, Google Talk and other services. Additionally, it records Facebook and MySpace instant messaging.
During the monitoring of internet-based conversations, the app proactively scans the exchanges for dangerous communications that may include the sexual solicitation of the child, bullying, threats, aggressive language and profanity. Upon identification of a potentially ominous word or phrase, the app alerts the parent to the situation through the generation of an email.
The parental software records the words and keywords used to perform online searches.
Filtering & Blocking:
School districts around the USA report that many children arrive to school sleep deprived. Studies demonstrate that tired children sometimes experience falling grades and can perform poorly on tests. Staying up late to play online games, chatting with friends, or simply surfing the web, sometimes until the wee hours of the morning, have caused more than one child to experience sleep deprivation. Frequently, parents are unaware of their child's bedtime antics.
Net Nanny comes equipped with a scheduling feature that can grant or deny child internet access. Parents can deny access during normal sleep hours.
The parental software can block or filter games based upon ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) criteria. The application maintains a database of popular and recently released games. Parents can filter or block games based on category, theme or other definition.
Other filtering and blocking capabilities of the software include website filtering, website blocking, chat filtering and blocking, profanity masking and more.
Reporting:
Net Nanny has two reporting methods. Parents can view collected information via the local monitored PC, or can access it remotely through the manufacturer-hosted website. In both methods, reports and collected data are identical.
The parental software subdivides the information into five distinct categories that include Web Activity, Web Searches, Instant Message and Social Networking. Aiding parents with the interpretation of gathered information are pie and bar charts as well as traditional reporting methods. Clicking on any heading reveals detailed information about the topic.
Licensing/Support:
Each purchase of the subscription-based software allows the user to install the application on one computer for one year
Technical support is available through email, telephone contact, user help files and a website-hosted FAQs area. Customer report inquires resulted in a fast response.
Operating System
Windows 7
Windows XP
Mac OS Versions are available.
Summary:
Net Nanny is a highly rated, effective and reliable child-monitoring software solution. The app's robust features are available to parents at a stunningly affordable cost. Should the manufacturer ever incorporate keylogging and screenshot tools within the application, it may easily soar past its remaining competition.
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