Cause Unfortunately, the Internet is full of pornographic, violent, racist, and other hate content that you may not want displayed on IE. Nothing is foolproof, so you should use the Internet with kids in much the same way as you would a public amusement park—you hold their hands and you watch everything. Leaving children unattended with the Internet is like leaving them unattended to play in the street—something bad will happen eventually.
You can configure some content settings on IE that enable you to block objectionable material, if the web site has identified itself as such. If the site has not identified itself as such, IE has no way of knowing what it is downloading. There are some additional security applications that you can purchase that can further help control objectionable material. Some examples are NetKeys Internet Security and Norton Internet Security, Family Edition. Also, specific blocking products work well, such as Net Nanny (www.netnanny.com), Safe Surf (www.safesurf.com), and Cyber Sitter (www.cybersitter.com). You can find these products and more at your favorite computer store, but again, they are not foolproof. In the meantime, you can turn on IE's content option, which will provide you some protection.
The Pain Killer To use IE's content feature, follow these steps:
- Click Start | Control Panel | Internet Options.
- Click the Content tab, and then click the Enable button under Content Advisor.
On the Ratings tab, click through each category and set the slider bar to the level that you want. The first level is None, followed by other levels that allow the content to a degree. Choose the levels you want to enforce for each category.
Click the Approved Sites tab. You can choose override settings on the Ratings page by entering the address of any sites that are allowed or not allowed at all. Simply enter the address and click the appropriate button, as shown in the illustration. Allowed sites appear with a green check mark, while blocked sites appear with a red minus sign.
Click the General tab. You have two important settings at the top of the page. First, if you want users to be able to see sites that have no rating, click the check box option—but if not, keep it unchecked. Users will not be able to view any and all unrated web sites (no matter if it has objectionable content). Again, this may not be foolproof, so don't put all of your trust in this setting. Secondly, you definitely want to use the option to Create a Supervisor Password so that no one else can override your settings. Click the button option to create one. Click OK when you are done.
If you are interested, you can also learn more about ratings bureaus and organizations with the information on the General and Advanced tabs of the Content Advisor.
