Labs

Parent Interactive doesn't have a predefined list of blocked or acceptable Web sites. There is something called site blocking mode, which allows you to enter Web addresses that should always be blocked, as well as those that should never be. For the most part, though, the software relies on its content filter to prevent your child gaining access to inappropriate content. Web sites, chat rooms and newsgroups that your child tries to access are monitored before they can be shown on your PC's screen. If the page contains a word or phrase from Parent Interactive's banned list, the page or message is blocked.

The software installs easily and works initially by treating all users in the same way. You can set up different user categories to achieve some level of differentiation - but within those groups, Parent Interactive doesn't give you much control over the overall standard for material you think is suitable. 'Less restrictive' or 'more restrictive' is about as far as it goes. That's fine if all the

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children you're trying to protect are at the same level of development, but it could cause endless arguments if you're trying to cater for an 11- and a 16-year-old. This program also has the most confusing interface of any here.

Parent Interactive monitors for pornographic and sexually explicit content. If any attempt is made to access or write any material that falls within an unacceptable category, a snapshot of the screen will be taken. You can choose what further action the program then takes: blocking the site, warning the user, closing the browser, sending a copy of the screenshot to a parent's e-mail address, and so on. You can also choose times when the Internet is enabled and disabled, and define a list of applications that your children are allowed to run. Use of chat rooms is monitored, along with instant messaging.

Unfortunately, the default method for detecting inappropriate words still allowed us to gain access to a number of Web sites containing inappropriate material. It failed to recognise unsuitable Web sites in other languages, and had problems with unacceptable words that formed part of other words. You can, however, add words to the list for blocking, or remove words from the blocked list, but this could turn out to be a very long job.

Content filtering, done properly, is a much more flexible and effective way to vet content than Web filtering. Unfortunately, Parent Interactive's content filter lets through some inappropriate words, and doesn't catch foreign words that other software does. For this reason, it doesn't do as well as its competitors.