Labs

Cyber Patrol is one of two products in this group test that are available by download only. It takes a tough approach to parental control and offers multiple customisable user profiles, with the useful option of copying settings from one user to another. This means that you don't have to start everything from scratch each time.

You can also make fairly detailed decisions about the types of information to block. However, the way the categories are then interpreted depends on Cyber Patrol's own list of acceptable or non-acceptable sites, and that can't be viewed - though you can add your own sites for viewing or banning. The types of site that can be blocked include adult/sexually explicit, gambling, intimate apparel, sex education, violence, drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

If you'd rather keep the list of sites that can be visited to a minimum, you can set Cyber Patrol to allow only the sites on its child-friendly 'CyberYES' list. When it detects a site that isn't on the

ADVERTISEMENT

list, it instead loads a page explaining why the site has been blocked.

Cyber Patrol can also keep track of chat and newsgroups, letting you decide which newsgroups are blocked and which are allowed. Newsgroups can be blocked on the basis of the same list of categories used for Web sites, or you can block or allow newsgroups individually.

Incoming chat from AOL Messenger, ICQ, and mIRC and other IRC-based chat programs can be filtered, and a feature called Chat Gard lets you block children from posting information such as financial details, phone numbers and addresses. While Cyber Patrol is running, any attempt to type such information shows only blank characters. One possible downside to this is the fact that it happens no matter what application you're using - so you can't type your address in a letter, or your credit card number into your word processor, for example, while Chat Gard is operational. The words banned by Chat Gard are also blocked if they are embedded in other words - bad news if you happen to live in Scunthorpe.

You can also apply settings for when the Internet will be available, and the number of hours that your children can be connected to the Internet.

Perhaps the biggest down side of Cyber Patrol is the fact that you buy a 12-month subscription to the list of banned sites. At the end of that time you either have the choice to continue to pay for the subscription, or to block everything from that point onwards.

CyberPatrol is effective but too indiscriminate and inflexible to be in the running for an award.