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Webroot Parental Controls
Price: £24.95 inc VAT per year

Features
Performance
Ease of use
Value for money
Overall

Reviewed By: JJ O’Donoghue

This review updated: 04/05/2008
Featured in magazine:
Issue 184
Manufacturer Contacts:
Supplier: Webroot
Tel: 0845 0822 498
Web Address: www.webroot.com


One of the great advantages of broadband is that it is always connected to the internet. However, this increased connectivity means that children have easy access to everything on the net, which can be a source of worry for parents. Webroot Parental Controls (WPC) blocks sites you wouldn't want children to visit, either by accident or on purpose. It also offers a scheduling service so that you can limit children's use to particular times of the day.

Features:
Your subscription allows installation on up to three computers – enough to cover most households. The seven user profiles comprise four different age groups for children, as well as Custom, Adult and Administrator profiles for adults. The internet time scheduler lets you configure particular time slots for allowing internet access and emails you reports detailing how long anyone using your computers has spent online. You can also block inappropriate searches at major sites and limit access to certain programs, such as games.

Performance:
With WPC, each household member is placed in a different category. For instance, when we set up a child's account (7 and under) we were able to build a plan and a schedule for that child's time online, choosing what content we wanted restricted and which programs could be used, as well as limiting the amount of time that child can spend on the net. WPC works effectively across various browsers – we tested it on Internet Explorer and Firefox – but only on PCs with Vista or XP.

Ease of use:
Set-up is intuitive and easy – indeed, where WPC excels is that it couples intuition and customisability with a high level of sophistication. Installation is straightforward, although entering passwords for each person proved to be confusing and frustrating at times. For each profile, WPC preconfigures the category restrictions based on a sensible level of risk, so choosing the adolescent profile, for instance, means that all mature categories are blocked. The menu bar, where we customised each person's profile, is comprehensive and easily navigable.

Value for money:
At £24.95, WPC offers a lot more features than Windows Vista's free built-in controls, so it is worth spending the extra money. The internet security market is well stacked with parental-control software and WPC compares favourably in price. Of course, software is no substitute for adult supervision but because you can't be everywhere at once, WPC is a sensible and reliable investment.

More Internet Filtering reviews:

• Webroot Parental Controls
• McAfee SiteAdvisor
• WOT
• Link Scanner Lite
• TrendProtect