With 3 sons at home, the dangers posed by the dark side of the Internet are a real concern. During a recent visit to Kim Komando’s website, I discovered a totally FREE Internet filtering and control solution for the home called K9 Web Protection. After testing it on two of our three systems at home for about 10 days, it appears to be as effective and custom configurable as other commercial products I have used in the past.[more]
K9 Web Protection (http://www1.k9webprotection.com/) is protecting almost half a million homes, according to their website, and has been awarded the Seal of Approval from The National Parenting Center (http://www.tnpc.com/search/tnpcarticle2.asp?rec=5275), the iParenting Media Award (http://iparentingmediaawards.com/winners/11/5572-4-174.php) and the IIA Family Friendly Filter (http://www.iia.net.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=416&Itemid=73). Additionally, CNET’s Editor Rating is 4 stars (of 5) and the average rating from CNET users is 4½ stars (see http://www.download.com/K9-Web-Protection/3000-2162_4-10487710.html?tag=lst-6-4).
I was also impressed with the philosophy that led Blue Coat Systems to offer this product free for home use:“Blue Coat Systems has been very successful selling a version of this software to Fortune 500 companies and other large corporations. When we became successful, and were looking for ways to give back to our communities, we realized that one valuable thing we could offer was a free version of our Web filtering service for home users.” (see “Why are you giving away this software?”)