# Need free Anti-Virus and Parental Control software. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 16, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-free-anti-virus-and-parental-control-software/155380 "2003-02-16T04:11:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steel\_Wheels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Steel\_Wheels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steel_Wheels)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-free-anti-virus-and-parental-control-software/155380/1 "2003-02-16T04:11:29Z")
A friend of mine has just been given a rebuilt computer for their teenage son to use for his school work. As their son will be accessing the internet with this computer, they definitely want Anti-virus and Parental Control software installed. Being short on cash, (the computer was donated to them, not bought) are there any really good free Anti-virus and Parental Control programs that they can download? ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-free-anti-virus-and-parental-control-software/155380/2 "2003-02-16T10:22:42Z")
AVG 6.0 Free Edition is a pretty good anti-virus program, you’ll find it at [www.grisoft.com](http://www.grisoft.com) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-free-anti-virus-and-parental-control-software/155380/3 "2003-02-16T20:43:49Z")
I’d second AVG. Very good (especially for the price). I don’t know of any good free parental control software, though. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-free-anti-virus-and-parental-control-software/155380/4 "2003-02-16T20:59:16Z")
Okay, how about the free version of Outpost Personal Firewall? Although I don’t use the feature, it does allow you to define what web content and/or sites can be viewed. You’ll find it at [www.agnitum.com/products/outpost/](http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost/) ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-free-anti-virus-and-parental-control-software/155380/5 "2003-02-16T21:20:37Z")
There isn’t a good parental control software, free or otherwise. Even when they’re do manage to block ‘inappropriate’ sites, they almost always also block ‘appropriate’ sites that a researching teenager would want to visit legitamately. And even when they’re in place, they’re fairly easy to get around by routing your traffic through open proxies. If **China** can’t filter all the traffic coming in on their trunk lines to effectively block access to sites that it’s government finds inappropriate, your friends aren’t going to be able to filter the traffic going into their son’s computer on no budget. If they can’t trust their kid to handle anything he finds, and they must have more control, they’ll have better luck with monitoring software, which logs everything the kid does, and then they can review the log and discuss any ‘inappropriate’ activity. -lv ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-free-anti-virus-and-parental-control-software/155380/6 "2003-02-16T22:08:04Z")
I would also recommend that they install firewall software to add some protection against unwanted hacking/cracking (let’s leave the linguistic debate elsewhere) attempts. [ZoneAlarm](http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/zap_za_grid.jsp) is a very popular, user-friendly firewall product, free for personal use. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-free-anti-virus-and-parental-control-software/155380/7 "2003-02-16T23:17:07Z")
I’ve been switching between ZoneAlarm and Outpost for about a month now. I like ZoneAlarm and have been using it for an age, but am getting very fond of Outpost’s ad-blocking ability. ---
**Author:** ![Steel\_Wheels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Steel\_Wheels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steel_Wheels)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-free-anti-virus-and-parental-control-software/155380/8 "2003-02-16T23:26:10Z")
Thanks for the replies, I’ll pass on your suggestions.