# Recommendations for child-proofing software

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-child-proofing-software/555837>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 2, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-child-proofing-software/555837 "2010-10-02T14:16:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-child-proofing-software/555837/1 "2010-10-02T14:16:32Z")

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So, I just got my wife a new laptop which means her old one is now the kid’s laptop (4 and 3 respectively). I want to strip it down to the basics and lock it down so that they can’t inadvertently wander off the little flash games sites we let them play. Any recommendations for free/low-cost ‘nanny’ software and/or white-list services?

Thanks in advance!

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**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-child-proofing-software/555837/2 "2010-10-03T18:32:17Z")

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Windows Live Essentials has a “Family Safety” component. I’ve never tried it myself, but you might want to check it out.

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**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-child-proofing-software/555837/3 "2010-10-05T01:56:15Z")

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Zakalwe,

Windows Vista Home edition has built in parental controls that the parents can manage. If you don’t want to change platforms you might look for something in the software section. It is great your doing this and when my kids were young I had a program called Network Nanny.

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**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-child-proofing-software/555837/4 "2010-10-05T13:46:34Z")

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This one is free: [http://www1.k9webprotection.com/](http://www1.k9webprotection.com/) Blocks sites, keeps stats, lets you see what’s been going on. Works well.