Web Filtering Software

24 APRIL 2014

One of the most pervasive inventions of this age is the internet. Everyone is glued to it, for practically most of the day. While adults can understand the restrictions on the internet, there are teens and children who are very ignorant of these facts. In fact it is the children and teens that are so intertwined with surfing that they start ignoring other things. Elders need to then be more proactive and make sure that the children stay away, from the different dangers that the internet poses as well as pornography and other such activities. While parents can keep educating the children about all this, children are vulnerable to making mistakes.

Hence as an additional support and a measure of precaution, internet filtering software can be installed. With this efficient software parents can heave a sigh of relief as it is an additional defense tool. Web filtering software is also the same thing and has the same purpose. It is also known as content filtering or parental control or censorship software. This software is not just software that prevents children from accessing harmful content on the web. It is now much more advanced and cover a lot of other aspects related to internet security.

The internet filtering software exists for more than two decades now and hence, undergone quite a few advancements with the help of modern technology. This software is definitely an expensive option but most schools that have big computer labs and have children accessing internet for study material have installed this software to avoid any complications. This software prevents or blocks the banned internet sites, completely. Separate logs for reports are also generated, to understand if children are trying to access such information’s. These are also used in many businesses and companies to stop downloading of banned videos or other pages.

Social networking is also one of the major concerns, these days. People are glued on to these sites and thus, whether it is studies or work, everything is affected. In most offices, work is affected and efficiency and productivity is affected to a larger extent. The web filtering software makes sure that the required internet pages or sites are blocked. The internet filtering software facilitates blocking of images and videos on particular search engines, restricting or blocking internet chatting, messaging and social networking, browsing of certain websites and programs for a certain prescribed time limit only and many more things.

Besides, these other features of the web filtering software include filtering of emails to avoid unnecessary spam, blocking pop ups which may lead to porn sites or other harmful links, setting up of passwords for accessing particular sites or for internet usages, as a whole. This software comes with a few default settings and some also provide additional features, where the user can add or remove certain restrictions and customize it, as per their requirements. The programs also provide real time alerts and create log reports of the internet usages, on a daily basis. The software can also adapt to the never ending changes in the various websites and introduction of new search engines and sites.