Net Nanny Review

Introduction

Net Nanny Parental Controls 6.5 is probably the best internet filtering program on the market today.

There is lots of harmful content on the web – but you already know this. You’re probably reading this Net Nanny review because you want to protect your Child from the horrors of the internet.

Net Nanny is the “answer” to achieving peace of mind about your Childs online activities. I have analysed Net Nanny in detail as you will soon see when you have finished reading.

Net Nanny has been around since 1995 and was purchased by ContentWatch in 2007. ContentWatch has successful turned Net Nanny into a top contender for best parental control software.

Net Nanny keeps your Kids safe. It works by blocking internet dangers with its filtering technology.

This review is about Net Nanny for PC. If you want information on Net Nanny for Mac then click here.   

Ease of Use

Net Nanny is easy to install and starts working as soon as you’ve finished the installation process.

The start of the installation asks for your Net Nanny license key. You would have received your license key after purchasing Net Nanny. Follow a few simple setup prompts and Net Nanny will be installed.

Net Nanny is installed with a default user that will protect everyone. But at the end of the installation, or any time after, you can setup user accounts for each family member. Net Nanny is flexible. Internet restrictions for each child can be different with age-based templates. All settings are customizable.

A restart of the computer is required to complete the installation of Net Nanny. When the computer restarts a helpful “Getting Started” window will pop-up and tell you how to customize your settings.

Now that Net Nanny is installed, any user of the computer must sign in to their Net Nanny account before being allowed to browse the internet. This can happen automatically if you link a Net Nanny account to a Windows login.

Parents don’t need to search in hidden crevices for what to click. All the administrations settings are accessible from the one page.  Net Nanny has an administrator control panel where you can adjust filter settings, add users and view reports.

Net Nanny incorporates easy access to help. A user manual is accessible by clicking Help at the top of the program.

The reporting feature in Net Nanny is one of the best. Reporting provides heaps of detail on each user’s internet activities. It lists all the visited sites and more.

Ease of Use Summary: Net Nanny is user friendly and requires only a few clicks to setup

Features

Easy user creation:  Net Nanny helps parents determine what internet activities are suitable for their Children. Creating a user account in Net Nanny is a simple task with its preset profiles based on your family member’s age. There are 7 preset profile types: Default, Young Child, Child, Pre-Teen, Teen, Young Adult and Adult.

Internet Time Controls: Set time periods for when the internet can be accessed. Parents can also limit how long a child spends online.

Web Filtering: Enable or disable web browsing. Filter web content based on categories. Blocks access to inappropriate content. Restrict browsing to specific sites.

Reporting: Net Nanny provides detailed reports on your Childs internet activities.

Dynamic Contextual Analysis is an additional filter for web content. Net Nanny first checks a website address against a database of banned websites. But it doesn’t only use list-based filtering. If the website is not banned then Net Nanny will trigger its Dynamic Contextual Analysis feature. It analyses, in real-time, the content of a webpage for objectionable words and links. If the Dynamic Contextual Analysis finds inappropriate content on an allowed webpage it will be blocked until it becomes more suitable.

Safe Site List: Parents can add their own list of acceptable and unacceptable Web Sites.

Social Network protection: The social network phenomenon is putting your Kids at risk of online bullying and stranger danger.  Net Nanny allows you to view your children’s social networking activities on sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Net Nanny is probably the best Parental Control program when it comes to monitoring social networks. On the subject of Facebook it captures your Childs list of friends, pictures, videos, personal description, wall posts and more. It can even monitor Facebook IM.

Search engine protection: Net Nanny integrates with popular search engines like Google and Yahoo! It works by turning on Safe Search capabilities that block inappropriate searches. If a child attempts to turn off safe search it will be turned straight back on by Net Nanny.

PC Game Blocking: Restricts which computer games can be installed and played. It utilizes an ESRB age-based rating system.

Instant Messaging: Block or monitor chat programs. It can be set-up to send alerts if inappropriate comments are made in a chat program.

Cell phone alerts: Setup to receive alerts via text message to your mobile phone. It can be setup to alert you if your child is attempting to view an inappropriate website.

Block posting: Stop image uploading. Prevent posting on forums and blogs.

Keyword blocking: Block pages that contain specific words. Set a custom list of phrases or words that if found on a webpage will cause it to be blocked.

Warning options: Net Nanny’s web filtering is not just black-and-white. Instead of blocking certain websites you can “warn” that the site contains questionable content. The user can then decide to view the website or not. If your child ignores a “warning” and continues to view the website there are reporting features available to inform parents. This warning feature is great for adults and older teenagers who are responsible.

Turnoff Recording: You can turnoff recording of chat programs, social networking and even sites they visit. This is useful for adults, or older teenagers that you decide deserve more privacy.

Override or Disable: At anytime a parent with the administrator password can override a website block or temporarily disable Net Nanny.

Net Nanny is not fooled by proxies or encrypted connections (https).  Savvy users cannot bypass the internet filter by using proxies. Net Nanny filters all internet content.

Remote Management: Login from anywhere in the world and manage your Net Nanny settings. The online control for Net Nanny is fully featured as you can configure it the same as the desktop version. Remote login to Net Nanny by visiting http://manage.netnanny.com/

Email notifications: You can choose to receive emails reports about your Kids internet activities.

Feature Summary: Net Nanny has all the necessary parental controls and unexpected extras like blocking games based on their ESRB rating.

Performance

I meticulously tested Net Nanny‘s web filtering by attempting to access sites that contained pornography and other unsuitable content. Net Nanny was able to block all inappropriate websites. Underblocking and overblocking were minimal.

I tried searching for inappropriate content using popular search engines. Net Nanny was able to block searches that were unsuitable for Kids.

The integration between windows logins and Net Nanny’s user accounts also works as expected.

Chat program management was tested, Net Nanny was able to block chat programs and also monitor instant messaging conversations. 

Kids can sometimes see disabling Net Nanny as a challenge – especially tech savvy teenagers. In the past Net Nanny was vulnerable to certain loopholes. Not anymore. The latest version, Net Nanny 6.5, is aware of all the tricks.

Changing the system clock, or selecting a different time zone, will no longer circumvent internet time restrictions as Net Nanny has its own internal clock.

I tried installing many different browsers and all of them were restricted by web filtering. Net Nanny works at the internet protocol level. You cannot use an unpopular browser to bypass restrictions.

Net Nanny is safe from tampering as an administration password is required to uninstall or make alterations.

Visiting unacceptable content that is in another language or using a proxy server has often been a sure way to bypass Parental Control software. Net Nanny is now savvy to foreign language websites and proxies.

There is a small hiccup with creating user accounts using the preset profiles of “Child, Pre-Teen, Teen, Young Adult and Adult.” All the filtering categories were set to “Allow”. This means pornography and other unacceptable content was viewable. I had to login to the administrator area and adjust the settings to block this content. Luckily it takes only a few simple clicks to rectify this problem. This minor problem will probably already be fixed by the time you download Net Nanny. This small error teaches us that we need to test the filtering settings we setup for our Kids to make sure they are correct.

Performance Summary: Net Nanny was able to scrutinize all website traffic and block inappropriate content. The small hiccup with preset profiles is easy to repair and thus will not impact on the performance rating. In fact, I strongly believe Net Nanny to be the best performing Parental Control program.

Help & Support

Phone

Net Nanny offers phone assistance for sales and technical support inquiries. Their telephone lines are open between 8am to 5pm on Monday to Friday (MST). If you call after hours you can leave a voice message and they’ll return your call on their next business day. Net Nanny’s phone number can be found at http://www.netnanny.com/support

Knowledgebase

Net Nanny’s knowledgebase is located at http://www.netnanny.com/kb

Forum

There is a discussion forum for Net Nanny at http://www.netnanny.com/forum. I found the forum to be active with plenty of members. If you post a question on the forum your certain to get a response because every thread I viewed had at least one reply. The forum is well maintained as the forum administrator will often participate in discussions.

Email

If you need help with Net Nanny then you can contact technical support by email. Email support is free and a request for help can be submitted at http://www.netnanny.com/support/request

I investigated the quality of email support on offer. I contacted Net Nanny via email and they replied the same day with a helpful message.

User Guide
The user guide for Net Nanny is 107 pages of detailed help. Download the Net Nanny manual by visiting http://www.netnanny.com/support/docs

Conclusion

At the time of writing, we’ve tested all the top contenders and Net Nanny is our #1 choice for parental control software.

Net Nanny is an internet filter that will protect your family. It will block pornography and other content that is unsuitable for kids. Net Nanny will monitor chat programs, and sites such as Facebook.

Net Nanny’s features are better than its competitors. It can block access to PC games based on the ESRB rating. Net Nanny provides detailed information on your Kids internet activities.

Lots of help and support options are available: phone, email, knowledgebase, forum and help guide.

Net Nanny will work on both PC and Mac. The list of positives goes on and on. I wish there was a negative so this assessment of Net Nanny sounded more believable. But in truth, Net Nanny is flawless compared to its competitors.

In summary, if you have kids I recommend Net Nanny as your solution to protecting them against the dangers of the internet.

Cost/Value:		5/5
Overall rating:		5.0

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