How can I protect my kids on the internet?

[Granice]

I have a question about my kids safety on the internet. How can I protect them from pornography or other bad stuff on the internet? On other Christian forums I read about dns services, www.familyfriendlydns.com or opendns.com but no one could tell if it really blocks everything. Can anyone answer me that?

[Wertbag]

These systems all work by creating a list of blocked sites. Most will use algorithms to search on common phrases (bomb, drug, porn etc) and grant a good level of protection. They cannot however ever claim perfect coverage due to the variety of ways such things can be transmitted. 

I used to recommend a free system called K9, but I've just read that they got bought out and no longer get updated. 

There are several other free programs available but I've not used them so couldn't recommend one over the others. 

Really any one should do the job fine and that plus keeping an eye on what they are up to should be enough. 

[♦ Fuego ♦]

Have the computer in a common family area. If they have phones or tablets, that makes it more difficult. One of the things they need to understand is that there are bad people that will pretend to be friends, and not to meet up with them without family being there. Sometimes those bad people want pictures and things, or will threaten to embarrass or harm them if they don't cooperate. The children need to know that you are there to guide them and help them, not shame them if they did get suckered in by someone. 

 

OpenDNS isn't really a filtering method. DNS is how a computer takes a website name and converts it to a number (IP address) so it can actually go to the website. OpenDNS is a way to get around using Comcast or whatever provider's DNS service. It may be faster, more reliable, not divert you to advertisers first and then to what you clicked, and so on. I've been using it for several years and it works well.