Good morning, Lizardnation!
Ah, the kids and computers issue! I built a machine for my sons just
over a year ago so they'd get off my machine, and had to think about
the same issues. Though in the end I chose not to monitor or
schedule, I think I can help you find what you need.
Let me address the e-mail issue first, since I've got my Hotmail
account open in another window. Of the free e-mail services I've
used, Hotmail offers the best defense against spammers. In the
"Options" tab of your account, there is a link to "Junk Mail Filter".
By setting this filter to "Exclusive", only e-mail addresses you put
into the Hotmail Address Book are allowed to send e-mail to that
account. Everything else gets dumped into either a "Junk Mail"
folder, or automatically deleted, depending on what setting you
choose.
Depending on who your ISP is, you may be able to give your kids an ISP
affiliated e-mail account. Most ISPs filter spam quite well, and
extra e-mail boxes usually go for a dollar extra per month. I handled
the "spam mail" situation for my own kids (ages 6 and 10) by setting
up e-mail accounts for them within my web domain and setting up
aggressive filters on their e-mail client (Eudora). My web/mail host
filters remarkably well, and the Eudora filters catch anything that
manages to wiggle through. If you want to go this route, let me know,
and I'll be glad to help you customize your filters.
Finding a monitoring/filtering solution with all of the options you're
looking for is a bit trickier. Many monitoring/filtering solutions
offer an "all or nothing" approach that still requires quite a bit of
parental intervention, periodic "update" downloads or some combination
of these. I headed for Software4parents.com to have a look at their
recommendations, and see if we could find an exception.
I found that exception in CyberSentinel. CyberSentinel allows you to
determine when the Internet is enabled on the machine, as well as
filter out objectionable content from *any* application - web, chat,
e-mail, newsgroups, music downloads. Additionally, when questionable
content is accessed, CyberSentinel takes a screen capture and files it
with the user name and time accessed, so there's no question of who
was poking where they ought not have been. CyberSentinel doesn't
require periodic updating, and is available for immediate download.
There is also a 15 day money back guarantee.
CyberSentinel
http://www.software4parents.com/cybersentinel.html
A more customizable option is NetNanny. NetNanny offers filtering and
monitoring of web, chat and e-mail, and is fully customizable for up
to 12 users. This allows for a password protected profile for each of
your kids, so you can schedule specific times for each and eliminate
much computer related sibling squabbling. The drawback is that the
program does require periodic updates, but these can be scheduled
automatically and they're free. As with CyberSentinel, NetNanny has a
15 day money back guarantee.
Netnanny
http://www.software4parents.com/netnannyproduct.html
Best known, highly rated, and awfully expensive at $48.95 *per year*,
is CyberPatrol. CyberPatrol offers filtering of any application,
search engine filtering, 9 fully customizable user profiles, and
individual time management. The filter list updates daily, but to
continue to use CyberPatrol, you must renew your subscription every
year.
CyberPatrol
http://www.software4parents.com/cyberpatrolproduct.html
Software4Parents.com offers a comparison chart of these three
products, as well as an e-mail only filter:
Filtering Software Comparison
http://www.software4parents.com/filtercompare.html
In addition to the three products mentioned above, I've located a
comprehensive list of monitoring/filtering software. Not all of them
have the features you're looking for, but some of them may be worth a
look anyway if none of the above appeal to you:
Guide to Parental Controls/Internet Safety Products
http://www.microweb.com/pepsite/Software/filters.html
A very good free filter solution is We-Blocker. We-Blocker offers
individual profiles for each user, and logs all content accessed.
It's biggest drawback is that it lacks the time management functions
available in commercial solutions. Still, it may be worth looking
into while trying to decide which permanent solution to go with:
We-Blocker
http://www.we-blocker.com/index.html
I hope this helps! If you need further assistance, don't hesitate to
ask, I'll be glad to help you out!
--Missy <--Mother of two Geeks-In-Training |
Clarification of Answer by
missy-ga
on
07 Aug 2002 09:12 PDT
Hi there!
For third-party filtering solutions, CyberSentinel (listed above)
handles any internet related application - including e-mail clients.
(This is good for an "all around" solution.)
There are also several "stand-alone" e-mail filters available. One
recommended by Software4Parents.com is Inbox Protector, which allows
you to choose what kind of spam to filter out through a simple slider
interface. It's guaranteed to work with Outlook and Outlook Express:
Inbox Protector
http://www.software4parents.com/inboxprotector.html
Postal Inspector for Outlook Express analyzes all incoming mail
against its comprehensive "definitions" list to determine whether or
not a message is spam. Spam is sent to a quarantine folder for you to
check later, and even lets you send the spammer a "bounce
notification", telling them that you e-mail address is not valid.
Postal Inspector is free for 15 days, then costs $20 to register:
Postal Inspector Outlook Express - Anti Spam Filter 3.0
http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2144-10131697.html
Zero Spam installs directly into Outlook to filter all incoming mail.
Spam is quarantined, and HTML mail is converted to plain text to
squash bugs and render scripts useless. It's free for 30 days, $29.95
to register:
Zero Spam 2.0
http://zdnet.com.com/3000-2368-10128128.html?tag=lst-0-12
Outlook and Outlook Express also come with their own filtering
capabilities - but they aren't very good, and the default settings on
these programs tend to do dumb things like automatically run scripts
(this is how Melissa and ILoveYou spread so quickly!). There are
several places demonstrating how to set up specific filters in these
applications:
Outlook Express Tutorials (Video tutorial for filters at the bottom)
http://howto.lycos.com/lycos/topic/0,,29811,00.html
How to Set Up Spam Filters in Outlook Express 5 for Windows 98
http://www.cruzio.com/support/email/SpamOE5Win98.html
[SpamCop Geeks]Outlook Express Filters
http://news.spamcop.net/pipermail/spamcop-geeks/2001-September/003496.html
Avoid Spam, Use Filters (explains filters in OL and OLE, as well as
others)
http://www.utexas.edu/computer/security/users/avoid_spam.html
No filtering solution is completely foolproof, but users can help get
rid of spam from their e-mail boxes by following a few simple bits of
advice. For more spam stopping tips, the University of California at
Berkeley offers the following advice:
" * Avoid giving out your electronic mail address unnecessarily.
When filling out forms (printed or online), do not give out your
electronic address unless you wish to receive email from the
sponsoring organization. Some people have more than one email address,
and give out the alternate address in those circumstances. (If you
wish to obtain an alternate email address for lower-priority mail, you
might want to take advantage of the free email services available
through the World-Wide Web; see
http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Internet_Services/
Email_providers/Free_Email/ for a listing of such services.) If you
are going to list your electronic mail address on a web page, do it
without using an HTML "mailto:" link. Some spammers search web pages
for addresses in "mailto:" links. Alternatively, consider using an
HTML form for feedback instead of giving your email address.
* Use email filters. Many mail programs (such as Eudora Pro) allow
you to filter messages based on criteria that you select, such as the
email address (or part of the email address) from which the message
was sent, or keywords in the body of message. The filtered messages
can be transferred automatically to a mailbox you specify, such as the
Trash mailbox. Because spammers often send messages from multiple
addresses, it can be difficult to set up filters that will account for
a good proportion of the junk email you receive, but filters can
reduce the annoyance. There are also a number of freeware, shareware,
and commercial products that aid in filtering out spam (see
http://www.yahoo.com/
Computers_and_Internet/Communications_and_Networking/
Electronic_Mail/Junk_Email/Software/ for a list of some of these
products).
* Contact the sender or sender's postmaster. Replying directly to the
spammer may not prevent you from receiving unwanted messages in the
future, since the return addresses may be invalid addresses or they
may be "forged" (i.e., the address that appears in the "From:" field
in the message was not the address actually used to send the message).
In some cases, by replying to a piece of spam, you may receive more
spam or even cause spam to go out with your email address. For this
reason, it is a good idea to proceed cautiously when replying to spam.
Often it is better to send a message to the electronic mail postmaster
at the spammer's Internet service provider, although it may be
difficult to determine the proper address to use because of the
prevalence of spam sent out with forged mail headers."
How to reduce the flow of junk email
http://istpub.berkeley.edu:4201/bcc/Summer98/gen.spam.html
"The DOs and DON'TS of Spam:
* Be careful when giving out your email address, or when posting
to newsgroups. Spammers like to "harvest" email addresses from the web
and mailing lists. When buying products/ services on the web, do not
give your email address unless absolutely necessary, and do not allow
them to put you on a mailing list for "future promotions".
* Use mail filters. Effective mail filters are an easy way to
"ignore" the spammer. If we stop paying attention to them, they will
go away.
* Make it a point NEVER to buy a product from a company that
advertises via bulk mail.
* Do not follow any "removal" instructions. Chances are, you'll
only receive more spam if you do, as your email address will be put on
a list of "real" email addresses that the spammer will use or sell to
other spammers.
* Do not reply to the "From" or "Reply-to" address. These
addresses are almost always fake. Replying to them is a waste of time.
* Never threaten or insult a spammer. It will not do any good. It
could also expose you to legal liability.
* Complain to the spammer's upstream provider ( that is the internet
service provider or network company that connects them to the
internet) but only if you have determined which service the email
really came from. Looking at the from address of a piece of mail is
NOT enough to determine who has sent the mail, as the "from address"
is easily forged. It is also not uncommon for malicious individuals to
send out spam with the forged from address or website of someone they
don't like. They know most people who complain will not check the true
origin of the mail, and thus the victim's mailbox will be flooded with
angry emails. A misdirected complaint is useless and wastes everyone's
time."
Socrates Spam Information
http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/Help/spam.html
For an alternative e-mail client with better filtering capabilities,
give Eudora a look. Eudora offers several versions, from free with no
ads, ad supported with better features, and completely ad free for
$39.95. I've used this program myself for some years, and won't go
back to anything else:
Eudora
http://www.eudora.com/products/eudora/download/
Hope these help!
--Missy
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