A lot of the information available on the Internet is not suitable for children, such as violent or pornographic sites. Most Web browsers, such as Internet Explorer allow you to filter what sort of materials can be displayed within a web site.
To set parental controls within Internet Explorer
- Open the Internet Explorer program, by clicking on the Internet Explorer icon displayed on the Desktop.
- Click on the Tools drop down menu and select the Internet Options command, which will display the Internet Options dialog box. The appearance of the dialog box will vary slightly from one version to another.
- Click on the Content tab within the dialog box.
- Within the Content Advisor section of the dialog box, click on the Enable button, which will display the following dialog box (or similar).
- You can set levels for Language, Nudity, Sex or Violence. To do this select one of these four options and then drag the level pointer to the right. In the example shown the Language has been set to Level 1 (Mild expletives).
- You should be aware that very often these parental controls will not work properly and inappropriate material can still be displayed on the screen. They are better than nothing, but sometimes not much better!
- You will be asked to set a password; this is to prevent users from disabling the Content Advisor without your knowledge.
- Once parental controls are in place and you try to access an inappropriate site, you will see a message similar to that illustrated below.
