Ask Our Experts: Smart Parental Controls

I like the parental controls of Check Point's ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite, but not the program as a whole. Can another program block unwanted Web sites just as well?

Zoolou, via the PCWorld.com forums

Senior Editor Narasu Rebbapragada responds: The parental controls in most Internet security suites block sites found in a database of known bad sites (commonly called a blacklist). ZoneAlarm supplements its database with real-time analysis for protection against unknown sites. Few other suites use real-time analysis in their parental controls. McAfee Internet Security 2007's parental controls employ an algorithm to block pornographic images, but in a review we didn't find the technology accurate; McAfee says that it is upgrading the feature. You might consider a stand-alone parental-control tool such as ContentWatch's ContentProtect. We have not reviewed this program, but it promises real-time site analysis.

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