This is an extension of my review of Microsoft Family Safety, in Part 1 you may remember I decided Family Safety’s installation process is too complication for the average parent therefore I pretty much gave it a big fat FAIL.
I felt I should review the entire product or at least try to understand its positives and negatives. I’m not going to write about what it does, go read Microsoft’s site for that.
I’m not sure that a google search for “girl” should be blocked.. but oh well, I will ask in person to get it opened..
The ask in person process works quite well, would be nice if it auto refreshed the “This page is blocked” once a parent has approved a site..
Interesting that if I goto images I get the images I want but if I click next to goto page 2 I have to re-request access.
I could of allowed all of google.co.uk but that’s not what I want.
Also interesting I could get to photobucket from that site.. So far its a big fat fail, however ads are getting blocked which is nice..
So it doesn’t filter content as I expect, lets see if I can get to some sites I want to get to..
I can get to most educational sites, that’s nice.. http://primarygamesarena.com and http://primaryschoolict.com worked, I’m guessing that’s because I have basic mode.
To summarize, Microsoft Family Safety is a resource heavy monster that restricts your child’s usage however it does show a certain sense of responsibility taken by you as a parent. You can use it however you want, it is fully customizable.
Do NOT make the mistake of thinking Microsoft Family Safety is the only thing you need to do. Speaking to your child is the key ingredient to all of this, they will not always have a filtered environment so teach them about responsibility internet usage.