Steps towards Making Your Computer “Weirdo Proof”
Unfortunately, children are the most targeted computer users on the Internet today. You have some practical options to protect your children against hackers, sexual predators, and other malicious individuals. We will be discussing a few of these in this article.
To protect your children on the computer, you must first prevent them from having access to passwords. This will stop them sharing passwords with other people and inadvertently enabling hackers into your system. You don’t have to give permission for a five-, seven-, or twelve-year old to know the passwords of sensitive areas on your computer. The password to the Internet is not required for children. While it can be tedious to enter the password each time they access the Internet, it is much better to be informed of when they connect to the site than to let them do it without your permission.
You can also use the internet together to protect your children. You can sit next to your child and help them make smart decisions. You can also approve websites together and bookmark them. You can monitor your children’s online conversations and teach them good online behaviour. You can make suggestions and set up a private time to spend quality time.
The third step is to block access entirely to unsuitable areas. While you may disagree with your children on what is appropriate for them, you as a guardian are ultimately responsible for their safety. Look into software programs that allow you to take control of certain websites and prevent access from others. AOL (America Online) allows you to use the internal Parental Control settings of AOL to prevent access to chat rooms and other websites. You could also block instant messaging and email from other AOL users.
There are many online tools that work similarly to AOL’s Parental Control settings. However, no tool can replace the support of mom or dad. Never leave your children alone on the computer or talk with strangers. Children have not had the same experience as adults, and aren’t equipped to deal with inappropriate emails, conversations, or images online.
NOTE: Some tools can be used to access pre-approved websites. Some browser plug-ins don’t allow you to access areas online that contain prohibited keywords.
It is also important to teach your children never to share personal information. No matter what situation, children should not give out personal information such as their home addresses or phone numbers. In order to enter any contest, you must be the one to make the decision to give it.
This is not an easy task. You can explain why you are doing these things to help reduce resistance. Although smaller children will enjoy time spent together at the computer, pre-teens and older children might be annoyed. Your older children might appreciate you showing them news stories that highlight the dangers unsupervised children can be exposed to. Although the newspaper is full of these examples, with your help we can reduce their global reach.
