How to block Adult content on your computer

The internet has become one of the most popular modes of communication and entertainment. It is a provider of information for anyone from anywhere at any time. After the launch of the World Wide Web (www), with the good things there are also unwanted or harmful websites easily available that can be destructive.

The United States of America and the United Kingdom are the pioneers of internet users with India and China 4th and 5th place respectively.  ....continued below.....

Windows 7 - Parental Controls: This is a photograph by 'Yogesh Kumar Jaiswal', as posted on Flickr. To view this photographer’s photostream and more, click on Image.

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Children are the future of any nation or civilization and it is vital that they are protected in today’s modern time of easy, quick information. There is a large number of adult and unlawful information that can impact not only the minds of our children but also alter the normal environment of any business establishment or government office.

A recent survey by Ofcom on the internet safety of children says that 12% of 8-11 year olds and 24% of 12-15 year olds use social networking sites to communicate with people not known to them. On the other hand, 19% of 11-16 year olds have seen potentially harmful user-generated content, with the number rising to 32% of 14-16 year old girls, while 8% of children aged 11-16 have experienced some form of bullying on the internet. It is telling however that a third of 12-15 year olds think that all search engine information is truthful. 

 

This report demonstrates that the concern over the safety of children and teenagers on the internet is not unfounded. There is a view that it is better to filter the content that can be viewed by not only our children but also our employees. Social scientists place the responsibility of children’s online safety entirely at the feet of the parents. 

This article has tried to discuss the full coverage of the internet content filtering system as well as the processes to ban adult and harmful site either at home or in offices. 

How to filter adult and harmful content:-

There are many ways to prevent such harmful content from your device(s) either home or office(s).These are listed below- 

 

1. Parents active choice:-

Parents /customers should be presented with an unavoidable choice or series of internet instruments or services. From the above image, it is clear that there are many ways that parental controls can be implemented in a device or service.

2. Network level (ISP) parental controls:-

The default filtering system was the most popular of the three mooted blocking solutions. Blocking adult or harmful websites is performed by the ISP. It is seen that normally, ISP providers ask to trick mark the options the parental control activates when signing up to a new broadband connection.

3. Installed by purchaser (Device level) control:-

Parents can buy or download from the internet a parental control product or app(s) to install on existing laptop(s), desktop computer(s), mobile phone(s), television(s) or other device(s) for content filtering. In this process, parents do not need to have a little technical knowledge. 

On the other hand, the products typically offer more functionality and are more effective at blocking harmful content accurately when only the particular device that the software has been installed on will be protected for filtering content.

4. Pre-installed by manufacturer or retailer:-

It is better to buy a device from a shop or online retailer with parental control software already installed on it but not yet activated. This type of device has become more popular among the parents around the globe. All you have to do is switch on the device first and then activate the parental control. 

Parents need less technical knowledge to install the software and just have to choose the categories of harmful content that they wish to block. With little knowledge about filtering adult and harmful contents, the shop staff could install the parental control software acting on the customer's wishes.

5. Business establishment filtering:-

Each and every business establishment has an official policy prohibiting access to inappropriate content from work systems. This is to ensure work effectiveness for one and employees have to be aware of it. An effective method is sending an email or posting a notice from the CEO or the head of HR to the internal employee portal reminding employees of the policy. 

A large or medium scale establishment monitors the employee's Internet usage by an automated system but a small scale establishment monitors the same manually. The most interesting thing is that while a maximum number of the CEOs/MDs/Chairmen are willing to ban social networking sites along with those having adult content, they were often opposed by HR departments which viewed the same sites as a means of promoting communication with their competitors and counterparts.

A recently carried out survey says that dealing with the malware problems that come along with adult content sites involves access management which means that applications and users must make do with the lowest level of necessary privileges.

Web content-filtering products can be an effective means of identifying employees who violate either online or offline content policy. They can also be a good way to prove the trustworthiness of the other employees. Hence most of the corporate bodies use server-based filtering (carried via laptops) to mobilize the workforce. 

Process of Parental control:-

Parents (or anyone else for that matter) can filter the harmful or adult content by enabling the built-in system in a computer or laptop by following the steps given below- 

 

i.     Start button -

ii.    Control Panel -

iii.   Network and Internet -

iv.   Network and Sharing Center -

v.    Local Area connection -

vi.   Properties -

vii.  Internet Protocol Version 4(TCP/IPv4) -

viii. Select Use the following DNS server addresses -

ix.   Type Preferred DNS server with 208.67.222.123 and Alternate DNS server with 208.67.220.123 -

x.    OK.

Process of employee internet control:-

You can block or disable harmful or adult content from server site filtering by configuring it only on IP. But another more popular way to block harmful content or any social media is Open DNS. This Open DNS has full control of your internet uses in office or establishment. It is very simple to set-up and completely free of cost. 

 

i.     Start button --

ii.    Control Panel --

iii.   Network and Internet --

iv.   Network and Sharing Center --

v.    Local Area connection --

vi.   Properties -- 

vi.   Internet
Protocol Version 4(TCP/IPv4) --

viii. Select Use the following DNS server addresses --

ix.   Type Preferred DNS server with 208.67.222.122 and Alternate DNS server with 208.67.220.120→→

x.    OK

This finishes your content filtering which is maintained from your local server computer. This is controlled by the head of the office or establishment. 

Verdict :

Internet service is provided with filters already in place to block access to certain websites around the globe (e.g. legal pornography/drugs etc.). It is also known as a default-on which is better for filtering the system. A large number of mobile devices connect to a publicly available Wi-Fi connection anywhere and anytime.
This means that there is a large chance that the provider of this service may block access to adult or other content by default as part of the terms of use of that service. If I have missed out on anything in this tutorial, please don’t hesitate to comment for updates.