Safe Eyes Platinum
Safe Eyes Platinum is a very basic URL filter. It has a twist, though: All of Safe Eyes' settings and filters are located on a server. When a user logs on, a connection is set up between the client and the Safe Eyes server. There is no list to download, update to buy, or subscription to maintain. And a single license allows you to install Safe Eyes on up to three systems. Since all user information is stored on the server, users can log on from any machine running Safe Eyesa handy option for homes with multiple computers.
Setup is easy. But if there's a firewall, you may need to configure it to work with Safe Eyes. Parents can customize settings for multiple users, choosing from among 36 different categories to filter. By default, the program filters sex, nudity, pornography, and tasteless content for all users. Unique among the products in our roundup, Safe Eyes does not let users surf unfiltered; they can't disable the four default filtering categories. If a child visits a restricted site, the program displays a full-screen alert with the offending URL and category violated.
In testing, we found the filter very restrictive, although it did allow access to sites about breast cancer. The interface is intuitive, with few settings other than the categories. Parents cannot view the list of blocked sites, but the Test a Site feature lets them check whether a URL is blocked, and if so, in which category. Safe Eyes doesn't filter content in applications or let users specify personal information to be blocked. But it can block access to IM, e-mail, newsgroups, FTP, and file-sharing programs. Safe Eyes also comes with a pop-up blocker, which can be configured for users individually but not globally. Strong filtering at a one-time price makes Safe Eyes a good, low-maintenance choice for parents with younger kids. As kids get older, however, you may find that you need features like personal-information filtering, activity logging, and time management settings.