Jan 31, 2015

Steps to Filtering and Protecting Your Computer


"Parents must have the courage to filter or monitor Internet access, television, movies, and music." - Elder Quinton Cook

Let's talk filters.


Why Filter?? The church has asked us to. But WHY? Click HERE: To Filter or Not

Net nanny is a good program for strictly filtering. Its pricey since its a yearly subscription, but if you have the money, do it. Beware that it can be disabled, many programs can, better safe to know this than not, right? (Email me if you want a list of all the Monitoring programs I personally recommend for computer AND android devices. I pefer not to list them here because they are stealth monitoring programs : makemyburdenlight@Gmail.com)

The great part is you can layer multiplex filters like Net Nanny, K9 and Opendns all at once!
BEWARE ONE FILTER IS NOT ENOUGH
Not only is one filter not enough, many people don't realize that filtering ONLY with ONE WIFI filter  (like Opendns, CleanRouter, Routerlimitz etc) is completely ineffective. They are EASILY BYPASSED!!! The more filters you have, the better protection you have, and whichever programs you choose I recommend at least one to also have MONITORING. 

Here are steps I recommend:

1. First filter from the router itself with Opendns (or other router filter)

2. Then filter/monitor the internet on the computer with multiple filters like K9 (free), Net Nanny, Covenant Eyes etc etc.... Net nanny is a good program for strictly filtering. Its pricey since its a yearly subscription, but if you have the money, do it. Beware that it can be disabled, many programs can, better safe to know this than not, right? Also Net Nanny will give wives, sponsors & bishops 6 months FREE.
 http://www.netnanny.com/learn_center/addict_sponsor_program)

3. Disable Private/incognito browsing from all browsers (Sadly not all filters will disable this feature. Private/Incognito mode is a little button that can be pushed when a user doesnt want their history tracked. I call it "Porn mode" because thats exactly what it is used for. To hide porn history):
Incognito Names for each browser:
Apple Safari (Private Browsing)
Google Chrome (Incognito Mode)
Internet Explorer (InPrivate Browsing)
Mozilla Firefox (Private Browsing)
NOTE: if someone uses private browsing, it will also disable add on and extensions like Adblock (unless private browsing is completely disabled like you can in Firefox)
http://support.getadblock.com/kb/other-problems/adblock-doesnt-work-in-incognitoprivate-mode

4. Set up different user accounts for your husband or kids so they don't have administration access. Its easier to select parental control options this way and programs are harder to bypass without admin access...directions are in articles below

5. Get Adblock for unwanted ads or popups getadblock.com. And click  HERE for directions to block Ads from tracking you. This is extremely beneficial in protecting against accidental exposure!

6. Go into every browser (safari, IE, Chrome, firefox etc) on each computer and filter content through browser extensions/Ad-ons.

7.  Turn on and lock any Safesearch filters embedded into all search providers (Yahoo search, Google search, Bing etc)

8. Turn on filters for individual websites that offer the option (Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play etc). Also download the Facebook filter fbpurity.com, its free and PRICELESS and will give you full control of what you see or don't see.

9. LASTLY go into every email account your husband or child has and filter content through the account/settings options. Fyi, men are more targeted for spam email. When my hubs got a new email, we put him down as a female. Sooooo much porn gets brought in through spam. Literally full on pornography pictures. Stupid stupid spam. Which by the way, also if your email gives you the option, click the setting to not automatically load images in each email.



A Filter program like Net nanny, k9, Covenant eyes etc, won't catch everything. It is a program, and "IT" decides and flags what IT thinks is pornography or not---------which means a lot of stuff that WE as wives and mothers would consider pornography will slip through the cracks. (Like bikinis, risky anime cartoons, art, image search results for "girl" or "grl 8008" , or the tons of pornography photos that could be in spam email every day etc.)

I recommend getting a monitoring/keylogger program (at the very least) and a screen shot capturing program. That way in the future, you will know the exact words typed into the keyboard, even backspace, passwords, emails, social networking etc, and if anyone ever learns or tries to tamper with the filtering program you will know exactly how they did it because you will have screenshot of how they did it. These are things you don't ever have to check, they are just nice to have JUST in case.

Wichever filtering program you choose, the best way to know if its working is to check and test it yourself by searching potential trigger words (contact me if you need help). Also make sure to occasionally check all the history yourself instead of only going by what the program flags.⬇
***Word to the wise*** When trying to test the filtering programs, its helpful to get a paper and put it up to the screen, so that you can slowly inch it down to see if something is inappropriate. Sometimes you can tell by the top of an image whether its inappropriate or not. That way you don't have to actually SEE the image and have it stored in your brain forever ;)





Helpful Articles & Resources :

Great Movie & Book Review Sites For Parents
http://makemyburdenlight.blogspot.com/2016/01/great-movie-review-sites-for-parents.html?m=1

6 ways to filter porn from your computer (GREAT tips)
http://m.wikihow.com/Filter-Porn-Web-Sites-on-Your-Computer




Decoy apps
http://sadie14.hubpages.com/hub/New-Phone-Apps-to-Hide-Text-Messages-and-Calls

25 android decoy apps
http://appcrawlr.com/android-apps/best-apps-hide-text-messages

8 ways to block porn& sexting:
http://mashable.com/2013/08/09/how-to-prevent-porn-sexting/

10 dangerous apps every parent should know:
http://educateempowerkids.org/10-dangerous-apps-every-parent-know/

Decoy apps:
http://resources.uknowkids.com/blog/calculator-or-hidden-app-teens-are-disguising-content-with-apps

Iphone decoy apps:
http://appcrawlr.com/ios-apps/best-free-apps-decoy-password

How to unhide itunes purchases:
Contact me

How to recover deleted browser history:
Contact me

How to check Facebook History
(contact me)

File FCC complaint against inappropriate tv programs:
http://www.fcc.gov/complaints




       Help STOP the pornography madness. Protect your homes. Do it in the name of love. 



"And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched"