Online safety: making the internet safer for grandchildren
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Do talk to your grandchildren about how they use the internet. If they frequent social networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo or Facebook, it's very important that they understand that people they ‘meet’ online are not always what they seem and that they should never identify themselves by giving out personal information.
Parental controls
By using the parental controls in the operating system of your computer, you can block unsuitable websites, control the type of online games that children can play and even restrict the amount of time they spend on the computer. The Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OS X (10.4 and up) operating systems all have this facility built in.
In Windows, from the 'Start' menu go to the 'Control panel', where you can set up your preferences in 'User accounts and family safety'.
If your computer is a Mac, click on the Apple symbol in the top left of the screen, select 'System preferences' and then the user account you want to restrict, and click on 'Parental controls'.
Previous versions of Windows and the Mac operating system do not have parental controls.
Web browsers
If your browser is Internet Explorer, you can restrict the websites that can be accessed. This is not foolproof, though, and it is probably better to ask your internet service provider (ISP) whether they provide something more reliable.
Firefox does not have built-in parental controls but you can install a variety of little computer applications that can do the job – these are called 'add-ons' (see below for one).
Some useful websites
- Ofcom: Protecting your children in a digital world
www.ofcom.org.uk
Ofcom's free guide can be downloaded from here. - Thinkuknow
www.thinkuknow.co.uk
Online safety advice for young people and their carers. - Get Safe Online
www.getsafeonline.org
Advice for everyone on keeping safe online. - Internet Watch Foundation
www.iwf.org.uk
The website to which illegal online content can be reported. - Add-ons for Firefox: brOOzi 1.1.1
www.addons.mozilla.org
Here you can find a particular add-on for the Firefox browser. Once downloaded, you can use this to restrict the websites that children can visit and the downloads and printing they can do. - Digital Unite’s Learning Zone
http://learning.digitalunite.com/
This is an invaluable – and free – resource. You can ask questions online about any digital queries you have, and find a host of useful guides that are in plain English and easy to download.
A useful video
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Comments
Online safety
Posted by Shirley Windersen on 19 Jan 2010
BeGrand.net staff member
For years the computer used in this family was mine and I gave permission to use. I'd pop in and out to see what's what and talk about which sites are fun or interesting. Am very open about how I use the internet and take any opportunity to show its usefulness. Its all about communication: discuss social networking and its dangers, say why the nasty bits of the internet are nasty.
Safer Internet Day
Posted by Fiona on 28 Jan 2010
Yes Shirley, communication is key, as they say! Sometimes though they think they know better and just won't listen, will they!
9th February 2010 is Safer Internet Day and the ThinkUKnow website has lots of resources and activities to help get the message across - http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/saferinternetdayuk/default.aspx
Fiona Syrett
Digital Unite Tutor