How Net Nanny enhances Microsoft Vista's Parental Controls

Microsoft has released a basic set of parental controls in their newest operating system, Vista. These controls are designed for a parent to ensure their child has a safe computing experience. They allow the parent to set guidelines around what games may be played on the PC, what applications may be accessed on the PC and how much time can be spent on the PC.

Net Nanny greatly enhances Microsoft Vista's basic parental controls and includes several essential features beyond Microsoft Vista's Parental Controls:

• Integration with popular search engines (Safe Image Search) - Net Nanny integrates seamlessly with "Safe Search" options found in popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo, etc. This new feature enables better protection against pornographic images when doing an "image only" search.
• Internet Time restrictions - How much time do your children spend online each day? Parents can have Net Nanny limit time spent using the Internet to a specified period each day, and can report on time used per person.
• Dynamic content analysis - With Net Nanny you get rich, dynamic contextual content filtering on the fly. What this means is that Net Nanny is able to keep up with new and potentially objectionable Web sites that are created and appear on the Web every minute of every day. This is a leap in technology that surpasses most filters that use archaic list-based blocking mechanisms, which fail to keep up with the rapidly changing content on the Web.
• Remote administration/management - Net Nanny provides powerful Remote Management tools to help parents manage and maintain Internet policies remotely if an Internet connection exists. Monitor web browsing and instant messaging from anywhere!
• Detailed graphical reports (Internet and Chat/IM) - Already recognized as best in class, Net Nanny reports have provided parents with a first class presentation of your family's Internet activity. You will know what sites your children have visited, how long they were there, how many times they have visited these sites, and what sites they have attempted to visit. You will also be able to see full text of the actual Instant Messages. Internet Predators don't have a chance against parents armed with Net Nanny.
• 29 categories for content - As compared to Vista's 13 categories, Net Nanny analyzes each website visited using its award-winning dynamic analysis engine which identifies potentially objectionable websites and categorizes them intone or more of 29 different content categories, ranging from Pornography or Adult/Mature to Hate/Violence and Games.
• Email notifications - Receive email notifications when users are trying to violate or override the defined Internet usage policy.
• Flexible user management - With Net Nanny you can customize settings to fit your entire households needs. For example: you can give women access to shop for intimate apparel, while still blocking access to pornographic content, yet block access to both for teens. In order to achieve maximum protection for the entire family while online, parents should seek a robust set of controls that focus on a safe Internet experience not only for kids as seen in Microsoft Vista's parental controls, but for the entire family, including adults.
• Multi-Language Support - To increase Internet protection Net Nanny will filter Internet content in multiple languages. Our interface is also available in English, Spanish and Chinese with more language packs available shortly.
• Default settings - Net Nanny allows for full customization, but will also work with no setup/customization required. You can just install and go. Net Nanny's default settings are designed to fit the average households needs.
• Not only allow/block but warn - Net Nanny provides the ability to warn a user of objectionable content and allow them to continue at their discretion. This feature allows for full customization and is great for mature teenagers and adults.
• Windows 2000, XP, and Vista - Manage your family's settings on all computers. Whether you have some computers with Windows XP and others on Windows Vista, Net Nanny will identify your settings and consistently apply them across all of your computers. When a change to your policy is needed, simply make the change on one computer, and Net Nanny will take care of ensuring that all of your other computers enforce the same change.
• Instant override - There may be times when content is blocked, yet you do want access to that content. With Net Nanny, you can override the block instantly and on-the-fly, with a password, giving the parents full control over what content is allowed into their homes.

As new Internet applications become available including: chat, Peer-to-Peer file sharing, web browsers, instant messaging clients, social networks, and newsgroups, Net Nanny is committed to making sure that families are protected anywhere inappropriate content and threats may appear.

While Microsoft has offered a set of parental control features that make Vista the perfect OS for any family- Net Nanny has spent over a decade focusing on family Internet safety software, making it the most trusted set of parental controls in today's marketplace.