CyberPatrol Software Review

Are you a parent concerned about the web activity of your child or teenager? CyberPatrol 7.6 is an excellent tool that enables to decide what your child should access on Internet and what he or she should not. In fact the software enables you to make different settings for the children of different ages and also for yourself. With CyberPatrol installed in your PC you can be assured that it will not be misused as far as Internet is concerned.

To make the individual settings within CyberPatrol you can create new profiles or use the ones which have already been created in your Windows login. For each of these profiles you can set the filters which are highly dynamic. The simplest way to set these filters is by choosing the proper category like adult or child viewing depending on for whom the profile is meant. You can further refine the settings within each of these categories. If you wish to block certain sites or keywords within the websites, you can enter them in the selected profile.

For the children making excessive use of chatting one can make the settings within CyberPatrol so that the offensive words are blocked. You can also set the chat programs which your child or you should be allowed to access. The same facility is available for the newsgroups.

With CyberPatrol you can monitor complete activity of the Internet that has occurred in your computer within the last few days. So if you want to just watch what exactly your child is doing on Internet, you can merely use the monitoring tool while keeping all the sites unblocked.

There are time settings within CyberPatrol with which you can set the time-intervals during which the filter settings should be applicable. You can also block total Internet activity during specific time-intervals.

Sometimes we have to access the sites which are blocked by CyberPatrol, in such cases there is an override option that enables you to bypass all the settings and access the website of your choice.

CyberPatrol is not merely meant for your children or teenagers; it is equally useful for you to avoid the offending websites and words during chatting. CyberPatrol has the additional function of even blocking the programs that you feel a particular profile should not be allowed to use.

The highlight of CyberPatrol is its highly intuitive and easy to understand user interface. All the settings of CyberPatrol are done from the “Head Quarter” which opens only by putting the password. This protects the unauthorized persons from making any changes related to the filter and monitoring settings of CyberPatrol. The password has to be set right in the beginning and it can be changed later.

There is a single main window within the “Head Quarters.” On the right side it displays all the settings in the form of buttons and their meaning explained besides them. On the left side of the window names of all the settings open in the form of tree. You can select any setting either from left or right side.

When you select any option by clicking the button host of settings related with that option opens in the form of more buttons along with their meanings explained besides them. If you don’t understand meaning of any button you can click on “Help” button.

When you close the “Head Quarters,” CyberPatrol is visible in the form of strip. Here one prominent feature is of “Override” which opens either with “Head Quarters” password or its own. From here you can override all the settings made in the head quarters. From this strip of CyberPatrol you can also shutdown the software or switch the user. If you shutdown the software, it will open only after restarting the computer. If you wish to keep the software running just close it.

 CyberPatrol has a number of features to offer in its small window. Most of the features of the software can be accessed from the “Head Quarters” when you open it by putting the password.

By clicking on “Manage User Profiles” button, you can create as many number of user profiles as you want each with different settings of filters, monitoring and time-management. If your CyberPatrol and Windows profile have the same name your CyberPatrol profile can be selected automatically when you open Windows profile of that name. If the names are different you can select the profile of your choice say for your child, by putting the appropriate password.

It is from the “Customize Filter Setting” where you make various filter settings for each profile. There are different categories of settings under this button.

Within the “Time Management” category you can set the time intervals during which the filter settings will be active or the Internet will be blocked or the program will be restricted.

The maximum numbers of settings of CyberPatrol are done from the “Web” category. From here you can select subcategories like Adult, Chat, Criminal Activity, Drugs, Gambling, and Violence etc. For each of these subcategories you can select the strength of the filter meant for adult or teen or child. You can select the pre-designed security strengths or customize your own. You can also enter the keywords, which if found in the websites, it will be either blocked or allowed. Similarly you can enter the complete names of the websites.

Within the “Programs” category you can select the programs which should be blocked all the time or during particular time intervals set in “Time Management”.

If you want to guard the chatting of your child choose “ChatGard” option. You can enter the keywords that should be blocked when your child does chatting. You can also select a particular chat program which should be filtered . The same facility is available for the newsgroups under “Newsgroups” category .

From the “Monitoring” category you can monitor the web activity for each user profile. It’s easy to view the summary of monitored activity by clicking on “View Activity Explorer.” You can also see the websites visited during a particular day. For each profile you can select either filter or monitoring or both options.

If you wish to set a new password for the override functions you can select “Instant Override” option.

Whatever the filter and the monitoring settings you have done for each profile, you can always change them to “Factory Setting” i.e. the original settings at anytime. You can also copy the settings of one profile to the other.

I tried using the software making various filter and monitoring settings. With “Adult Security” settings when I tried to open some adult sites I was told graciously that the site has been restricted by CyberPatrol. However, there was the option of “Instant Override” which enabled me to open the site.

Then, within CyberPatrol I entered the keywords, which if found in the website it should be blocked, and it worked well. It also worked well for the websites that I had blocked. I also tried various time intervals during which the filter settings should be active. When I blocked the complete Internet activity all the sites were blocked.

From the monitoring option I could get the summary of the web activity during particular number of days and also the detailed activity for any particular day. This is very much similar to the facility of “History” available in the browser.

I was even successful in blocking the popular programs in my computer without having to study about the procedure of blocking the program. The trials were performed on more than one profile and the things worked out well.

Overall the password protected settings chosen by me were found to be very stable and effective. I shall soon be using the software for our children at home.

CyberPatrol is very good software to restrict the web activity of your child or teenager. You can apply various filters to allow access to only the sites which are useful for your child and block the offensive ones which carry adult, violent, drugs, or other such materials. You can allow a set of website that can be accessed or that should be blocked. With CyberPatrol you can even filter the words used in the chat programs. All these settings can be made for a specific time-period of the day or throughout the day.

CyberPatrol can be very effective for the parents who wish to monitor their child though it cannot be 100% full proof since there are number of other ways in which your child can misuse your PC. At least you can be sure of web activity at home that your child will not access the materials which they are not supposed to. But you never know what your child does when they are outside the home. You can also use the software at your offices to keep the x-rated employees at bay. Anyway, in this highly advanced-technology world, the control that works best is only the “self-control.”