After doing some exhaustive research over a period of time, I could not find an acceptable browser package for Firefox featuring safe and restrictive browsing for kids. Necessity being the mother of invention, I pulled together some extensions and a program to meet my needs.

The Goal

Allow young minds to surf the Internet on what I believe is the safest browser available today – Firefox. Allow the young ones a sense of freedom without letting go of the reins. Allow me, parent and guardian, to view any and all online activity without restriction.

With these goals in mind, I am now using a system that is working well. While it could still use some tweaks, I hope other parents will find this as useful.

Grab a copy of Firefox

Get your free copy of Click to visit this external linkFirefox and install it. Why Firefox? The Click to visit this external linkanswers on Firefox and security, productivity and customization are laid out, as well as why use Firefox instead of Internet Exploder.

If you’re already a Firefox user/fan, that means you’re probably familiar with it’s functions and extensibility. That familarity will help as you set up the browser for your household.

Set up profiles

If your kids will be using Firefox on a computer that is shared, you may wish to set up profiles for different members of the family. To do this, first close any running instances of Firefox. Go to Start › Run › type in firefox.exe -ProfileManager. Click OK. Now Click to visit this external linkcreate a new profile (following the instructions provided in the Knowledge Base). Repeat this for each person in the household.

Tip: To ensure each household member uses their assigned profile, untick the box that reads Don’t ask at startup in the Choose User Profile window. From now on, upon starting Firefox the user will be given a choice of which profile they would like to run.

Set the options

Let’s set up some basic options in Firefox. Go to Tools › Options. The options window offers many settings, some of which you may wish to further tweak after this initial set up. Some settings will depend on changes we will make later in this article. For now, let’s follow these guidelines:

Main options: When Firefox starts › Show my windows and tabs from last time

Main options: Downloads › Always ask me where to save files (allowing each user to save to their specified folder, optional)

Tabs options: Check › Always show the tab bar

Tabs options: Check › When I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately

Privacy options: Remember visited pages for the last › 30 days

Install some add-ons

There are numerous Click to visit this external linkadd-ons for Firefox that can assist in creating a stronger and more secure browser for use by minors. Below are my (current and tested) choices along with some detail.

Install K9 Web Protection

Click to visit this external linkK9 Web Protection by Blue Coat is an invaluable piece of free software. “K9 Web Protection is our free Internet filtering and control solution for the home. K9 puts YOU in control of the Internet so you can protect your kids.” The benefits of using software like this are numerous. Here is a general list of features provided with K9:

• Block 60 Content Categories (MySpace, adult humor, etc.)
• Time Restrictions (10pm – 5:30am is my set blocked time)
• Web Site Exceptions (I allow some Last.fm usage)
• Blocking Effects (Extended blocking, sounds, etc.)
• URL Keywords (Block all sites with sex in the URL)
• Web Search Options (Enforce safe searching)
• View Reports of Internet Activity (Log viewing)

As an alternative, an additional Firefox add-on named Click to visit this external linkProCon Latte can help to block unwanted Internet content from your computer. “ProCon is a content filter for the Firefox browser. It can filter any kind of material (pornography, gambling, hacking, cracking, etc…), it can also block all traffic, making sure that only desired websites (set in the Whitelist) can be accessed, and includes a profanity filter, all *like* a parental control filter.” (I have not tried this add-on. While it certainly would be a great addition, K9 provides some options not available with add-ons – time restrictions, logging, etc.)

With the above arsenal of products, add-ons and settings, your children’s browsing activities will be more protected than ever. Please note though, nothing is 100% failsafe or foolproof, but doing something is always better than doing nothing.

For further security, Click to visit this external linkdisable other browsers (e.g., IE!), move home computers to more public spaces within the home, and let the kids know they are being monitored. And lastly, be sure to set up some basic house rules and have each kid pledge to abide by them.