So far we’ve looked at the default parental control features of Apples OS X and Microsoft Windows. This time it’s the turn of a free 3rd party application; K9 Web Protection.

Blue Coat Systems
K9 Web Protection is a free app developed by Blue Coat Systems who create some seriously geeky business software (and hardware) to protect businesses and their users from the worst of the web. K9 Web Protection uses their business strength Blue Coat Web Filter service to prevent access to websites and is completely free of charge for personal and home use.

The K9 Web Protection service is available for both Windows and OS X and the features and interface are identical.

Getting started
Installation is very simple. Just download and install the software. You’ll need to enter your email address to the website and you will receive a serial number via email. During the installation you will have to enter this serial number, but once done, the rest is automatic. A quick reboot later (though you don’t need to reboot if installing on a mac) and K9 Web Protection is up and running. It really is that simple. Compare this nightmare of fiddling around with the installation of Windows Family Safety and it’s easy to see why K9 is so popular.

K9 Web Protection blocks sites based on the category in which they belong – Adult, Drugs, Nudity etc. By default some of the most worrysome (and some less worrysome) categories are blocked and there really is very little to do.

Category Blocking

Features
K9’s features are basic, but they work well, and work reliably. You can block/unblock sites based on their category, as well as block/unblock specific sites or domains featuring specific words. You can also restrict access based on the time of day but, unlike Parental Controls in OS X, you can’t allow the user to only use the machine for a certain number of hours each day.

You also have a reporting feature which allows you to see which sites were blocked. However the reporting feature itself isn’t particularly usable and tends to get squished up when you are looking at a large number of sites.

Pros and Cons
There are some really nice features in K9 Web Protection, not least of all is the absolute simplicity. Install it, and you get a decent level of web protection. The page that’s displayed when a site is blocke also allows you to enter your master password to unlock the site for 15, 30 or 60 minutes (or forever if you would like).

Blocking page

The main problem that we thought was significant is that it doesn’t allow you to specify a user account on your machine: the blocking is applied to any and all accounts. This may be fine for you, but at the same time it’s likely to not be suitable if you have several kids, plus a few adults, all sharing the same machine. You, as a grown mature person, may trust yourself to use Facebook but may not want your kids to use similar social sites. With K9 you don’t really have a choice, though you can unblock specific sites for a period of time. It would be good to be able to specify settings for specific accounts.

And finally
Whether K9 is worth installing depends on what machine you have. If you have an Apple iMac or Macbook then really there is little point looking at K9 as the features you already have some of the easiest to use and by enabling adult site blocking and adding a few sites by hand you get very good website blocking in OS X.

However if you have Windows then the K9 software is definately worth using. The only things that Microsoft Windows Family Safety has which K9 hasn’t are the ability to block games of certain age ratings and the ability to block sites for specific user accounts. If you have kids of a mix of ages and your worried about the games they may be playing then look at Windows Family Safety but you may find the installation can be a bit of a struggle, so get a cuppa ready. If you just want site blocking and you just want it to work then K9 Web Protection is what you need.