Is ESET Smart Security's Parental Controls efficient and enough?

[ifacedown]

Hi!

I am currently using ESET Nod32 7 and K9 WebProtection for internet filtering (against pornography, social networking, and malware/spyware)

However, I would like to uninstall K9 WebProtection and replace my ESET NOD32 for the full ESET Smart Security 7.

My questions:

1. Which is lighter: ESET Nod32 7 + K9 vs. ESET SmartSecurity 7?
2. Which is a more efficient internet filtering software? K9 or the Parental Control of ESS? (against porn and malware)

(As an added bonus, I will also have the firewall of ESS. But I am not after the firewall. I am contented with Windows Firewall and ESET Nod32's Interactive HIPS.)

SPecs:

Netbook, Intel Atom, 2GB DDR3 Ram

Thanks!

 

[BoraMurdar]

Nod32 has also web filtering, protects you from malware.
Smart Security has descent parental protection.
I am always into using the product from same vendor and it's better if it is all in one suite

 

[illumination]

The parental control in Eset is pretty thorough, it can be adjusted to block all you will need to with any age group.. although it works best if you use a guest account for the children to utilize it, so that they do not have admin rights. As far as running Nod or ESS, personally i would run ESS over Nod and K9, as ESS/Nod already have a webfilter as stated above, and so does K9, i would think this would cause a little drag with both filtering content as opposed to only one doing so.

 

[ifacedown]

The parental control in Eset is pretty thorough, it can be adjusted to block all you will need to with any age group.. although it works best if you use a guest account for the children to utilize it, so that they do not have admin rights. As far as running Nod or ESS, personally i would run ESS over Nod and K9, as ESS/Nod already have a webfilter as stated above, and so does K9, i would think this would cause a little drag with both filtering content as opposed to only one doing so.

ok. so let me try it. i just want to believe that ESS is lighter than nod32 + k9.

 

[illumination]

ok. so let me try it. i just want to believe that ESS is lighter than nod32 + k9.

I would think so, but have not run the combo of Nod and K9 before. I do however have Eset Smart Security on my system now, and it is very light, matter of fact, it has become my new flavor of choice.

 

[BoraMurdar]

Among the lightest on the market

 

[ifacedown]

I would think so, but have not run the combo of Nod and K9 before. I do however have Eset Smart Security on my system now, and it is very light, matter of fact, it has become my new flavor of choice.

Thanks.

I have installed ESS on a laptop before with Windows 8.1. I turned on the parental control: the result, I could not access the internet. I checked the categories blocked: malware and adult. I turned off the parental control: I could access the web again.

Now I installed ESS on my netbook with Windows 8.1. Enabled the Parental Control, I could not access the web via browser. But, my email client, Opera Mail portable could access the web. I could not disable it at once - the ESET GUI hangs and crashes (never happened in NOD32). I restarted twice and disabled the parental control. Now I could access the web again and the first thing I do is this post.

Help. The parental control is not working for me.

 

[BoraMurdar]

Thanks.

I have installed ESS on a laptop before with Windows 8.1. I turned on the parental control: the result, I could not access the internet. I checked the categories blocked: malware and adult. I turned off the parental control: I could access the web again.

Now I installed ESS on my netbook with Windows 8.1. Enabled the Parental Control, I could not access the web via browser. But, my email client, Opera Mail portable could access the web. I could not disable it at once - the ESET GUI hangs and crashes (never happened in NOD32). I restarted twice and disabled the parental control. Now I could access the web again and the first thing I do is this post.

Help. The parental control is not working for me.

It's the best that you create 2 user accounts. One is yours (administrator) and the second user account will be limited with ESET Smart Security. So, Parental controls shouldn't be applied to your account (unless you want it too) but only to second user, you should make exceptions what that user can open (programs) and what web pages can access. It's the easier way.

 

[ifacedown]

Well of course, i set it up for myself. and i don't want to create guest accounts. is there a light security suite with parental control? i just uninstalled ESS

 

[BoraMurdar]

Well of course, i set it up for myself. and i don't want to create guest accounts. is there a light security suite with parental control? i just uninstalled ESS

1. Norton Family


Norton Family is a powerful parental control system with plenty of very useful features. You can set the times when your kids are allowed to use the computer, and block access to sites by type ("hate", "pornography", "shopping", "social networks" - there are 40+ categories) or URL.

You get to see which sites your kids are visiting, their web searches and more. And you can configure the program separately for each child, as long as they have their own account on your computer.

This is easy to set up, with a password-protected icon in your system tray giving access to the main settings. Email alerts warn of problems (attempts to reach blocked sites, say), and detailed reports are available online, so you can access them wherever you are.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. DNS Angel



DNS Angel is small, simple and only does one thing - but by way of compensation, it does it very well.

To try the program out, just launch DNS Angel, click "MetaCert DNS" - and that's it. Whenever you try to access a website from your PC, on any browser, it'll now send the request to the MetaCert DNS server. Try to visit a porn site and it'll be blocked, while everything else works as normal.

If this doesn't suit your needs, then the other DNS options (Norton ConnectSafe and OpenDNS) provide similar functions.

And if you want to undo your changes, click Restore DNS to restore your last network settings, or Default DNS to use your ISP's default settings.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Bitdefender Parental Control Free



Trying to block web access for your kids isn't always effective, as they can often get online from devices which you don't control.

Another option is simply to monitor their web activities to see exactly what they're doing, and that's where Bitdefender Parental Control Freecomes in.

The program can track the websites your children are visiting, the programs they run, even their instant messaging conversations (if you have Yahoo Messenger or MSN, anyway).

There's an Android version which also includes SMS and call monitoring. And as you'd expect from a big name like Bitdefender, it's all very straightforward, with helpful wizards walking you through the setup process.


Or you can try Parental Controls in Windows
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/parental-controls

 

[ifacedown]

1. Norton Family


Norton Family is a powerful parental control system with plenty of very useful features. You can set the times when your kids are allowed to use the computer, and block access to sites by type ("hate", "pornography", "shopping", "social networks" - there are 40+ categories) or URL.

You get to see which sites your kids are visiting, their web searches and more. And you can configure the program separately for each child, as long as they have their own account on your computer.

This is easy to set up, with a password-protected icon in your system tray giving access to the main settings. Email alerts warn of problems (attempts to reach blocked sites, say), and detailed reports are available online, so you can access them wherever you are.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. DNS Angel



DNS Angel is small, simple and only does one thing - but by way of compensation, it does it very well.

To try the program out, just launch DNS Angel, click "MetaCert DNS" - and that's it. Whenever you try to access a website from your PC, on any browser, it'll now send the request to the MetaCert DNS server. Try to visit a porn site and it'll be blocked, while everything else works as normal.

If this doesn't suit your needs, then the other DNS options (Norton ConnectSafe and OpenDNS) provide similar functions.

And if you want to undo your changes, click Restore DNS to restore your last network settings, or Default DNS to use your ISP's default settings.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Bitdefender Parental Control Free



Trying to block web access for your kids isn't always effective, as they can often get online from devices which you don't control.

Another option is simply to monitor their web activities to see exactly what they're doing, and that's where Bitdefender Parental Control Freecomes in.

The program can track the websites your children are visiting, the programs they run, even their instant messaging conversations (if you have Yahoo Messenger or MSN, anyway).

There's an Android version which also includes SMS and call monitoring. And as you'd expect from a big name like Bitdefender, it's all very straightforward, with helpful wizards walking you through the setup process.


Or you can try Parental Controls in Windows
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/parental-controls

Thanks for the list. I have tried NORTON before. Maybe now I will try DNS Angel.

 

[Jaspion]

FortiClient's web filtering is top-rate. Not only does it do a great job on blocking even 0-day malicious URLs, but things like pornography and other questionable content can be blocked as well. You can choose to also block unknown sites to avoid any possibility of breach. And the best part is you can submit any URL you need analyzed, and the results usually come within the hour (I've seen the new category, from Unknown to Malicious, be applied 15 minutes after submission).

The file antivirus portion of this AV is good too, although not so good with 0-day malware as the web filter. But starting with any samples only a few days old, it goes upwards of 90% in detection rates, really one of the best. The engine works with maximized settings, and there's no way to change that; so you'll get every file from .exe's to .txt's being checked real-time, including archives, and archives within archives. This means there will be a performance hit, as naturally any file checker running in such strict mode will cause, compared to most AVs' standard settings, i.e. checking only executable files and documents. However, compared to other engines running in their check-all-files modes, this engine isn't slow at all.

A disadvantage of FortiClient is that it is exclusively signature-based, you'll get no behavioral protection should anything bypass the webfilter, or arrive by USB, etc. On the bright side, its file monitor will only run if the real-time protection is enabled. You disable it, it goes away (unlike most AVs), saving resources.

For HIPS, I'd recommend Privatefirewall or Online Armor to be coupled with FortiClient.

 

[ifacedown]

T

FortiClient's web filtering is top-rate. Not only does it do a great job on blocking even 0-day malicious URLs, but things like pornography and other questionable content can be blocked as well. You can choose to also block unknown sites to avoid any possibility of breach. And the best part is you can submit any URL you need analyzed, and the results usually come within the hour (I've seen the new category, from Unknown to Malicious, be applied 15 minutes after submission).

The file antivirus portion of this AV is good too, although not so good with 0-day malware as the web filter. But starting with any samples only a few days old, it goes upwards of 90% in detection rates, really one of the best. The engine works with maximized settings, and there's no way to change that; so you'll get every file from .exe's to .txt's being checked real-time, including archives, and archives within archives. This means there will be a performance hit, as naturally any file checker running in such strict mode will cause, compared to most AVs' standard settings, i.e. checking only executable files and documents. However, compared to other engines running in their check-all-files modes, this engine isn't slow at all.

A disadvantage of FortiClient is that it is exclusively signature-based, you'll get no behavioral protection should anything bypass the webfilter, or arrive by USB, etc. On the bright side, its file monitor will only run if the real-time protection is enabled. You disable it, it goes away (unlike most AVs), saving resources.

For HIPS, I'd recommend Privatefirewall or Online Armor to be coupled with FortiClient.

Thanks. I have tried Forticlient before, and yes it makes my netbook really drag. If performance is not an issue, I would return to it. I'd really like to use ESET NOD 32 with Online Armor, the problem is, no matter how much exclusions I set for each other, they are not compatible and causes my system to crash every five minutes. I don't know about PrivateFirewall with ESET.

 

[Jaspion]

I'm using Privatefirewall with ESET. They work together like a charm. HIPS by ESET is disabled. I much prefer Privatefirewall's. I use its Process Detection, so I have UAC and PF warning me of any new files that want to run, really effective. Very light duo. I don't know about the trio with K9, but I suppose it would work.

 

[ifacedown]

I'm using Privatefirewall with ESET. They work together like a charm. HIPS by ESET is disabled. I much prefer Privatefirewall's. I use its Process Detection, so I have UAC and PF warning me of any new files that want to run, really effective. Very light duo. I don't know about the trio with K9, but I suppose it would work.

I know PrivateFirewall is very light and effective. But K9's filtering is superb, the feauture which I cannot use on ESS and of course PF. I want the filtering for myself which ESS won't permit me.

 

[ifacedown]

I'm using Privatefirewall with ESET. They work together like a charm. HIPS by ESET is disabled. I much prefer Privatefirewall's. I use its Process Detection, so I have UAC and PF warning me of any new files that want to run, really effective. Very light duo. I don't know about the trio with K9, but I suppose it would work.

This is off topic, but what are your thoughts about Baidu? Is its AV getting better? Is it lighter than ESET? Thanks.

 

[Jaspion]

It is getting better. But definitely it is not yet a mature product like NOD32. Last I checked they still had no Avira database updates on weekends, for example. Also problems with some settings reverted to defaults after reboot, etc. Overall a decent antivirus.

 

[Exterminator]

Thanks.

I have installed ESS on a laptop before with Windows 8.1. I turned on the parental control: the result, I could not access the internet. I checked the categories blocked: malware and adult. I turned off the parental control: I could access the web again.

Now I installed ESS on my netbook with Windows 8.1. Enabled the Parental Control, I could not access the web via browser. But, my email client, Opera Mail portable could access the web. I could not disable it at once - the ESET GUI hangs and crashes (never happened in NOD32). I restarted twice and disabled the parental control. Now I could access the web again and the first thing I do is this post.

Help. The parental control is not working for me.

Here is the link for Parental control setup instructions for ESET Smart Security: http://kb.eset.com/esetkb/index?page=content&id=SOLN2793