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Safe Web Searching is Possible
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When most of us think about protecting children from the more adult parts of the Internet, we think about blocking individual sites and relying adult registries that monitor which sites need to be blocked and which ones don’t. We often forget that powerful search engines like Google and Yahoo can deliver adult content to any computer in the world in seconds, so how do you protect against them? These Internet giants have heard the call from parents and now have a safe web searching feature that you can use to help protect your child from content they aren’t ready to see.
Without a doubt, the biggest search engine in the world is Google. Every day, hundreds of millions of searches are performed and billions of results are given. Recently, Google began using what they call SafeSearch filtering. On most computers, the default setting is ON for SafeSearch filtering, with the goal being the removal of adult sites from web searches, Google image searches, news searches and video searches. You can test it by searching for something like “breasts” with the search filter on, and then again with it off. You can see just what a difference the SafeSearch filter makes! SafeSearch has three main settings that anyone can use for free. There is a moderate SafeSearch, which removes explicit images from Google image searches, but not web searches, Strict Filtering, which removes explicit content from all Google searches or you can choose to remove the filter altogether. You can change these settings in seconds by visiting the Google home page and selecting preferences. You can enjoy a lifetime of safe web searches thanks to the SafeSearch feature at Google.
Yahoo offers a service by the same name that works in essentially the same way, but with one additional feature. When you are logged into your Yahoo account, you can permanently save your SafeSearch settings so you don’t have to continually change them every time you close out your browser and revisit Yahoo. With Google’s SafeSearch, you will simply default back to the moderate setting, but with Yahoo, you can always take advantage of a complete SafeSearch scan with every search.
Since Yahoo and Google are often the most used search engines, other smaller sites have been racing to offer the same kind of filter protection the big boys do. AltaVista, for instance, was a much bigger player in the world of search engines ten years ago than they are now, but they now offer a Family Filter that promises safe web searching for both you and your children. You can choose to have all of your searches filtered, including any multimedia you may search for as well as web search results, or you can choose to have only your multimedia (pictures, videos, music) filtered. The only other setting is to turn the filter off completely. One neat feature that Alta Vista offers is password protection to change your filtering preferences. This feature should ensure safe web searching if Alta Vista is your search engine of choice.
Thanks to major search engine improvements, safe web searching is now just a click away. With the help of industry giants like Google and Yahoo, and the little guys like Alta Vista, the Internet is now a much safer place for kids everywhere.
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