Norton Online Family: Symantec’s 2009 Debut

norton online family

Symantec has already earned enough fame for the security software the world knows as Norton Antivirus, yet, its recent release has taken parents worldwide aback.

Symantec has already earned enough fame for the security software the world knows as Norton Antivirus, yet, its recent release has taken parents worldwide aback. They were absolutely clueless on controlling their children's online usage habits but the worries seem a thing bygone with the release of the Norton Online Family. Though available only in a beta version, this parental control suite is well endowed with multiple restriction levels and emphasizes on the reports of Internet usage generated from any browser present in today’s market.

Symantec’s step is based on study by the Rochester Institute of Technology, which shows clearly the gap that exists between children and their parents regarding being net savvy. That leaves little chance to parents for an online supervision; however, with Symantec’s Online Family, the gap shall now be filled.

The strength of Online Norton Family lies on the Norton Safety Minder (a desktop client). Available for both Windows and Mac, NSM reports directly to the Norton Family account. It has inbuilt options for sending e-mail notifications to the parents as well as multiple customization levels for every child in multi-child families. However, Online Family makes itself visible through the system tray; therefore, once kids come to know what purpose it serves, they are less likely to go to the sites their parents might object. Prevention is always better than cure.

So what does Online Family logs? Everything that’s included in the topic blocker (blacklist); more than that, it even keeps an account of every activity in the social-networking sites. It blocks offensive advertisement and URLs, explicit content and media-rich sites that eat up a lot of bandwidth. So parents, stop wondering on what your kids are heading towards and the monthly Internet bill, for kids have this property to let go of something that doesn’t interest them.