Hi Larry
I have since managed to find a printable version on Microsoft's site which looks quite good although I'm sure your slide show would be more productive I will try it out again.
I hope to order/download my free copy of Vista when I get some time and will update everyone on my findings.
Many thanks for your help once again.
Kind regards
Tony

Hi Larry
Many thanks for this but I was unable to view it for some reason. Would you happen to have a set of instructions that I could print off?
On another note, I received an email from my ISP giving the same advice i.e. to upgrade to Vista and take advantage of the in-built parental controls etc. Hope to upgrade when I get some time.
Many thanks.
Kind regards
Tony

Hi Chris,
That's what worries me. I'm happy to spend a reasonable amount of money to find the right product. I e-mailed my ISP (Sky) and they told me that McAfee Internet Security Suite includes parental controls. We have the more basic version I beleive, which does not have this feature. I have written back for some more technical advice on websites etc. and to ask whether they actually recommend the McAfee offering and also whether they are able to apply a full/premanent content block from their end. Will let everyone know what they say. The fact that they actively block access to Child sex abuse and other such sites in conjunction with the IWF impressed me. It's good to know that we enjoy that level protection at least and it makes for more confident web surfing.
Again, many thanks for the responses
Kind regards
Tony

No system that I know is fool proof as they tend to rely on lists of known sites. I used Norton's solution for a while. It generally worked but after a while it became incompatable with the OS and would cause my system to crash.

Hi Rsabella, many thanks for your advice. It's always good to hear from people who have actually used the products as that's the best review and recommendation one can receive. I'm going to have to take the plunge sometime and buy one of these products soon. Just hate wasting money on expensive products that promise the earth and do little or nothing!
Thanks again to everyone, this is a great website and resource for concerned parents, I'm glad I stumbled upon it. It's my first choice

Anne, my pleasure
The one I am using is ParentalControl Bar which I was recommended by a family member. It can be found at www.parentalcontrolbar.org
It seems to work well with I.E. but as I said before I had problems using it with Mozilla Firefox in that it still allowed access to pornographic sites unless it was completly tied down. Even then it was problematic. It seemed to affect Google also in that when selecting 'Strict' in Preferences & restarting it would revert to 'Moderate'?!I have given up on the searching & testing & plan to educate our little one as she grows. I will continue to use the Parental Control Bar also. Luckily we bought our PC late last year & it comes with a free Vista upgrade One other thing, I hate to plug & apologies if it is inapropriate but I would also like to recommend Sky Broadband (in the UK). I recently learnt (from their website) that they work with the IWF & CEOP to prevent user exposure to child sex abuse & criminally obscene and racist content and have put network filters in place to prevent access to illegal images etc. We also received 1 years free McAfee Security Center! I don't know how many other ISPs offer this level of service but I must say I am very pleased to know that we have been enjoying that level of protection as standard. With this in mind I feel that a parental control tool should suffice in order to block the remaining adult content. Many thanks once again for your help and advice.
Kind regards
Tony

Hi Anne
Many thanks for responding so quickly! I am an IT Support Analyst so should know this stuff but as my area is not internet security I know relatively little about it. I read some advice somewhere that said the best way to test a filter is to attempt to access these types of sites. Guess what? You can get past them quite easily! I tested using all different settings so obviously I was getting it wrong. I have done countless web searches on the subject and downloaded a few freebies which of course contained malicious software! Stupid of me I know I did try a free Parental Control bar which seems to work in I.E. but is hopeless in Firefox. Ironically Firefox is a brilliant browser but I have since deleted it and set the control bar via I.E. to maximum block and will see how that goes until I am able to find a better alternative. For the time being we will continue to supervise our little one's web surfing.
Many thanks for you advice once again.
kind regards
Tony

Hi All, I'm new to this site and first of all wanted to say 'Hi'.
I wanted some help with recommendations on blocking pornographic sites and any other malicious/undesirable sites and any recommended products. I have tried some free parental control bars etc. which work intermitently and sometimes not at all. I find that I am able to find and access pornographic sites despite playing with the various settings. I would rather find a product that bocks these sites all together than simply a parental control product, to ensure that they cannot be accessed in the first place. I am shocked by how easy it is to bypass the parental controls and access these types of sites and am worried that our young daughter might one day find her way on some obscene website.
Any help wamrly welcomed.
Many thanks.
Regards
Tony