E-mail and browsing the Web are certainly the most popular Internet applications. But everyone who has Internet access, utilizes search engines, and corresponds via e-mail also knows about the downfalls of this technology. Looking for seemingly harmless keywords in search-engine queries can return a surprising list of links. Subscribing to newsgroups or entering your e-mail address in questionnaires can result in a spamming flood of responses that you neither asked for nor wanted.
This incoming flood of information through your open gates to the Internet makes it impossible to determine what is good and what is bad. For this purpose you can utilize filtering and protection utilities like InternetSecuritySystem 2.0 (ISS) from Grandpa's Software Company. The downloadable software sells for US$39.95 (direct) and runs under Windows 95, 98, 2000, or NT.
By taking control of the flow of information that is coming your way, ISS allows you to filter e-mail and Web activity, employing different approaches. The primary goal is obvious: You need to determine what e-mail or Web page content is harmful. So how do you get the desired results? First of all, you can enter your own list of blocked sites, as well as keywords or phrases that you deem inappropriate. While this method is very effective for the content you classify, it requires a great deal of work. Maintaining this list is a virtually impossible task if you require well-rounded security. New Web sites--especially those with offensive content--grow at a head-spinning rate. Entering addresses to block could keep you busy 24 hours a day.
ISS implements an electronic feature that checks retrieved content on the fly and adds the objectionable sites to a "block list." There are several options to help you automate this process. Word Blocking tries to filter obscene words and gives you the option to have the questionable content erased or masked. It works on incoming as well as outgoing content.
Other options are the Cleansearch filter, which watches search-engine obscenity, and the CleanBlock option, which has a sensitivity slider to set a tolerance level for blocking obscene Web sites altogether.
While all these features certainly help to eliminate questionable content and help prevent access to it, there are still too many sites that slip through the cracks. Unfortunately, providers and administrators of Web sites with obscene content do everything in their power to circumvent such filters. Most text that could trigger filters is now embedded in graphics and thus far from access for any text-oriented analysis tool.
InternetSecuritySystem's integrated e-mail features follow the same strategy as its Web filtering. You can block access to and from addresses that you consider unsuitable. A very nifty tool is the EmailCloaking utility, which lets you mask your sender ID. This feature goes hand in hand with InternetCloaking, a utility that hides your e-mail address from Internet sites and disguises cookies of sites that you visited. Private user information about your system is also hidden from access via the Internet. A history tab lets you keep track of sites that were visited, marking those that were blocked or automatically added to the blocking list.
ISS has a clean interface, is easy to install, and does not confuse the user with unnecessary or difficult options. A security code is required to disable the software, change settings, or uninstall it. Additional features let you empty your cache and cookie folder on startup of your favorite browser or AOL. A limited set of firewall capabilities lets you block file downloads or totally cut off all connections from the outside.
In our testing, while we did have the software running for a while, ISS unfortunately caused illegal operation errors on Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 and 5 as well as on Netscape Communicator after only a few minutes of browsing activity with filtering enabled. This serious glitch occurred on all three of our test platforms and forced us to uninstall the product. We also experienced compatibility issues with Windows 2000 Professional.
If these bugs are fixed, InternetSecuritySystem will be a valuable tool for monitoring harmful Internet activity and keeping your privacy, but it certainly will not be a substitute for educating your children about the dangers of the Net.
Product:Ã, InternetSecuritySystem 2.0
Rating:Ã, 2 Star
Direct Price:Ã, US$39.95
Company:Ã, Grandpa's Software Company LLC
Requires:Ã, 2MB hard disk space; Microsoft Windows 95, 98, 2000, or NT
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