K9: Powerful, Free Web Filtering for Mac or Windows
Apr 5th, 2008 by kcren
I’m no stranger to Web filtering technology. As a former geek power-user and current father of 10, family online safety has been an interest and project for over a decade. I’ve researched and fought with home networks and monitored and analyzed and put many programs through their paces. I’ve used BESS, Cerberian, WinProxy, and NetNanny 5.6 from Content Watch, which is a decent program. All of these operated in our Windows home network environment. I even bought a BESS proxy server and started a venture when no alternative could be found in rural Kentucky.
Then we bought a Mac.
What a rude awakening! Filtering options are limited in the Mac world. When I faced serious customer service issues with the most obvious choice (to the point of being afraid to call them!) I was motivated to search further. That was a serendipity.
The results: I found K9, from Blue Coat Systems, which now offers a robust filtering solution for the Mac. Better still, K9 (Mac or Windows) is completely free to families and home users. Highly recommended.
K9 offers an impressive, fully-customizable array of blocking categories, easy Web interface, usage reporting, email alerts of questionable use, a three-strikes-and-you’re-out option I’ve wanted for years, custom site overrides (permanent and temporary), P2P and IM monitoring, a safe search engine option that ensures search engines are accessed for the safest results, time limiting, anti-phishing, an online site rating checker (missing for NetNanny 5.6) and more.
Wow!
If you are a corporate or organizational user, you’ll need to buy a license (presumably after the beta period is over if you’re a Mac user). The single license price for non-home use is $30/year.
Feel free to post your own experiences and comments about K9 here.
Kevin,
About 2 months ago, a friend introduced me to this K9 filter website…….and I installed it on my home computer.
It IS an excellent safeguard/filter allowing us to eliminate much of the internet ‘garbage’! :+)
I respect your opinion and experience, and am pleased to hear that you also recommend it and have found it to be an effective tool for blocking undesirable matter.
Mom
[...] it had no starting point (home page). I since discovered K9, which is iron-clad and free (read my review), but K9 still doesn’t provide a directed starting platform for young [...]
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve had the kids on BumperCar and KidZui. Both do the job, but are real clunky stand-alone browsers. I’ll give K9 a shot.