With brand names such as McAfee, Net Nanny, and Norton to choose from, why should you trust your child's online protection to an unknown company? While PureSight is new to consumer software, the company has been protecting kids from online threats since 1998. Its technology is used by 120 ISPs worldwide to protect 15 million children. PureSight 6.1 is competitive with the market leaders in terms of blocking what needs to be blocked and allowing what needs to pass through. It also has a well-designed interface with clear and concise context-sensitive help. What PureSight 6.1 lacks is Web access for the settings and reports, as well as some advanced features offered by the competition, such as Facebook profile checking, ratings-based PC game blocking, and age-based defaults.
Like McAfee Family Protection, Net Nanny 6.0, and OnlineFamily.Norton, PureSight uses a multilayered approach to filter content. Some known domains, such as pornography sites, are restricted completely. Other sites, such as Facebook and chat forums, are analyzed in real time. PureSight 6.1 has signal detection at the protocol level, so it can deal with open-source peer-to-peer programs that are recompiled to avoid detection. Because PureSight 6.1 can deeply analyze any communication, it can examine instant messages in real time and alert a parent via e-mail if there's a suspicious conversation.
You can set up a default profile that doesn't require typing in a password for your youngest children.
PureSight 6.1 deep analytical techniques allow options that aren't usually available in parental control programs. For example, if someone sends a specific offensive word to your child, you can automatically block that account from communicating with your child until you allow it. That could be a potent defense against cyber-bullying. And while PureSight lets you limit the specific hours and total number of hours your child can go online, as competing programs do, it can go further by limiting IM use by contact or total number of hours.
As with Net Nanny, you can configure a computer for multiple profiles with a log-in (preferable for systems regularly shared by family members) or for a single profile without a log-in (preferable for systems used mostly by one child). One nice touch: If you have multiple profiles on a system, the most restrictive profile becomes the default profile. That way the youngest child wouldn't have to log-in, while older kids could still log-in to activate less restrictive settings.
Block selected Web sites using 14 filter categories. Alternatively, you can block any site that isn't on the allowed list.
PureSight offers 14 Web filter categories that you can switch on or off. Those categories include adult, drugs, gambling, hate, social networking, and Web mail. By contrast, McAfee Family Protection has seven filter categories, Net Nanny has 11, and OnlineFamily.Norton has 47. Does the number of categories really matter? Probably not. The Norton product includes such unlikely categories as automotive, technology, and reference/educational.
The settings are handled strictly through the software, and that's the biggest drawback to this version of PureSight. With Net Nanny, OnlineFamily.Norton, and McAfee Family Protection, a parent can access the settings and reports from any computer via a password-based Web site. With PPureSight 6.1 , you must have the software installed on your computer, even though the settings and reports are stored online. The yearly subscription fee lets you install the software on as many as three computers with a total of 30 profiles. Three computers may sound like a lot, but if you have the software installed on two desktop computers at home and one at work, and you go on a work-related trip, you wouldn't be able to access the settings while traveling. We asked PureSight 6.1 about this and were told that the three-computer license is a floating license. You can contact tech support and have the license switched from one computer to another. The company is working on a Web-based client that should be available in 2010.
With the password-controlled override button, your child can bypass the restrictions for a predetermined amount of time.
PureSight 6.1 provides another workaround in the form of an override button. Parents can set up an override button that cancels out the Web filtering for a predetermined amount of time, such as 10 minutes or an hour. You configure it with a password, and when your child is blocked from a site, there will be an option to enter that password to unlock the site. Unfortunately, it removes all blocking from all sites, so it's best used when your child has an adult nearby. You can have a different override password for each profile, and the reports can show which sites are visited during the override. The override button might be useful when the restrictions need to be lifted for a homework assignment.
Control the specific hours of the day your child can go online, as well as the total number of hours spent online.
Other features available in some competing programs, but not in PureSight 6.1 , include age-based defaults (they can be a good starting point for customizing the settings), ratings-based PC game blocking (where offensive games are automatically restricted), and Facebook profile checking (to verify your 13-year-old isn't posing as an 18-year-old). The company plans to add Facebook profile checking in 2010.
PureSight 6.1 is a mixed bag. It lacks a Web-based interface, making it less convenient to use. But while the $59.95 yearly fee is on the high end of the scale, the company is offering a sales promotion from Aug. 1 through Oct. 31 when the price for the year will be just $12. That works out to be a substantial 80 percent discount. The core filtering engine is as strong as the engines in Net Nanny and OnlineFamily.Norton. Yet it doesn't have all the features available in those competing programs. Nonetheless, the straightforward interface and context-sensitive help are an excellent fit for parents who are overwhelmed with tech jargon and confusing options.
Price (at time of review): $59.95 (Direct); $12 promotional price from 8/1/09 to 10/31/09
