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Top 8 Parental Internet Controls and Safety Features

Kids today have lived their entire lives expecting a continuous connection to the Internet everywhere and all the time. Children typically spend much more time online than their parents do. There are unsafe, disturbing, and illegal sites that children can reach very easily if they are not properly supervised. Children are also continuously exposed to the risk of harassment, threats, and other aggressive acts by bad actors without appropriate safety measures. Kids access the Internet through home computers, and also through a wide array of devices including phones, gaming consoles, and tablets. Here are some simple steps you can take to help ensure your kids’ safety and monitor their use of the Internet.

1. Filtering Software

Internet filtering software is designed to sort content found online and classify content accessible by different users. This type of software is designed to block content that parents do not want their children to access, including social network platforms and chat interfaces. Parents should look for applications that include menu options for different types of content or sites that should be blocked. Specific URLs can also be added to a filter list. Typically, a whitelist of allowed URLs can be created, blocking access to all unlisted sites.

Filters for social media apps are becoming more sophisticated as well, filtering and blocking explicit content and suspicious images. Parents are able to control the filters for social media content, and any current filtering program should be designed to send parents instant alerts of any blocked or suspicious content or attempts to access blocked sites or content.

2. Monitoring Software

Relationships between parents and children depend on open communication and trust. Additionally, parents are responsible for protecting their children from dangerous activities. There are a number of applications that are available that allow parents to keep up with their kids.

Apps are available that allow parents to monitor device calls, texts, app use, and GPS locations without their children being aware of the monitoring. Details related to videos viewed can be provided. Alerts can be sent to parents regarding what sites a child accesses on a mobile device and when pictures are shared over social media or other apps. Monitoring apps can also alert a parent to the speed of any vehicle a child is traveling in.

3. Physically Secure Your Home Router

Children know many methods to defeat security measures, and one simple way is physically resetting your home router. Restoring factory default settings can often be done with a push of a button on many router models. Many routers will default to a factory password printed on the router or which can be found with a Google search. With security features disabled, safety features and other settings can be modified. This type of router manipulation can be very difficult to detect, as power outages or surges can cause similar resets. Securing your home’s router in a locked closet or another secure area will prevent physical manipulation of safety settings and other features.

4. Set Internet Access Time Limitations Through Your Router

In addition to safety and security concerns, unlimited internet access causes sleep disruption for many children, along with all of the health concerns that accompany the lack of proper nighttime sleep patterns. Most modern router models feature a setting that allows repeating periods without internet access through the router. If you want sleep hours in your home to be from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., just set your router to cut Internet access during the times you chose. This setting also provides additional protection against hackers during the downtime you assign for your router.

5. Disable Wireless Remote Administration of Your Home Router

Disable the “Remote Administration via Wireless” function on your router. Some children know how to modify security settings on routers, and using wireless remote administration is a common technique used by teenagers and hackers to defeat system security. Disabling remote administration will only allow modification by a user physically connected to the router through an Ethernet cable. By keeping your router physically secure, as described above, you can ensure that only you are able to modify the router’s security settings.

6. Consider the Location of All Computers in Your Home

Always consider low-hanging fruit solutions. Children today want to enjoy using computers in their bedrooms. However, often the simplest Internet security step is controlling the physical spaces where children can go online. Consider creating a semi-private computer and study area in your family room or kitchen where the kids can do homework and enjoy the Internet. Just knowing that you are close by and able to see what they are doing directly can be the most effective security measure of all.

7. Enable Parental Control Features on Mobile and Gaming Devices

Web browsers are not only on the computers you have stationed in your house. Almost all the devices that kids use — mobile phones, gaming consoles, tablets — allow full Internet access. For every mobile Internet device your children own, check the manufacturer’s security and safety settings. Also, look at the capabilities of the filtering and monitoring software discussed above to determine if your best solution is a universal application across multiple devices or a single-device-designed app or internal setting. Regularly check device passwords and settings to ensure no modifications have been attempted.

8. Scan Around Your Home for Unsecured Wireless Access Points

The easiest way for children to defeat all the security and safety precautions you take with your network is to simply use a different network to access the Internet. If your neighbor has an unsecured network that penetrates your house, then kids need only to simply click on the unsecured network. Use your phone or laptop to scan for any unsecured networks that are available on your property. Check all the different locations that your children might use around the house to go online. If you do find an unsecured network present in your home, you will hopefully have a good relationship with your neighbor and will be able to discuss the benefits of protecting their network with a simple password.

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10 Ways High-Speed Internet Can Improve Business Productivity

Businesses of all sizes depend on fast and reliable Internet access to be competitive in all industries today. Internet speed has a direct impact on productivity and bottom-line success. Traditional broadband cable or DSL service provides typical speeds between 10 and 30 Mbps (megabits per second). Fiber-based Internet service providers are able to provide speeds up to 1000 Mbps and beyond. Modern high-speed Internet access benefits business infrastructures, employee performance, and customer protection and satisfaction.

Here are 10 ways that a quality high-speed Internet connection improves business productivity.

1. Fast Internet Access Makes Employees More Productive

A substantial majority of employee positions involve daily Internet use. Many employees are more dependent on their Internet connection than they are on their phones in performing their daily tasks. Slow Internet speeds mean slow loading times for all applications that employees rely on to do their jobs. High-speed Internet also supports multi-tasking among several Internet applications at the same time.

Time that is wasted on delayed Internet research, customer service, email, chats, software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications all add up over the course of a day. Fast Internet allows employees to move quickly and seamlessly from task to task without losing steam and becoming distracted by downtime.

2. High-Speed Internet Access Reduces Costs

The initial added cost of high-speed Internet access is usually absorbed through the added efficiencies of established business processes. There are many other direct savings available with fast Internet speed.

High-speed Internet makes Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone voice service an option that companies without fast speeds do not have. All companies rely on telephone service. Depending on the number of employees, phone numbers, and extensions a business uses, immediate savings over traditional landline phones can amount to thousands of dollars.

High-speed Internet access also supports moving or adding employees who are able to work remotely. In order to access company systems, remote workers rely on the quality of the business’s Internet access.

Fast and reliable Internet connections generally support scaling up cost-saving efficiencies throughout an organization and streamline processes while eliminating costly redundancies.

3. High-speed Internet Improves Cloud Access

Most current business applications require constant uploading and downloading that are associated with cloud access and remote data storage. Slow speeds significantly affect the performance of SaaS apps, customer relationship management (CRM) programs, and financial processing programs.

Lags in processing data through CRM programs cause customers to lose interest and confidence in a business’s ability to operate safely and efficiently. Slow load times involving any third-party user leads directly to dropped communications and losses due to inefficiency.

Poor Internet performance often acts as a complete barrier to businesses even entering into the market of cloud applications and opportunities. Virtually all new software products coming online currently are designed to rely on fast cloud access. High-speed Internet access is not only important to efficient use of software products, but it is also essential for accessing new products that can support business success.

4. High-Speed Internet Provides Consistent Broadband Efficiency Without Data Cap Losses

Traditional Internet Services lack the bandwidth capacity to handle video conferencing, VOIP services, large file transfers, and efficient use of cloud applications. As businesses struggle with low Internet speed to use necessary programs, data caps can also disastrously affect operations. Many Internet service providers supply a limited amount of their already limited-speed service.

When data caps are hit, a business often finds that many applications will no longer properly operate at all because of highly reduced speeds. High-Speed Internet service can provide consistent access to quality service without arbitrary cap limitations in addition to superior performance overall.

5. High-Speed Internet Supports Effective Collaboration

Remote working opportunities require fast Internet speeds. Remote employees and those who work while traveling and have high-speed access can share files, collaborate through sharing platforms, print documents remotely, and perform tasks as if they were physically present in the office. These remote efficiencies facilitate easier communication and sharing with clients, customers, and other partners.

High-speed Internet access also allows companies to invest in video conferencing and other teleconferencing products without sacrificing Internet performance for other essential company functions. Many businesses are enjoying the time and money savings associated with replacing in-person meetings with video conferencing when possible.

Collaborative platforms for marketing, sales, and training are also available when companies have sufficient bandwidth to support the many sharing and conferencing products available.

6. Reliable Service Supports Productivity

Any unexpected Internet outage can impose significant costs and losses on any business that relies on Internet access to get work done. High-speed Internet service, and especially fiber connectivity, uses hardware that is far superior to traditional cable and DSL connections. Weather conditions, electrical interference, and physical breakdowns are less likely to interfere with a high-speed provider’s service.

Increased bandwidth also prevents losses through slow load times or lost connections for customers. If a business’s pages load slowly or crash, customers lose confidence quickly and move along to a competitor’s site. The reliable performance also promotes customer loyalty and encourages repeat business.

7. Greater Security

High-speed Internet service is more physically resistant to hacking and other illegal access than traditional Internet service. Security breaches present a substantial risk to businesses in many ways and are always expensive to remediate. Prevention is the best cure for the risk of loss of customer information or any sensitive material. Agility is critical to any disaster response, and agility is entirely dependent on speed.

Most companies today use offsite resources to back up data for safety and disaster preparation. The amount of data that most businesses need to back up efficiently is continuously increasing. Slow Internet connections make effective backups difficult during working hours. Even overnight backups are often compromised because of slow connections.

8. Consistent Signal Strength

Traditional Internet service suffers signal loss as user interfaces are located further away from the service router. Companies with large campuses and buildings benefit from the consistent signal provided by modern high-speed Internet. Ethernet signal strength generally exceeds even the best WiFi signal and provides a more secure connection. High-speed Internet provides a more resilient and strong signal that helps avoid downtime, poor operation and lost productivity.

9. Symmetric Speed Provides More Effective Service

Traditional Internet service normally produces higher download speeds than upload speeds, although both are inferior to high-speed service. The organizational staff enjoys higher productivity with more equalized speeds in addition to the overall higher speed for both downloads and uploads.

Modern companies are more likely to rely on multiple applications that upload and download data simultaneously such as VOIP calls, video conferencing, and large data transfers. High-speed data connections provide smooth and efficient use of applications that require substantial uploads while maintaining simultaneous downloads.

10. High-speed Internet Reduces Losses From Latency

Latency refers to service delays that happen while data is being processed through an Internet connection. Traditional Internet service can suffer from latency issues, and especially while handling high-bandwidth material like VOIP calls and video data. High-speed Internet promotes greater productivity through improved VOIP quality, uninterrupted large data transfers, and more efficient use of cloud-based applications.

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