Protect Your Child with Norton Safety Minder

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 16 Feb 2012

Earlier this month security company Symantec announced the release of Norton Safety Minder, a free Android app that you can install on your child’s Android-powered device to monitor what webpages your little one visits and block access to certain sites and types of sites (like adult sites or other types of sites that are inappropriate for your child’s age).

Norton Safety Minder is part of the award-winning online family service for PCs and Macs, Norton Online Family. The app was released as a means to expand the level of security that Norton Online Family provides to security-conscious parents. The Symantec team explains:

“The application provides web monitoring and blocking features for free, allowing parents to see what sites their kids are visiting and block content they feel is inappropriate. Applied through their Norton Online Family account, parents can use the same set of web filtering settings for the child’s PC and apply them to the child’s Android phone. The service tracks up to seven days of content for free, and up to 90 days for those with a paid Norton Online Family Premier account.”

If you want to, you can set up a free Norton Online Family account here. If you get a Norton Online Family Premier account, you will gain access to some extra features in the Norton Safety Minder app. You will also be able to monitor outgoing and incoming SMS and MMS messages; you can also block certain contacts and the child will not be able to send SMS or MMS to that contact. On top of that, you will be able o see what apps are installed on your child’s Android-powered device and which apps have been uninstalled from it.

“Parents know they need to be involved in their kids’ digital lives, and most actually set and discuss house rules for computer use and Internet browsing” said Marian Merritt, Norton Internet Safety Advocate. “But to make those rules work, you need to extend them to your child’s mobile phone where so much web browsing takes place. With Norton Safety Minder: Mobile Edition, parents can help their kids stick to those rules, regardless of which device they are on.”

So to sum it up, if you get the free Norton Safety Minder app and install it on your child’s device, then log into your free Norton Online Family Account, you will be able to monitor and block access to websites and types of websites. And if you get a Norton Online Family Premium account you will be able to monitor SMS, MMS, and apps.

You can get the Norton Safety Minder app from the Android Market here.
You can learn more about Norton Online Family and set up a free account here.



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