CyberPatrol Review:

Summary:
CyberPatrol is an excellent parental control product. The only weakness is the lack of monitoring capabilities. The web filtering appears to be rock solid. The program blocking and time management features are also useful. There are many options and configuration settings so this software may be more well suited for advanced users, or someone willing to take the time to learn the interface.

Website Filtering/Blocking

CyberPatrol uses category based keyword blocking as well as blacklist blocking. They have about a dozen categories which you can select from and assign to different profiles. You can even select the filter strengths for each category. They also have a whitelist feature which allows you to add specific sites which might otherwise be blocked. During our testing, the internet filter did an excellent job blocking access to questionable content for each category. They also have an immediate override feature which allows you to enter a password at the time of filtering, to temporarily override the filter.

Other Filtering/Blocking

CyberPatrol allows you to limit and/or disable access to any program on your computer. You can also set times in which certain programs can be used and internet access can be used as well as how much time per day can be spent online. Chat filtering is handled by adding the chat program to the program list section, then enabling the program in the chat program section, and finally, adding specific words that will be filtered. There is also a newsgroup blocking feature which can be configured based on various categories.

Monitoring

CyberPatrol only monitors website URLs. URL history is logged and stored by date. You can then view the activity explorer which shows you attempted website accesses as well as whether or not they were blocked. There doesn't appear to be a way to monitor other activity such as chat, email, keystrokes, screenshots, etc.

Management:
CyberPatrol allows you create multiple user profiles and configure filter settings and categories for each user. A useful feature they have is predefined profile types to assign to a profile such as child, young teen, mature teen, adult - secure, etc.

Support:
Comprehensive user guide and prompt email based support.