Microsoft Release Child Friendly Browser

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If you have young children who have access to the net you’ll doubtless be weary of them being at potential risk from threats such as inappropriate site content, cyber bullying and online grooming from internet predators and, with that in mind, you may be interested in Microsoft’s newest iteration of its Internet Explorer 8 browser which introduces a host of features designed to make the net a more child friendly place (as well as to allow children and parents to report instances of unwanted online attention from potential threats).

The new iteration of IE8, known as IE 8 Click Clever, Click Safe, Click CEOP, comes with a range of features designed to put parents rather more at ease when it comes to their young children accessing the net such as allowing children (and their parents) to flag inappropriate web content, run alerts when certain sites are updated or changed (thanks to the integrated Web Slice feature) as well as report other harmful content and instances or cyber bullying.

“Internet safety advice needs to be at your fingertips, not hidden away,” said Jim Gamble, chief executive of CEOP. “Parents and children should not have to go searching through numerous web pages to find the help they need. This new tool will embed advice, help and report services directly in to the toolbar to provide a constant, reassuring presence for families, who will be one click away from the support they need.

In the UK alone Microsoft  reports that, according to their research, around two thirds of under 18’s have been approached online by individuals they don’t know whilst two thirds of those contacted consequently responded whilst, alarmingly, according to the Telegraph (duly credited below) ‘research also found that 41 per cent of parents didn’t know whether or not their child had adjusted or enabled the privacy settings on their social networking profile, while 58 per cent of those youngsters questioned said their parents did nothing to control their access to the web.’

As well as offering the IE 8 Click Clever, Click Safe, Click CEOP browser as a stand alone free download, MS have, for those that already have the standard edition of IE8, also released several toolbars for parents looking for that little (but all important) extra reassurance consisting of a Click CEOP Button, CEOP Search and Internet Safety and Security Search which, again, can be downloaded free of charge.

You can find out more information and download the IE 8 Click Clever, Click Safe, Click CEOP browser or the aforementioned IE8 toolbar add-ons courtesy of this page.