Tuesday's Tech Tip: Parental controls and the internet

We talked about parental controls and the internet yesterday. As far as I can tell, Comcast and AT&T give the software away for free to their customers. I believe Verizon charges $4.99 a month for their parental controls.

If your internet service provider (ISP) isn't on this list, look around on your ISP's website or google it. You can always fall back on calling them if you don't mind being put on hold.

• Free Comcast Security Suite
• Getting Started With Verizon Parental Controls
• AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet Parental Controls

If your ISP doesn't offer free parental control software, you can find many off-the-shelf solutions by googling "parental control software" or checking out the software section of your favorite retailer.

I also mentioned AdBlock Plus, a free plug-in that comes with the Firefox internet browser. It blocks most ads. Firefox also has a built-in pop-up blocker. It should install with Firefox.

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