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Best Antivirus Software with Parental Control
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Many parents complain about how kids spend so much time playing video games, using the tablet, or watching YouTube. What happened to playing with other kids outside? What happened to playing Lego and being creative? Life has changed, and these devices are our main source of entertainment, that doesn’t mean they’re not affecting us negatively. Don’t get me started about how it’s going during COVID-19 due to online learning. I mean, it’s hard enough that it’s online, but children are also easily distracted while using their computer.
Still, that doesn’t mean parents should give up on trying to help their children enjoy other activities. Instead, they can download an antivirus software with parental control options to control their children’s devices and help them get through online schooling while protecting their devices.
Kids and Technology: A Long Lasting Love Story That Parents Will Never Understand…
Let’s start by talking about how these gadgets are affecting our kids. Of course, technology has its advantages; it has been super helpful during the pandemic by allowing our kids to continue their education online. They’re essential communication tools and help in expanding our knowledge. However, if we overuse or misuse these devices, they will affect us negatively. So, can you imagine what it does to children?
The disadvantage of using these devices is that they will affect your children mentally and physically. How? Let’s take a look:
- Sleeping schedule: The artificial blue light x-rayed from gadgets may reduce sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, causing insomnia. As well as delays in bedtime, making them less focused on other things.
- Eyesight: According to WebMD, a study done in 2009 shows that there has been a 25% to 42% increase in nearsightedness eyeglasses subscription.
- Unhealthy Lifestyle: Too much screen time can lead to poor posture or obesity.
- Increases violence: Playing video games increases violence and laziness among children.
- Attention deficits: Children are easily distracted and have a hard time focusing.
- Increases anxiety: Children suffering from anxiety experience nervousness, shyness, and fear.
- Losing the ability to interact face-to-face: Engaging more with online friends rather than in real-life, which increases social anxiety in public.
Sadly, there are so many more side effects of using these devices on both you and your children.
Parental Control Features and Advantages
Parental control is a feature that allows parents to control/restrict their child’s device. Parental control is available with different antivirus software and includes many features to benefit from.
Let’s take a deeper look and find out:
1. Parental control help keep an eye on your child’s device
The techie kids are constantly using their devices to check their emails, social media accounts, text their friends, and so on. While many children can misuse these devices, it’s your job as a parent to keep an eye. That’s what parental control is for; you’ll keep an eye on all of these accounts and other mobile functions. They can notify you when certain words are used like ‘drugs,’ which can help your child know they can be independent but have boundaries at the same time.
2. Limits access in search engines
There is plenty of inappropriate content found on the internet. Depending on your child’s age and stage of development, you can block the content and images your child can access.
3. Blocks certain features in games
Children enjoy playing games on computers, iPads, and other devices. In the modern-day, online gaming requires a lot of purchases, web search, and talking to other players. While this is entertaining, it’s not so amusing for you once your kid frequently uses your credit card to purchase add-ons or talks to strangers. That’s another feature included in parental control, which allows you to control the features your kid can access and enter a password to use the credit card available.
4. Location supervision
Parental control allows you to track your child’s location using GPS apps to help you know where your kids are and if they’re safe. All you need to do is turn on the location feature for it to work.
5. Limit screen-time
As I previously mentioned, devices are addictive and have negative side effects on children’s eyesight, sleeping patterns, and more. Parental control has created a limited screen time option to help you have a healthier lifestyle for you and your kids. This way, your kids will know their boundaries and how long they should use their devices to allow them to enjoy other activities.
There are so many more features included in the parental control systems depending on the antivirus you choose. Some like Norton 360 have a School Time option to help your child focus during school hours, but we’ll talk about that in detail in a bit.
Why Should I Use the Antivirus Parental Control?
Here’s the deal, I think it’s better if you download an antivirus software with parental control than a parental control system alone. Why? For a couple of reasons, firstly, you’ll benefit from the antivirus program to protect your device from any cyber-attack or ransomware that your child might download or access through your device without your knowledge. Secondly, you’ll benefit from a free parental control feature for your child’s health. This way, you’ll get the whole package of antivirus with parental control, password manager, and more.
Yet, the question remains, which parental control is the best out there?
Here’s a List of Our Top 5 you Should Consider Using
1. Norton 360
Norton is our #1 antivirus with a variety of features. Not only does it include a parental control option but also a VPN and a password manager. You don’t just get a free VPN with any antivirus program.
But we’re not here to talk about the antivirus itself; we’re here to talk about the parental control feature. It includes the following features:
- Location supervision: locates your child’s device’s location via google maps.
- Limit screen time and impose a curfew, which stops some apps from working at a specific time.
- Kids have access to parental control to know the ‘House Rules” their parents imposed.
While you can receive weekly emails about what your child has been doing. Yet, you cannot spy on your kids’ communications. Give it a try; there’s a generous 60-day money-back guarantee.
2. Kaspersky
A lightweight antivirus with excellent parental control features, Kaspersky is a highly secure program. What’s so special about its parental control features? Let’s take a look:
- Content Filtering: Block any inappropriate or adult websites
- Location tracking and geofencing: Real-time GPS location updates
- YouTube Filtering: on both Androids and their websites (in-app protection not offered in other YouTube filters)
- Monitoring emails and messages: Only on Android
- Block apps: Block your child’s access to certain applications
- Time management: limit screen time for your kids to have a better lifestyle
- Battery-low notification: You get a notification if your child’s phone battery is low to prepare beforehand what to do.
Parents are notified when their kid tries to access any forbidden site. The best part is, it’s super easy to use, you won’t have any trouble setting it up, and you can set it up on 10 devices. Prices range between $19.99 and $39.99/ year, depending on your preferred plan.
Give it a try; there’s a 30-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
3. McAfee Total Protection
If you’re looking for an antivirus with parental control that’s easy to set up, you’re on the right page. The best thing about McAfee is that it’s affordable and works on multiple devices. What more could you ask for?
McAfee is ranked #2 when it comes to parental control. Let’s take a minute to look at the features available:
- Location supervision: Track your child’s location on an interactive map with geofencing alerts.
- Screen time limit: Set a time limit for education and playing games.
- Allowing and blocking websites: Block any inappropriate content
- Usage monitor: monitor your child’s device
McAfee is straightforward and easy to use. Not only will you benefit from their parental control, but they also include a VPN, password manager, and many more features. Give it a try; there’s a 30-day free trial, and it’s affordable, starting from $24.99 per year for their 2-year plan.
4. Bitdefender
Bitdefender is ranked 2nd if you’re looking for an antivirus problem. Although it’s not the 2nd best when it comes to parental control, with over 500 million users in 150 countries, Bitdefender is doing something right. It’s the best for virus protection with minimum impact on system performance, but what about their parental control?
Bitdefender has many parental control features, including:
- Control what your child can access
- Limit screen time
- App monitoring
- Track your child’s location
It’s a bit technical, and you might need help setting it up if you’re a beginner. Still, it includes so many features you can benefit from. However, it all depends on the plan you choose; if you’re using Bitdefender Total Security, it protects up to 5 devices, while the Internet Security package only works on Windows. Give it a try; there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee.
5. BullGuard
BullGuard is an antivirus used by millions worldwide, usually recommended for gamers but has a great parental control option. It includes other features like malware scan and ID protection.
Some parental control features included to control your child’s device include:
- Content filtering
- Track your child’s location
- Filters: block specific types of websites
- Access: Time restriction, limiting screen time for the day.
- Applications: Block applications by a passcode
- Privacy: prevents specific keywords from being sent or entered into the browser.
All of this is set based on the age you choose.
Give it a try; there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The Bottom Line
Nowadays, children are surrounded by gadgets, while it is a source of entertainment, it has all these negative effects on our bodies. Parental control is an important feature to help your children have a better lifestyle and block inappropriate content. That’s why every parent should consider downloading one of our top 5 antiviruses with parental control options. This way, you won’t only benefit from parental control but also protect your devices from any malware or cyberattack.
Why not give it a try?