Feature Set:  

PureSight PC has an easy-to-use interface that can help you set up filters and add profiles easily. This program will support up to 10 profiles with just one license, so you should be able to create a profile for every child in your family. Unique profiles are a good idea. You may want to create different access levels and time allotments, depending on the age and maturity level of your child.

This software provides 14 preset filters that can be activated to block categories of content, such as adult, gambling or dating. You can also set it to block certain types of P2P file sharing protocols and specific chat engines.

PureSight can be configured to run in a variety of languages, including Arabic, Spanish and French. However, regardless of the language set you choose, it can still scan and block content in a different language.

You can also configure PureSight to compile and email reports, and have regular alerts sent to your inbox. However, we would like to see PureSight add more remote monitoring tools, such as the ability to alter filter preferences via the Internet or the ability to over ride from another computer in reaction to an email alert. According to the developers, remote monitory tools will be available soon.

Ease of Use:  

PureSight is designed to be used by users of various skill levels, or for those that do not want to have to spend the time entering numerous URLs. It is simple to set a basic filter. You can click on any of the major 14 categories and it will automatically filter based on the broad category. On the other hand, it’s easy to create a profile with only a short list of approved URLs for a young child.

Ease of Installation:  

We installed this software via an Internet download to a laptop and a desktop running Windows type operating systems and found that the software installed quickly and without a single second of frustration.

We also easily set up the administration preferences and added profiles with unique preferences rather quickly.

Filtering Effectiveness:  

PureSight utilizes a technology called Active Content Recognition or ACR. In a sense, that is artificial intelligence technology. It can judge a web page based on multiple criteria and decide on the spot whether it should be filtered or not. It can block pages on its’ own regardless of whether the specific URLs have been blocked or are on a blacklist. It can block a page that has never been visited before by scanning the content. We found the ACR technology particularly useful at blocking adult and violent content.

To set the effectiveness of the preset filters we activated all 14 of the pre-set filters and attempted to visit some web pages. We tested the filter using Internet Explorer and FireFox.

Adult:
We attempted to visit some adult content blogs and searched some common words and phrases, such as “boobs,” this filter blocked all access.

Gambling:
This filter also includes online RPG type games, we attempted to access sites such as online gambling as well as World of Warcraft, it blocked these, but did not block the virtual world or “game” Second Life.

Sports:
This filter is a bit over zealous; it blocked things like sports center but also blocked “football,” which seems a bit much.

Shopping:
It blocked popular sites like Amazon, Esty, eBay and Best Buy but not sites like the Apple Store.

Violence:
This is a little bit of a harder one, some terms may be associated with sports or others to news that cover wars, we did notice that it did block the violent images we tried to access such as dog fights.

Webmail:
This filter quickly blocked Hotmail and Yahoo but failed to block Gmail.

Weapons:
PureSight easily blocked sites that sold weapons and images of guns and so on.

Drugs:
This parental control filter successfully blocked common intoxicant related sites such as High Times and related terms such as “grow lights.”

Dating:
PureSight blocked all popular dating sites such as AdultFriendFinder, Match.com and OKCupid.

Chat:
This software can block most common IM protocols such as MSN, Yahoo and Google Talk, however, it is not yet set up to filter MySpace and FaceBook chat protocols. What we really liked about their chat filtering feature is that you can search for and block specific users names and you can even set terms to block, such as to cover safety issues such as alerts for the words/phrases “phone number” or “address.” If forbidden terms come up it can block, conceal, alert or allow depending on your preferences. This service can also report all chat conversations.

Hate:
PureSight did a pretty good job here at blocking sites such as the White Aryan Resistance site.

Forums:
There are millions of forums online, this service was somewhat mediocre on this one, but keep in mind that it can search for adult content in a forum and block it by that means.

Social Networking:
This filter service effortlessly blocked social networking sites like FaceBook, MySpace, Ning and Tribe.

Blogs:
Like forums, it was unpredictable on this filter; it would allow some lesser known blogs but then blocked some more popular ones such as Perez Hilton. It seemed to allow news blogs and block entertainment type blogs, but not all blogs.

Overall, we think their dynamic filter and chat filter did an exceptional job of blocking filtered content and we do not feel that it over filtered with the exception of sports, where it blocked terms like “tennis” and even phrases like “baseball rules,” which could be useful to a child and relatively benign. When it comes to sports it may make more sense to just block specific URLs and allow basic search terms.

Some things that we would like to see added, that are reported to be available in the next version, it the ability to monitor MySpace and FaceBook chats.
 

No piece of software can replace an attentive parent or caregiver, but PureSight can certainly make it easier. We feel that PureSight’s Active Content Recognition (ACR) is commendable and certainly powerful; it can scan content and block or send alerts out in response to objectionable content regardless of what type of website your child visits. It does not rely on black or white lists or URLs that you specifically block, it can in a sense, act for you and keep your kids out of trouble, even when you can’t be 100% attentive, this is reassuring, kudos to PureSight.