Customer Reviews

Safe Eyes Parental Control Suite

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This seems to be a good parental control software that was easy to install. It did ask me to restart my PC several times, but that wasn't a problem. Where I did find a bit of a problem is getting more of a description of the product only after reading the software agreement. This isn't anything Amazon.com could know unless Nova Development would point it out to them. Or if someone like me would. (Guess I will) If you read the "Agreement" when you install the software, you'll find that what you purchased is a 1-year license for using this software. Near the end of the 1-year, they will notify you via email (it's your responsibility to make sure they have your current email address, with repercussions when they try to notify you, if you hadn't) that your subscription is about to expire. If they don't hear from you, they put the next year's subscription on your credit card. If you want to purchase the full license at the time of installation of this software version, you can pay another $49 right away and you don't have to worry about the subscription thing next year. I'm not sure if this is such a bad thing, but if you think that the price you're paying for this piece of software is it forever; surprise, surprise.

This product works wonderfully in and of itself. It has all of the parental controls you need and the customer support is polite.

I am running this software on an XP and a Vista and a Mac machine and all three are varying shades of nightmare. I have spent over 25 hours with phone support because Safe Eyes blocks all internet communication and the answer from phone support is always the same, delete the software and reinstall it. It works fine until you reboot you computer then it's messed up again.

It is terrible with Mac, it is bad with Vista and OK with XP. I would NOT recommend this product for any other platform other than XP. After 7 reinstalls it seem to be fine on XP. On Vista 64-bit is works fine but you must follow these steps, login to Vista, sign in to Safe Eyes, have Safe Eyes timeout and say it is disabling the computer, turn off DSL, turn off computer, reboot DSL, reboot computer, login to Safe Eyes, stand on one foot, do the hokey pokey and then it works until the next time you turn off the computer, then you get to do the whole double boot process again.

On Mac forget about it. Two weeks on the phone and the answer is still delete the software and reinstall.

For a single user system, I can imagine that Safe Eyes will do a good job of making the Internet safe for a kid. The content blocking is reliable and does a good job.

Unfortunately, it does NOT support multiple users on the same Mac very well at all. Despite the fact that I used the administration tool to remove ALL blocking from both my wife's and my user accounts, we still constantly get blocked from accessing things as simple as Google images. Frequently it will block ALL internet access.

Tech support's solution is too complicated to be practical - log in as one user, purge the browser cache, log that user out, log in another user, purge the browser cache, etc. I finally gave up and now we are going to try Net Nanny since there is now a Mac version. I hope it is a lot less buggy than Safe Eyes!

Excellent software. Easy to install. Bargain price. Each registered copy can be installed on up to three computers, allowing customized safety perimeters for multiple users on each. Safe Eyes makes it a breeze to control and monitor your child's use of the internet. After typing in all the customized data for each of my six children, I was thrilled to see that Safe Eyes remembered all settings when I installed it on other computers in our home. Now each of my children has personalized log in information that allows them safe access to the internet on any computer we own, and they can't lock me out with a password change. Even my computer savvy teens haven't figured out how to beat this software without me knowing about it. Score one for Mom!

After installing Safe Eyes on my kids three computers (the max allowed with the software, though you can have up to SIX user accounts), I tested the software by going to some nefarious websites. It didn't allow me to go there. Perfect! A few minutes later, my wife called me from her work. "Is Johnny home?" she asked. Of course he wasn't, and I told her so. She said, "I just got an e-mail from SafeEyes, saying Johnny was trying to go to some web site." SafeEyes worked that FAST, that perfectly!

The options are SUPER customizable, allowing the blocking of ANYthing, but also specific categories: porn, guns, violence, language, chat, game sites, ANYthing!

Very simple to set up, and once it's set up, it needs no maintenance. Time schedules, time LIMITS, it has it all!


I give my highest recommendation!

Walt D in LV

I have read many negative reviews on Safe Eyes not working on Mac, XP or Vista. Well, my computer runs on Windows 7. I tried Safe Eyes after I was able to completely uninstall "Net Nanny" using a hack given on internet within 2-3 months of using it. But, with "Safe Eyes" it is 6 months and I did not find any hack to disable it. So, I must say this software is definitely one of the most reliable and foolproof software for web filtering. Now, my OS is Windows 7. I find no problem with stability or speed of internet access. I can block the website by keyword or url without needing administrator password. So, Safe Eyes give me everything that one can ask for. All websites where questions on "How can one disable/bypass safe eyes?" is given are blocked as "Loopholes" - so, one cannot visit them. Recently, safe eyes has been acquired by McAfee which is a renowned computer security company. Need I say anything more. So, give it a try once. It is possible that negative reviews are for some old versions and the problems are fixed in the new version now as the new version seems to be an unbelievably powerful software in its foolproof ability to filter undesirable websites.

This is the best filtering software I've found yet. It's running on multiple machines and has no conflict with the array of software I use daily (from AutoCAD to Sony Vegas). For anyone looking to keep crap off their computer and out of sight, this is great stuff. Let the world pollute its own; and let those who have an eternal hope live like the One who called us out!

First of all, I would like to say, I have this software installed on 3 different computers/OS in my home, a Windows 7 (64 bit), a Vista and an XP. It works great on all of them. I have only had a few minor issues, but having tried many other Parental Control programs, I may stick with this one, because it doesn't slow our computers down.

It is not perfect, but it does keep the low-life out! One minor problem is with the blocked keywords. You can add to them, but you can't remove words. However, you can unblock the category and create your own list, I just don't want to go there. We ran into an issue when my daughter was looking up Emily Dickinson and Moby Dick for Literature. Both were blocked.

I have the latest version (6), which I do like better. It allows for internet TV ratings. Pick a rating and watch.

The reason for my 4 star rating instead of a 5, is because of my experience with Customer Service. I sent an email asking about the keywords category, which was explained to my satisfaction. The second issue was that I was unable to watch anything on CBS, I was getting a pop-up-blocker warning, and I really enjoy watching NCIS. I received an email back promptly. The rep said she tried unsuccessfully to fix it herself- so she was sending it on to second level support. About a week later I received an email telling me that the issue with CBS had been resolved. I went to CBS and was pleased that I could now watch NCIS. A few days later, I was online, and I noticed that I was seeing things that should have been blocked. That did not make me happy since I have this program to protect my family from unwanted trash. I signed onto my Safe Eyes program and went to the blocked categories. That is how I discovered how my issue was resolved! The Safe Eyes Representative's "solution" to my issue was to unblock almost every default "blocked" category and most of the ones I had blocked as well. I was mad! I could have done that myself, but it kind of defeats the purpose of this program. The thing that really upset me, is that NO ONE asked my permission to change my settings, and they didn't even have the courtesy to let me know that they did! They left my three computers virtually unprotected without my knowledge or consent. I called Safe Eyes Support and had them undo everything they did. With a few tweaks of my own, I have it back where I want it, but again, I can no longer watch CBS.

I really want to contact Safe Eyes and let them know how unhappy I am with the invasive way the "dealt" with my problem, but I don't think Customer Service will be of any help to me.

I love all the features of this software. Being able to create user network accounts once and have the various settings work on up to three computers in your home with minimal setup is great.

However, one of the three computers I planned on installing this on uses Windows XP 64-bit. The Safe Eyes software will not install on this operating system. This was confirmed for me by a senior support rep from Safe Eyes.

XP 32-bit, yes. Vista 64-bit, yes. (Allegedly) But, XP 64-bit, no.

It would have been nice if this had been specifically mentioned in the system requirements or on their website. That omission is the only reason I don't give this suite 5 stars.

The program works well. It was easy to set up and to set the perimeters. Sometimes the program knocks you out of a website or prohibits you from entering a website that you have allowed. All in all, it is better than letting your kids roam free on the internet. I like the time limit feature the best, makes them the bad guy, not me!!