Feedback on a Possible New OnlineFamily.Norton Feature?

Hello, I’m the product manager for OnlineFamily.Norton, and I wanted to get your opinion about a new feature we were considering. 

 

Many parents that we’ve talked to have told us that it’s a real challenge to keep track of what their kids are doing online, and when they’re online – especially if kids have laptops in their own rooms, etc.  When parents walk by the computer, kids often will “ALT+TAB” to shift the  browser window they were looking at out of focus. 

 

To help out with this, we were considering adding a feature on the homepage that allows parents to view a indicator showing how many kids are currently online in real-time, and that also allows parents to do a quick check to see what kids are up to.  Parents would click a button, and would see a screenshot of what their kids were doing on the computer.

 

This is something that would need to be very visible to the kids, though, so that they know parents can do this.  So, if this feature were enabled, kids would see the ability to do a ‘screen check’ listed in their house rules, and as the parent was clicking a snapshot, kids would also see a very clear indicator that parents were doing a check (the snapshot would be taken before kids had a chance to move away windows).

 

·         What do you think about this feature? 

·         If you had to rate it on a scale of 1-10 (1=hate it 10=love it), what would you rate it? 

·         Would this be useful to you or not, and why?   

 

Feel free to comment, or send me a private message w/ your thoughts! 

 

Example View:  Homepage

Parents will see when kids are online, and be able to check-up on them and request a screen grab

 2009-08-12 Screen_Capture_Parent_View_Mark.png

 

Example View:  Child’s Screenshot

Children will see a notification when parents request a screenshot

2009-08-12 Screen_Capture_Notification_Mark2.png

Yes this would be a very useful feature, especially since we can only see that she's on facebook, not what she's posting. I'd rather have it clear in the house rules, but not necessarily visible every time we check. That way I can check regularly, without making her self-conscious of it. I would only raise an issue with her if it involved bullying or a potential predator. But even if it is visible every time, it still gets a "10" from me.

 

Hi

 

I would give it a 3/10 because it is not really that important for me.  Might help other people though.

I like the idea.  I would give it a 8/10. 

 

If you could include something that would show the time remaining, I would give it a 10/10.  Thanks.

I think this would be a very useful feature. 8/10 Sean

Yes. I would love this feature.  8 out of 10. Even more, I would LOVE to have the chat in facebook monitored (and gmail) I would give both of those a 10/10

fantastic new idea. honestly, anything that keeps pace with the older kids who have a wrong idea that they can outfox the parents by simply toggling off to another window when we walk past the PC, is an excellent idea. All for the honesty factor, too... if kids KNOW we 'can' monitor them by an obvious pop-up window stating the ugly truth... it reminds them that we just might do so at any moment. But, how quickly we will not even have to! The mere threat that we could is intimidating enough to stop wayward internet behavior before it happens, which is what we all want anyway.

 

Really liking OnlineFamily.Norton so far... only just got it a few days ago along with NIS 2010 and will use for the family PC as well as lapotops. Kids sometimes venture into horrible places online because WE adults left 'open doors' through our own misinformed family settings or by not doing it at all. This happened to us and our 14 year old took brief advantage when we had a PC and the settings were not yet tight enough. It's heartbreaking to see the evidence of what he viewed, unfit for child OR adults. The child is contrite and punished, the PC is on OnlineFamily.Norton lockdown... but, the world has far degenerated.

 

Hi to Norton Online Family's Rob W.

 

Janna from MA

Like the idea. I’ve had this conversation with my kids … “You seem to toggle away or close windows when I walk past.  That doesn’t help me trust you.”  It would be nice to be able to tell them that it’s possible to take an occasional screen shot.

Hi,

 

I'm new to OnlineFamily.Norton having only became aware of when trying to find the download for the Add-On pack for NIS 2010 after upgrading from NIS 2009.

 

I think this would be a beneficial feature and would give it a rating of about 8 provided it was real time display.

 

In the few days I've had the product installed I've found this product to be a substantial improvement on the Parental Controls in NIS and have found it to be significantly better at blocking access to un-desirable content. 

 

I would also like to take this opportunity to provide detail my wishlist for the product.

 

1/ That once the initial free use for everyone period is up, that you consider offering continued free use to current NIS subscribers.

 

2/ I would like to see the capability to individually set each Site Category to Monitor or Warn or Block.

e.g. I would like to set Mature Content and Pornography to Block, but Un-Categoried to Warn.

 

3/ I would like to see an Additional Site Category for IP Addresses.

e.g. Some sites such as Google Video use links that refer to IP Addresses and I would like to be able to define how these should be handled.

 

4/ I would like to see the capability to use Wild Cards and IP Addresses when entering Specific Web Sites to Allow / Block.

e.g. ad*.domainname.tld or domainname.tld/path/* or xxx.xxx.xxx.*

 

5/ I would like to see global settings capability so you can enter settings such as Personal Information or Specific Web Sites once, rather than for each child.

 

6/ I would like to see the Personal Information greatly expanded. My preference would be where you can add as many entries as you like and for each entry be able to specify the Type of Personal Data, the Personal Data and the Action to Take.

Types of Personal Data would be Home Phone, Mobile Phone, E-Mail Address, Street Address, Postal Address, Credit Card etc

Actions to Take could be Monitor, Warn or Block.

 

Thanks for giving us the opportunity to provide feedback, and keep up the great work.

 

Les

 

Message Edited by LesT64 on 09-16-2009 06:07 PM

10/10 for me. Sometimes the kids have friends over whom show them other websites, etc. It would be nice to see what they are viewing in real time and not have to look over their shoulders.

Hi LesT64,

 

Thanks for coming to the site and sharing your input with us.  Some of your suggestions are already on our enhancement list.  I'll put the new ideas to the enhancement list for the management team to consider.

 

Thanks,

Katie

I'd give that feature an 8/10.  My kids are young enough still I don't need it heavily, but I would like to have it there as my kids become more heavily involved with the internet.

 

Also, just to put in a plug for many of the items LesT64 mentioned.  Those are some great ideas and I've wished for several of them myself as I've used the website.

This looks like a very useful feature and I'd support it.

 

I'd also add that I'd like to be able to differentiate between time spent on the internet and the time spent on the computer in stand alone mode.  My son does almost all his homework on his computer as he is dyspraxic and cannot write with a pen but the computer means that he is fine.  But he drifts off into surf mode too often rather than writing essays etc. 

 

Given this a program that then scans the programs running on the laptop and allows you to categorise them as Games / Acceptable / educational etc would also help.  We had a program called Parents In Control a while back which did a pretty good job of this. 

 

Also - can you split the access time down into 15 minute slots rather than 1 hour slots - I'd like to block this until 08:30 in the morning when he gets to school and then release it immediately thereafter. 

This sounds like a good feature. I agree it should be made clear in the house rules but I also agree with someone else in this discussion that it might not be helpful to alert the child each time a snap shot is taken. This could shake their confidence.

If it was implemented I would use it.

David

For me, 10/10 because I would like to see what webpage is my child would visit.

 

8/10 for me.

 

I would like the option to notify or not notify my child that a screenshot was taken.  This can be embarrassing, particularly if a friend is watching over his shoulder.  Plus, I don't my child saying something like "okay, he's taken his screenshot; I'm safe for at least another half an hour."

 

Think I'm kidding?  What do you think drivers say when they leave the speedtrap behind?

10/10

 

A great idea but I don't think kids should know when it occurred or how often it occurs.

 

Jeff


jjpcampbell wrote:

10/10

 

A great idea but I don't think kids should know when it occurred or how often it occurs.

 

Jeff


A decent idea but only 5/10 for me.  It's not that important a feature.  There's other features that I'd rather see more -- I'll document those else where.

 

I agree with Jeff that the kids don't need to know when it's being done.  They are already aware that they are being monitored by OnlineFamily.Norton.

Hi, I am new to using this parent control, but so far very happy, I would say yes. Go for it. I have used a similar system to monitor my students in my role as a teacher. It can be very useful.

Thanks

 

This would be a 9/10 for me.  I often find the ALT-TAB trick being used and it would be nice to just see what is going on without having to cause a riot.

 

I also have one feature that I would really like to see in the next release:

 

I have 3 computers in my house each of which has a user for my kids on it.  I want the settings for these to be the same on all 3 computers.  Currently I have to have 3 users in Norton and manage each of the settings individual.  If I could have one Norton user and associate it with the users on each computer so that I only have to change settings in one user and have it effect multiple computer users that would be fabulous.

 

Please consider that.

 

Thanks