First, let me say I like the safety minder program in a general sense. However, I do wish I had more control of when/how the little pop-ups appear.
For example, I do want it to appear when someone logs into the computer. I like the fact the kids know they are being monitored, like everyone else in the house is, so kudo's for encouraging open dialogue between parents an their kids.
Having said that, I do find it annoying with the frequency of the pop-ups and especially the fact they take focus off the window being viewed, like when the window is being viewed at full screen.
IE if anyone is watching a movie in full screen or playing video games, like Battlefield, etc. The safety minder pop-ups, letting you know it just updated its rules for the n'th time, takes your movie or game out of full screen mode. That part is just annoying.
So it would be really nice to give us better control of when/how those pop-ups appear. Personally, I don't need to see the pop-up every time it updates the rules, but rather see it when someone logs on.
If there is already a way to do this, please let me know how, I cannot seem to find it.
If this is currently not an option, symantec, please can we consider this in a future update?
First, let me say I like the safety minder program in a general sense. However, I do wish I had more control of when/how the little pop-ups appear.
For example, I do want it to appear when someone logs into the computer. I like the fact the kids know they are being monitored, like everyone else in the house is, so kudo's for encouraging open dialogue between parents an their kids.
Having said that, I do find it annoying with the frequency of the pop-ups and especially the fact they take focus off the window being viewed, like when the window is being viewed at full screen.
IE if anyone is watching a movie in full screen or playing video games, like Battlefield, etc. The safety minder pop-ups, letting you know it just updated its rules for the n'th time, takes your movie or game out of full screen mode. That part is just annoying.
So it would be really nice to give us better control of when/how those pop-ups appear. Personally, I don't need to see the pop-up every time it updates the rules, but rather see it when someone logs on.
If there is already a way to do this, please let me know how, I cannot seem to find it.
If this is currently not an option, symantec, please can we consider this in a future update?
It's hard to estimate the frequency... but since the safety minder does give you notifications each time it updates the rules, you tend to tune it out after a while. but you still notice the yellow popup.
It doesn't happen "every" time you watch a movie or play a game, so I think it's just a coincidental timing thing. ie I just happen to be watching a movie or playing a game when it updates it's rules, thus getting the notifcation. But it is annoying when you have to re-maximize the movie player, or you get shot while playing an intense game of Battlefield because your screen changed and you were busy trying to return the screen back to its original size.
I would think the software would or could be more aware of what the system is doing and not do the updates when the system is busy, much like the rest of norton's background activities. At a minimum it really shouldn't take the focus off of a full-screen application just for the update reminder.
I'm not sure what frequency it checks and updates its rules, as some days I don't recall seeing the popups at all, and other days I may see it give me a popup a few times over a few hours.
See the attached screen-shot of the update message. It's a little small, but I think you can make out the message.
Thanks for the reply and for forwarding this to your team.
I assume you have the latest version of Norton Safety Minder 2.3.0.19 installed on the machine. You can determine this by clicking on the Norton Safety Minder icon in the System tray and selecting About Norton Safety Minder.
For three years Norton has been saying it would revisit this feature.
The pop-op disrupts video games and movies. And when it appears the user can't pause what they are doing until they address the norton pop-up.
The pop-up denies access to sites that children aren't actually trying to visit, but that the websites themselves may be trying to provide as their own pop-ups.
If we're using it, we agree with the communication aspect of the software's philosophy. But as internet users ourselves we want to retain our children's right to basic usability standards.
The puppy icon can be off putting for children that are older. They know when they have been blocked. They don't need to see a masked puppy dog.
It time to make some slight revisions to the software OR tell us outright that the changes won't happen so we can move on to other products.
2. If an allowed Web site contains content that belongs to a blocked category of Web site. When your child visits such Web sites, Norton Online Family blocks the specific portion of the Web site that belongs to the blocked Web site. For example, if your child visits an allowed Web site, which contains an advertisement from a blocked Web site, Norton Online Family blocks the advertisement, and shows the pop-up, but allows the rest of the content on the page.
4. It's on our product enhancement list.
Thanks again for your feedback. As you probably know, there are many new features and enhancement requests from our users. I'll definitely pass your comments to the team.
