By 
When the Internet first appeared, they realized that it could be a multitasking machine. These days, people use it for almost everything, from downloading music to checking email, and virtually bringing the rest of the world closer all the time.
As the parent of a young child or teenager, the issue of safety is always on your mind (or at least it should be). While none of us like to talk about it, failure to provide this security has resulted in some children or teens being subjected to uncomfortable situations. There isn’t much more to say on the subject, but if you want to monitor your child’s PC activities, read on.
There are many ways a stranger can get your child’s email address. You may or may not know it, but chain letters are one of these methods. They are popular with the youth, but you should know the truth about chain mail letters. These days, with everyone using one instant messaging service or another (MSN messenger is popular with young people), everyone seems to have a hotmail email address, and chain mail letters often circulate through hotmail servers. This is not to say that they are to blame; Of course, they do not regulate these letters. But a chain mail letter has in its header the email addresses of all those who have participated in the distribution of the letter. If one wanted to add some of the hotmail addresses to their own MSN messenger, all they would have to do is take a random email from the letter (or a few) and add them to MSN.
Voila, a stranger is suddenly talking to your son on the computer. It doesn’t matter who the person who added the stranger is: he/she will find out after he/she starts talking to his/her child.
It’s a bit scary, isn’t it? I’m not trying to scare anyone, I’m just saying how easy it is for anyone to get the MSN address of a random teenager or child.
There are also other ways. Chat rooms are another culprit. People running into all sorts of other people they’ve never talked to, but suddenly they’re chatting about random topics. Date lines, 1-800 numbers, text messages… the list goes on.
So what can you do to protect your child? Good question. There are appropriate measures you can put in place to “stay on top” so to speak. You could try a keylogger software; this works by recording almost everything that is done on the computer through keystrokes. You can activate the message archive in msn; This means that each and every conversation on MSN is recorded and you can review each one.
To make sure your child isn’t accessing the wrong sites, you can check their Internet history. These days some PC users know how to clear this history as it is quite easy. To prevent your child from visiting the wrong websites, you can also try a program like Net Nanny.
If after monitoring your child using a keylogger or checking his MSN history, you realize that you are talking to the wrong people, you can go into your MSN and block and delete this person. Be sure to do both. By blocking the unknown, he/she cannot re-add or talk to your child again. And by removing the person from the list, your child cannot unblock that person. (There are ways to unblock and re-add the contact, but it will be more difficult.)
Just tell your child what you have done and that it is for their own safety.
Remember, it’s up to you to make sure your child has a safe browsing experience.