First published: May 17, 2020 Updated 2 times since publishing I’m on a quest to find the best program to prevent screen time addiction and filter the internet for my 5 kids, ages 5 to 16. I’ve tested over 50 different apps and now I’m comparing and reviewing them to help you decide which is the best one for your family. I found a great deal that includes a 30-day money-back guarantee, which gave me more than enough time to test it out on the family computer. Try SurfBlocker Risk-Free The SurfBlocker App has an easy-to-use interface and I had to enter my password before making any changes.
An Easy-To-Use Web Filter
I was impressed with the simplicity of the web filter. The left side of the SurfBlocker app has three options:
Block Everything: This was the easiest way to block internet access for the computer. One thing I liked about this is the “Exceptions” option. It was helpful if the kids said that they only needed the computer for homework or to check their email. It gives me the flexibility to keep certain services unblocked or allow specific websites and programs.
Block selected websites and services: I found this to be a great feature when I needed to block websites that were distracting the kids (social media, sports, and entertainment sites, for example) from doing what they were supposed to be doing. It isn’t really necessary for blocking dangerous or adult websites since those are taken care of in the next category. You can’t have both this option and the Block Everything category activated at the same time. Block harmful content at all times: This is the filter that I always leave on. It blocks websites by categories and also gives the option to add specific websites to the blacklist. While I didn’t have any “false positives” or clean websites that were blocked, no filter is perfect and it would be nice if there was an option to add websites to a protected or whitelist.
Regardless of which filter you use, when the kids try accessing a site that is blocked, they will see the standard “Site can’t be reached” message from the web browser. There is no mention of SurfBlocker, which is useful if you don’t want the kids to know that you’ve put a web filter on the computer.
Screen Time Addiction Prevention
There is both a daily schedule and daily time limit option, although it wasn’t clear to me how to set them up. At first, it seemed simple, click on the Schedule or Daily Limits option and set the limits. However, when I did this, nothing happened and the internet remained unblocked. Here is what I figured out you have to do:
I like that there is a setting in the Daily Limit section where you can choose what to do in a situation where the daily time limit has expired, but there is still time remaining on the schedule. In other words, when my son uses up his 3 hours by 6:30 pm, and the schedule won’t block the internet until 7 pm.
When you have the daily limit on, the kids will be responsible to start the timer when they are using the computer. They will have to click on the SurfBlocker logo on the icon tray to open the application. When the timer is paused, assuming the schedule is either turned off or set for the internet to be off, the internet will be blocked.
A unique feature that SurfBlocker has is called Addiction Stopper. It will block access to the SurfBlocker application, which will prevent anyone, even you, from changing the time limits.
It took me some time to figure out how to get the time restrictions to work, but once I did it was an easy program to manage. The schedule can be set up in hour-long intervals and the daily limit can be set to the minute. If you’re unable to locate the answer or have any inquiries regarding billing, you also have the choice to reach out via email using the contact form. I put the 30-day money-back guarantee to the test, received a response the following day, and quickly received my refund. You can find great deals on SurfBlocker hidden deals page, but before you commit to a yearly plan, I suggest you test it yourself with their 30-day money-back guarantee.
