Main Settings

Before running Kids Web you should set up your default portal pages (or use the portal supplied), idle time and administrator's password.

Kids Web always opens the web page in the portal as the home page, and returns to the home page every 2 minutes of inactivity. The default administrator's password is "fred" (lower case). It is recommended that you change this password before using Kids Web.

Click "Set" to apply your new settings for Kids Web.

Kids Web uses Internet Explorer's connection details to access the modem or network connection, ensure this is set up correctly before using Kids Web.
IMPORTANT: You must set your internet connection to dial automatically and save the connection password as you will not be able to do this whilst Kids-Web is running.

To run Kids Web at start up simply place a short cut to "Kids Web.exe" in your start-up folder.

The Register button shown in fig.1 is used to upgrade from the evaluation copy of Kids Web to the full copy.

The Security button is used to open the Content Control window.

The Design Portal Links button is used to edit the web pages that hold links to the web sites you wish your children to visit.

Contents

Content Control

Kids Web contains a content control system (fig.2), this system lists the URLs and local directories that Kids Web can visit. It also lists the protocols and file types that cannot be viewed/used by Kids Web. To prevent access to your PC's operating system the "mailto:" HREF of the HTML <A> tag is disallowed, this setting cannot be removed. It is recommended that the ".exe" & ".zip" file types are disallowed as they would open the "Save As" dialog box and give access to the operating system, however, this may effect some web sites as some CGI applications contain the extension ".exe" and would be banned.

To remove a site from the allow list double click the URL in the list, this will activate the "Add" & "Remove" buttons (fig.3). This also applies to the File Type list (fig.4). To add a site or file type, type the name into the text box below the list and click "Add".

NOTES:
File extensions must include the "." before the extension and protocols must include the ":" after the protocol.
Some web sites contain downloads from advertising engines, these sites will be banned by Kids Web, if this happens you can use Log Reader to read the list of banned URLs and add the advertising engines root URL to the list of sites allowed in Content Control.

fig. 3

fig. 4

Contents

Portal Builder

Kids Web contains a Portal Building facility that will automatically generate new portal pages for your children to use. To use the Portal Builder you do not have to know any HTML code or use a web design package. To add a HYPER LINK to a page type the URL (web site address) into the URL box and the text you wish to be displayed on screen in the Title box and click "Add".

To remove or edit a site from the allow list double click the URL in the list, this will activate the "Update" & "Remove" buttons (fig.5). The URL and Title will appear in the boxes allowing you to edit the text and hyper link or remove the site from the portal pages.

To create the portal pages from the list you have made click the "Build" button, Portal Builder will then create all the pages required for your list of web sites and amend your Content Control settings automatically. If a URL contains a link to a specific web page (e.g.: index.html) Portal Builder will ask if you wish to allow access to the whole site or just that page when updating your content control. If you enter a URL more than once into the list Portal Builder will ask for confirmation of duplicate entries.

Kids Web Logs

Kids Web creates a new log file for each day it is used. These files are created in the "Logs" directory within the main Kids Web directory. Log files have the following name format made from the current date: ddmmyyyy.cll, where dd = day, mm = month, yyyy= year, e.g.: 10042001.cll.

If at anytime during operation a user attempts to visit a site not listed in the allow list or access a banned file type or protocol this action is recorded in a "Hack" log, this format for these files is as the usage log above but prefixed with a "H", e.g.: H10042001.cll.

To read the logs use the Kids Web Log Reader.

Contents

Log Reader

Included with Kids Web is "Log Reader" (fig.6), this application makes analysing your usage easier.

Opens a log file
Sorts the log file to hits per page
Lists the whole log file in raw format

Double clicking any of the entries in the log file opens a page analysis window showing the details of the page and listing the time of it hits.

Contents

When Kids Web is running your children can navigate web sites of your choice using the hyperlinks within the portal pages and with the Forward, Back and Home buttons provided.

When Kids Web is downloading pages or information the LED next to the home button is illuminated, whilst this is illuminated the you can click the LED to stop the download. Kids Web also displays a smiling face with animated eyes during all downloads and web searching.

To terminate Kids Web click the LED next to the back button and enter your administrator's password. The PC is then returned to normal operation.

Kids Web does not contain a location input box to prevent free use of the Internet other than the site you have set as default. Kids Web disables the right mouse click context menu and the Internet short cut keys CTRL-O, CTRL-L, CTRL-N, CTRL-W, CTRL-R, CTRL-S, ALT-LEFT & ALT-RIGHT. Kids Web also disables the Windows key, CTRL-ALT-DEL, ALT-TAB, CTRL-TAB, CTRL-ESC, F1 and all other keyboard short cuts.

Kids Web prevents the use of e-mail clients and can prevent the downloading of executable files, MSWord documents, *.ZIP & *.TAR files and Adobe Acrobat files that would require saving to disk (refer to Content Control). Kids Web can also prevent downloading new connection wizards from ISPs.

Contents

HTML Restrictions

Kids Web allows the use of all HTML tags supported by Internet Explorer, however the "target" attribute of the <A> tag may not be pointed to "_blank". Kids Web does not allow the opening of new windows to reduce security risks.

When Kids Web detects a link to a new window it is automatically disallowed and recorded in the log file as "about:NavigationCancelled".

Using Plug-Ins

Kids Web supports all plug-ins supported by Internet Explorer. Plug-ins you wish to use should be installed onto your system using Internet Explorer as the restrictions set in Kids Web Content Control will prevent their download.

When using video players such as Media Player or Quicktime it is suggested you use the <EMBED> tag to prevent the opening of new application that could cause a security problem on your system.

Contents