Kurupira WebFilter 1.3.7

While some web filters merely block sites that they consider inappropriate according to their own databases, Kurupira WebFilter offers you an integral solution regarding not only access to specific sites but also access to applications and Instant Messaging software tools, computer usage, and time control. This free tool also offers you to view and save all this information as useful reports.

The first step you need to take to start using the program is to set a password – this password will become the only entrance to Kurupira WebFilter, thus guaranteeing that nobody else can circumvent the level of protection you set for your computer. You will also need this password to uninstall the program if needed. Though I believe that this web filter might be useful in more than one way, its colorful and somehow childish interface clearly implies that it’s been designed mainly to control the PC usage of the youngest members of the family.

Its main functionality is divided in two main blocks – Web and Applications. The former deals with the web filter proper (which activates automatically as soon as we launch the program), blocked and allowed websites, time controls, IM and social networks, and usage reports and history. Probably the most interesting of them all – at least in terms of flexibility – is the Time Controls option. Here you can set, in half-hour intervals, the times of the day when your kids can use the computer and to what extent. You can set it to block all access, only to social networks, to all windows, or allow unlimited access instead, and change all or some of these permissions every half hour, if so desired. The program offers you a list of the most common IM tools and social networks, but you can always block a different one just by adding it to the list of blocked URLs.

The way the program controls access to applications is very similar – it comes with a pre-configured Application filter, a black list and a white list for your blocked and allowed apps, and then some reports and history regarding app usage. Finally, you can also set the program to send you an e-mail whenever there’s a blockage or when the program has been disabled. This free software tool might well be all you need to control how your PC is used and for what, and despite its clear infantile look and feel, not necessarily at our household level only...