So Protect Me Blocker

If you have children or share your computer with others you may be concerned about them accessing unsuitable content online or divulging personal details, a problem with which So Protect Me is designed to help.

The straightforward program starts by allowing the user to enter authorised card details that will be stored as 'safe' to use, (in future it will request a username and password if this information is entered on screen).

It can also monitor specific websites and applications and block, allow or 'challenge' (which again requires password entry) before granting access. A whitelist of websites is set up when it starts, as is a list of allowed programs, so even though you can add specific sites or programs manually if you wish, in most cases this won't be necessary.

In addition to straightforward blocking, allowing or challenging, you can add time restraints to certain entries to, for example, prevent credit card entry or website and application access between specific times of the day.

This may be useful to prevent children from playing games for too long or using the computer after bedtime. Where relevant, websites also include an age rating and, together with a configurable user age, can be used to prevent access to unsuitable content at all times.

All activity the program creates is stored in a log that is easy to browse from the main window, so you can see exactly what activity has occurred since the last time the computer was used. A computer can also be locked so that any users will have to enter another password to use it, and comprehensive help files are available to walk users through the various features, which makes it very approachable for beginners.

So Protect Me is very effective at what it does and certainly provides reassurance for those who want to police computer activity and prevent unauthorised transactions or use of credit cards.

It would be the ideal accompaniment to security suites that don't offer sufficient parental control and, at just £15 for a single-user licence, is priced cheaply enough to make it an extremely appealing addition for users of shared PCs.